Rationalism and Emancipation in Psychoanalysis: The Work of Jean Laplanche - Paperbackby Hlne Tessier (Author) The definition of psychoanalysis is a question largely hidden by cultural conditions that favor eclecticism. Demonstrating the importance of psychoanalysis can become meaningless if one does not specify what one means by "psychoanalysis." For instance, could we seriously argue that Lacanian approaches are examples of the same conception of psychoanalysis as that embodied in relational approaches based on attachment theory?