This book explores the role of bodily phenomena in mental life and in the psychoanalytic encounter, encouraging further dialog within psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the humanities. It contributes new clinical and theoretical perspectives to the recent resurgence of psychoanalytic interest in the body. Presented in six parts, Body as Psychoanalytic Object focuses on the clinical psychoanalytic encounter and the body as object of psychoanalytic inquiry, spanning from the prenatal experience to death.
Key Features
- Explores diverse meanings of bodily phenomena in psychoanalysis.
- Covers key themes such as mind–body relations in Winnicott, Bion, and beyond.
- Includes clinical vignettes providing unique insights into analysts' approaches.
- Offers a body-based understanding of object relations theory.
Additional Information
The contributors examine themes like oneiric body, nascent body in early object relations, body and psychosensory experience, body in breakdown, and body in virtual space. Each chapter provides unique insight into how different analysts work with bodily phenomena in the clinical situation and how it is conceived theoretically. Building on the thinking of Winnicott and Bion, as well as contributions from French psychoanalysis, Body as Psychoanalytic Object offers a way forward for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.
