The functions of the logical mirror operator in the processing of organ transplantation

Abstract Organ transplantation is a complex psychodynamic process. Previous psychoanalytic research has mainly dealt with the psychological integration of the new organ and the conscious and unconscious relationship of the recipient to the transplanted organ and the donor. Some works have also explored organ transplantation from a Lacanian perspective, particularly about the patient (subject) and the transplanted organ (conceptualised as the object a ). In the current paper, the processes of signification as well as the integration of the new organ are examined against the Lacanian background of the neurotic, perverse and psychotic structure. An important factor that determines the nature of these structures is the mirror operator. It is a logical operation that mediates between different spaces, for example, in the Lacanian fields, the spaces of the real, the imaginary and the symbolic. The authors discuss the clinical implications for transplant patients and the logical function of the mirror operator in the psychosomatic torus (as a topological model). Jean‐Luc Nancy's essay ‘The Intruder’ and the eponymous film by Claire Denis, which dealt with the experience of a heart transplant, are additionally taken into account here.