Aphanisis, in psychoanalysis, refers to the disappearance of sexual desire.
The word originated from the Greek language and originally referred to the absence of brilliance in an astronomical sense like the fading of a star.
Ernest Jones
According to Ernest Jones, the coiner of the term, aphanisis is the foundation of all functional mental disorders. He suggested that the fear of aphanisis was in both sexes more fundamental than castration anxiety.
Jones proposed aphanisis as a condition to women based on their physiological characteristics. He suggested that women depend more on men for their sexual satisfaction and that the loss of sexual desire was linked to abandonment.
Jacques Lacan
Lacan adapted Jones’s term to a new meaning, which is essentially states that it should be situated in a more radical way at the level that the subject manifests himself in the fading of the subject.
If you have any more questions about what aphanisis is then please feel free to contact us.
