THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMAGINATION AND PHANTASIA. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS AND THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WORK OF MARC RICHIR. The text exploits the symbolic/phenomenological divide and focuses, in particular, on one direct consequence of the distinction between imagination and phantasia, albeit not the only one. It also attempts to clarify this distinction, which gives rise to the concept of “non-specular mimesis”. To suggest the practical implications of this concept, it will draw parallels with the “mirror stage” present in Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how the phenomenological concept can contribute to the psychoanalytic one, thereby influencing practice. Psychoanalysts could adopt an attitude suggested by Richirian phenomenology, which could have beneficial effects for people experiencing mental distress.