On Lying and Disillusionment

This paper looks at our current political crisis in terms of a general disavowal of the evils of neoliberalism. Drawing on Freud’s and Bion’s discussions of disavowal and lying, I look at the way this disavowal, turning a blind eye to the truth of neoliberalism, operates among neoliberalism’s winners, losers, and critical bystanders. The paper goes on to argue for a radical psychoanalytic ethic of disillusionment, in which we, as therapist-citizens, might understand more about our complicity with and resistance to the inequities of the neoliberal order.