The way one lives in one’s body is a decisive factor in psychical life. It vitally affects the sense of ‘realness’ of our existence and of the world around us. But how are we to take account of the life of the body in the clinical situation? Traditionally, psychoanalysis has thought of the body mainly in terms of what the mind does with it (e.g. managing the drives through repression, or using the body for symbolic purposes, as in hysterical conversion symptoms). However, in the wake of Winnicott’s recognition of psyche-soma, we may now wonder about the psychical life of the body itself. Can we conceive of the body’s distinctive patterned existence along the lines of patternmaking, contiguity, rhythm, tone, texture, and coloration?
With this theoretical backdrop in mind, Goldberg’s presentation explores two themes. First, the fact that the body is, of course, not a singular thing. His concern is not so much with the biological body of the drives or with socially constructed specular body identities. Rather, Goldberg's interest is the psycho-sensory dimension, where bodily experience is fundamentally trans-individual, shaped as habitus in the cultural domain of unconscious communal perception. Second, he considers the clinical challenges posed by body-mind dissociation or disembodiment and the ways in which the analyst is called to respond through embodied engagement, enabling a re-induction of shared psycho-sensory experience with patients who have been cut off from the rhythms and patterns of communal sensoriality.
Learning Objectives
1. Consider the body in its biological, socially constructed, and psycho-sensory dimensions.
2. Describe the distinctive psychical qualities of embodiment.
3. Recognize the significance of body-mind dissociation, and the clinical importance of enabling shared psycho-sensory experience.
About the Presenter
Peter Goldberg, PhD, FIPA is a personal and supervising psychoanalyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, is Chair of Faculty at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and on the faculty of the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. Prior publications related to psyche-soma phenomena include "Successful dissociation, pseudo-vitality and inauthentic use of the senses" (1995), "Fabricated bodies: A model for the somatic false self" (2004), and "Active perception and the search for sensory symbiosis" (2012). His most recent publication on this topic is "Embodiment, Dissociation, and the Rhythm of Life." In C. Harrang, D. Tillotson & N. Winters (Eds.), Body as Psychoanalytic Object: Clinical Applications from Winnicott to Bion and Beyond (Routledge, 2022).
About the Moderator
Caron Harrang, LICSW, FIPA, BCPsa is a board-certified IPA training and supervising psychoanalyst with a private practice in Seattle. She is a Past President of Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (2014-2018) currently serving as a Director on the Board of Directors. She is on faculty at NPSI and teaches in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program at Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Recent publications include “River to rapids: speaking to the body in terms the body can understand.” In C. Harrang, D. Tillotson & N. Winters (Eds.), Body as Psychoanalytic Object: Clinical Applications from Winnicott to Bion and Beyond (Routledge, 2022).
NPSI is pleased to announce that a video recording of this presentation is provided to everyone who registers. Recordings are for registrants only and expire after 30 days. We hope this protocol makes it easier for colleagues in different times zones to participate in our continuing education programs.
