ABSTRACT
Growth at puberty is preceded by what psychoanalysts, following Freud's lead, still refer to as a latency period, supposed to extend from around 7 to 11 years of age. This notion of "putting into latency" is mainly intended to designate a state wherein the direct modes of drive satisfaction—that is, modes of release are temporarily renounced. Lacan energetically pursued Freud's arguments about the specific traits of drive sublimation, starting with Freud's premise that it is a direct and effective way of satisfying the drive. Concerning idealization, the clinical treatment of adolescents enables us to gauge just how much this imaginary mechanism is both a defensive recourse for these youngsters and a fearsome stumbling block. Clinical experience with what are generally referred to as psychopathic behaviours can help to shed light on the issue of the drive's obscure object. Concerning the necessary role of the unbinding drive in subjectivation, Jean Laplanche has advanced an idea that could animate a fundamental debate.
