Many patients who are diagnosed as borderline within psychiatric discourse are, within the Lacanian orientation, more likely to be considered to have a psychotic structure even though there has been no psychotic break. The concept of ‘ordinary psychosis’ was developed by Jacques-Alain Miller to describe a psychosis that has not been triggered, or has been triggered and has since stabilized. This is not a diagnostic category but rather an epistemic one; it provides a way of thinking about and treating patients who are not clearly neurotic but do not present with any obvious psychotic phenomena.