Skin in Psychoanalysis

303 Pages·2008·3.698 MB·\303

by  Jorge Ulnik (Author)

U
The hospital is a place where both tragedies and miracles occur,where many people go
to heal but many others go in search of punishment.It is a place where patients cannot L
and should not question treatment,because doing that will be interpreted as being “on N
the side”of disease.
I
This is perhaps the reason why Jorge Ulnik has devoted his entire professional life to K
psychosomatics, trying to understand diseases as singular experiences which are
inscribed as chapters in the vital history of people. By chance, or due to some
unconscious determination,his interest in psychosomatics led him to the dermatology
ward,where doctors asked for interconsultations with greater frequency.In the same
way as the skin is the erogenous zone par excellence,it is also the entrance and the exit
door for many emotions and situations which mark us.
This book is the result of more than fifteen years of work with dermatologists and
patients with skin diseases,psoriasis in particular.As usually happens in interdisciplinary S
work,it is difficult to find a common language and to arouse homogeneous interest in
k
colleagues from different disciplines.As a consequence, some of the chapters of this
i
book will interest psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in general almost exclusively,
n
but it will also be particularly interesting for all those who wish to work in an
interdisciplinaryway;either clinicians,dermatologists or doctors who have dedicated to
i
other specialities.
n
From the Introduction

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‘Are we dealing with an introductory book on a relatively new and undoubtedly highly s
specific subject,aimed at people who know little about it? Or is it rather an advanced y
research project which will be useful above all to those professionals who already have
c
some experience and familiarity with the subject of the skin?
h
We find in the book a decidedly complex point of view regarding the skin:the skin as
source,the skin as object,the skin as protection and as a way of entrance,as contact o
and as contagion,the skin “for two”within the relationship with the mother,the skin
a
as envelope and as support,as a shell presented as “second skin”,as demarcation of
individuality,as a place of inscription of non-verbal memories,as a toxic envelope,and n
so on.In addition to this,an interesting idea is presented:the multiple influence of the
a
psyche over the body has always been known,but what is far less known – apart from
the inhibitive or depressive effects of serious somatic conditions – is the influence of l
y
the body over the psyche,in particular that of the skin over the psyche.This is an idea
which is constantly developed in the book. This book is a magnificent source of s
information and motivation for those who are starting out, as well as a well-
i
documented, conscientious and complex study with abundant and varied clinical s
material for specialists.’
Gerardo Gutiérrez
Director of the Master in psychoanalytical psychotherapies
JORGE ULNIK
Complutense University of Madrid
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www.routledge.com e
SKIN IN PSYCHOANALYSIS

SKIN IN
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Jorge Ulnik
First published 2007 by Karnac Books Ltd.
Published 2018 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2008 by Jorge Ulnik
The rights of Jorge Ulnik to be identified as the author of this work
have been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
AC.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 9781855755161 (pbk)
Edited, designed, and produced by
Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon
www.florenceproduction.co.uk
I dedicate this book to Ester, Alejandra and Analía, who give me
all the love and understanding I need to feel well.
“When I set myself the task of bringing to light what human
beings kept hidden within them, not by the compelling power of
hypnosis, but by observing what they say and what they show, I
thought the task was a harder one than it really is. He that has
eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal
can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his finger-
tips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. And thus the task of
making conscious the most hidden recesses of the mind is one
which it is quite possible to accomplish.” (Freud, 1905d, pp. 77–78)
“In order to judge a man, we must know at least his secret
thoughts, his doubts, his emotions; the wish to know only the
material events of man’s life is merely chronology, the history of
fools.” (Honoré de Balzac, 1831, p. 88).
This book was translated from Spanish by Valeria Muscio and
subedited by Ben Weller.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xi
PREFACE xiii
Gerardo Gutiérrez
Introduction 1
1 The skin in the work of Freud 5
2 Didier Anzieu’s Ego-skin 44
3 Contributions by other psychoanalysts and psychiatrists
to the subject of skin and psychoanalysis 72
4 The skin and the levels of symbolisation: from the Ego-skin
to the thinking-Ego 92
5 “It works for me”: symbolic efficacy and the placebo effect 113
6 Reflections on attachment 129
7 The case of Mr Quirón 164
8 Body image and the psychosomatic patterns of childhood.
Medical publicity regarding the skin 178
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viii CONTENTS
9 Pathomimias: self-inflicted lesions on the skin 202
10 Franz Kafka’s In the Penal Colony: Superego and the skin 225
11 The relationship between what the psychoanalyst hears
and what the dermatologist sees 233
12 Psoriasis: Father, don’t you see I’m burning? (The skin
and the gaze) 256
REFERENCES 270
Index 275
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Iwould like to thank my Spanish friends for making it possible
for me to visit their marvellous country every year: Dr Gerardo
Gutiérrez, Dr Eduardo Chamorro, Dr Victoria Serrano Noguera,
Dr Juan Rodado Martínez and Dr Lourdes Sánchez García (psycho-
analysts); Dr José M. López Sánchez (psychiatrist); Dr José Zurita
(psychotherapist); Dr Emilio Suárez Martín, Dr Enrique Herrera
Ceballos and Dr Carmen Brufau (dermatologists).
I would like to thank Dr Javier Ubogui, an exceptional derma-
tologist, for his generosity, his intelligent advice, and his deep
understanding. His help has been invaluable in every sense, but in
particular with Chapter 11, which he helped write and for which he
provided clinical material and photographs.
I would like to thank my parents, who set an example for me even
today, and who were always supportive.
And I would also like to thank:
Dr Fernando Stengel, Dr Juliana Förster Fernández and Dr Miguel
Fridmanis (dermatologists), because they have always trusted me;
the staff at Psoriahue, who share interdisciplinary work with me:
Dr Miriam Saposnik, Dr Maria Laura Garcia Pazos (dermatologists),
Dr Irene Dabbah (psychiatrist and psychoanalyst), Lic. Patricia
Mirochnik, Lic. Mónica Czerlowski, Lic. Eugenia Melamed (psycho-
analysts) and Professor Alicia Lago (eutonist);
my associate professors at the department of Psychosomatic
Diseases of the UAI who helped me write the chapter about attach-
ment: Lic. Alicia Monder, Lic. Mónica Czerlowski and Lic. Mónica
Santcovsky (psychoanalysts);
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