英：helplessness; 法：detresse; 德：Hilflosigkeit
“无助”(德：Hilflosigkeit)这一术语在弗洛伊德的著作中具有一个特别的意义，它在那里表示新生儿无法执行那些满足其自身需要 (NEEDS)所需的特定行动，因此完全依赖于他人（尤其是母亲[MOTHER])的状态。
人类婴儿的无助是以其过早的诞生为根据的，拉康在其早期作品中接受了弗洛伊德曾经指出的这一事实。相比于诸如类人猿之类的其他动物，人类婴儿在诞生时是相对不成熟的，尤其是在运动协调性方面。这意味着它会比其他动物更加依赖于父母，且依赖的持续时间也会更长。
拉康遵循弗洛伊德突出人类婴儿对于母亲的初始依赖的重要性的观点。拉康的原创性则在于他让我们注意到了“这种依赖是由一个语言的世界来维持的事实”(E, 309)。母亲会把婴儿的啼哭解释为饥饿、疲倦、孤独等，并且回溯性地决定了它们的意义 (见：标点[PUNCTUATION])。孩子的无助与母亲的全能形成了对比，因为母亲能够决定是否要去满足孩子的需要（S4,69,185)。对于这一反差的认识便会在孩子身上造成一种抑郁的效果 (S4,186).
拉康同样用无助的概念来阐明分析者在分析的结束（END OF ANALYSIS)时所感受到的那种遭到抛弃与主体性罢免 (subjectivedestitution)的感觉。“在一个训练性分析结束的时候，主体应该会抵达并且了解那种绝对混乱无序的经验的领域和水平。”（S7,304)因而，分析的结束并未被拉康构想为某种幸福充盈的实现，而是完全相反，它是主体甘心接受其绝对孤独的时刻。然而，婴儿能够依赖于其母亲的帮助，但是分析者在分析结束时却“无法期待来自任何人的帮助”(S7,304)。如果说这似乎表现了精神分析治疗的一种特殊的苦行观，那么这恰恰就是拉康希望它被看待的方式；用拉康的话说，精神分析即一场“漫长的主体的苦行”(E,105)。
(detresse)The term'helplessness'(Ger.Hilflosigkeit)has a specific meaning in Freud'swork,where it denotes the state of the newbom baby who is incapable of carrying out thespecific actions required to satisfy its own NEEDS,and so is completely dependent onother people(especially the MOTHER).
The helplessness of the human baby is grounded in its prematurity of birth, a factwhich was pointed out by Freud and which Lacan takes up in his early writings. Compared to other animals such as apes, the human baby is relatively unformed when itis bomn, especially with respect to motor coordination. This means that it is moredependent than other animals, and for a longer time, on its parents.
Lacan follows Freud in highlighting the importance of the initial dependence of thehuman baby on the mother. Lacan's originality lies in the way he draws attention to thefact that this dependence is maintained by a world of language' (E, 309). The motherinterprets the baby's cries as hunger, tiredness, loneliness, etc. And retroactivelydetermines their meaning (see PUNCTUATION. The child's helplessness contrasts withthe omnipotence of the mother, who can decide whether or not to satisfy the child's needs (S4,69,185). The recognition of this contrast engenders a depressive effect in the child (S4,186).
Lacan also uses the concept of helplessness to illustrate the sense of abandonment andsubjective destitution that the analysand feels at the END OF ANALYSIS.'At the end ofa training analysis the subject should reach and know the domain and level of theexperience of absolute disarray' (S7,304). The end of analysis is thus not conceived ofby Lacan as the realisation of some blissful plenitude, but quite the contrary, as a momentwhen the subject comes to terms with his utter solitude. However, whereas the infant canrely on its mother's help, the analysand at the end of analysis 'can expect help from noone' (S7,304). If this seems to present a particularly ascetic view of psychoanalytictreatment, this is exactly how Lacan wishes it to be seen; psychoanalysis is, in Lacan'swords, a 'long subjective ascesis' (E, 105).