Lacan considered affects suspicious for the purpose of letting the patient discover the truth about oneself. This is so because most affects have the curious dynamic aspect that they can displace the object of their affection. Thus someone who had a harsh mother might unconsciously expect all women to be harsh. Not so with anguish. Anguish “remains moored to what produces it” (p. 19). This unique characteristic of anguish invited Lacan to spend more attention on this affect than on any other one (pp. 101-102).

Lacan ascribed three characteristics to anguish: (1) there is a vague threat; (2) the person experiences that threat with certainty; (3) the subject