Identity at the edge of peacetime and wartime

Contact: oksana.maleeva0835@gmail.com

Renseignements : https://ipso-european-meeting-20230.webnode.page/

Argument

As Freud (1923) highlighted, “the ego is first and foremost a bodily ego.” This observation underscores the fundamental question of how the body can be psychically represented and integrated into the subject’s constitution and the psychoanalytic treatment process.

But where are the bodies in Psychoanalysis?

To answer this question and reflect on the topic, we would like to take you through the consultation room and follow in Freud’s footsteps in Berlin, which he called ‘a difficult but important soil’ (Freud, 1908).

From the initial encounter, the voice on the phone conjures up an immediate imagination of the body, which cannot be disregarded during the treatment. The body’s physicality and its corresponding sensations are encountered through the countertransference, secondary skin phenomena, embodied sensations, the embodied setting, and enactments, among others.

Historically, psychoanalytic theory has underrepresented the body, often leaving its discussion to neighboring fields like psychosomatics. However, recent conceptualizations, such as embodiment, enactment, and bodily unconsciousness, have granted the body its due space. Such concepts have allowed for the exploration of themes like sexuality, gender binaries’ dissolution, pregnancy, aging, and death within the protective therapeutic relationship.

In analysis, physical contact or proximity is not a prerequisite, and connection and intimacy can exist without touch. The rule of abstinence often underscores this essential feature of analysis, wherein the analytic couple’s bodies may come close within a fantasy space but remain distant. This dialectical relationship between near and far creates psychic flexibility, allowing so the expansion of the psyche.

When we leave the consultation room and take a look at the society, there is an undergoing rapid digitization, leading to the dissolution of physical bodies in virtual space. This trend raises important questions about the possibility of psychoanalysis in the online realm. The ability to oscillate between near and far psychically cultivates vitality, much like the dance or struggle within the analytic encounter.

In the intimate space of psychoanalysis, psychic nearness can be achieved, yet bodily needs often remain distant and unfulfilled, impelling one to seek fulfilment beyond the bounds of the therapeutic relationship, and prompting engagement in activities such as dancing and revelry amidst the vibrant Berlin nightlife.

We invite you to experience the complexities of the psychoanalytic encounter in the vibrant city of Berlin!

References:

Freud, S. (1923). The Ego and the Id. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 12-59). Hogarth Press.

Freud, S. (1908). Letter from Sigmund Freud to Karl Abraham, August 24, 1908. The Complete Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham 1907-1925, 52, 58-59.

Qu’est-ce que l’IPSO ?

PSYNE-CLUB : PROGRAMME 2022-23

Séances ouvertes à 20h, début de projection à 20h30, destinées 

aux Analystes en Formation et Membres des Sociétés de Psychanalyse affiliées à l’API.