The text presents analysis and reflections developed at the Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis Laboratory of the University of Brasilia on the issue of the ''he (they)'' in Franz Kafka's work The Process and on a case of persecution delusion. The particular status of pronoun ''he'' in paranoia is investigated. The paper shows that the understanding of what ''he (they) is (are)'' is an essential element for elucidating the experience of the strangeness in psychosis and the construction of the delusional activity. The study of the referential dimension of language then proves to be of paramount importance. Along the text one points out some issues and articulations between the analysis carried out, psychoanalysis, phenomenology and linguistic communication, having as the essential hypothesis the assumption that psychosis consists on the loss and narcissistic reconstruction of the referential function of language.
psychosis; reference; delusion
