1. Encapsulated body engrams and somatic narration – Integrating body memory into psychoanalytic technique.
- Author
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Leikert, Sebastian
- Subjects
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PATHOLOGICAL psychology , *PSYCHOANALYSIS , *PSYCHOTHERAPY , *DEPTH psychology - Abstract
Beginning with the observation that a good integration of soma and psyche is often missing in our work with severely disturbed analysands, two concepts are discussed that focus constellations of bodily encoded unconscious material, which needs a specific form of working-through. The concept of encapsulated body engrams referring to defence structures revolving around the inhibition or disorganization of an affective bodily impulse is outlined. The imbalance arising this way is perceived as a foreign body within the body-self. These engrams are repetitive and are not susceptible to symbolic transformation. Parallels between the encapsulated body engram, the autistic objects (Tustin, F. 1980. "Autistic Objects." International Review of Psycho-Analysis 27: 27–39) and Freud's theory of inhibition (Freud, S. 1926. "Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety." SE 20: 77–175) are discussed. To unblock encapsulated engrams, body feelings emerging in the chain of associations are understood as attempts to communicate. In a process called somatic narration these perceptions are contextualized with other bodily sensations. The working-through of this material in transference and countertransference is described in the light of Lombardi's concepts (Lombardi, R. 2017. Body- Mind Dissociation in Psychoanalysis – Development after Bion. New York: Routledge). Two case reports precede the theoretical discussion. The paper begins with the observation that a good integration of the soma and psyche is often missing in our work with severely disturbed analysands; two concepts are then discussed that focus on constellations of bodily encoded unconscious material which need a specific form of working through. The author proposes the concept of encapsulated body engrams to refer to the defense structures revolving around the inhibition or disorganization of an affected bodily impulse. The dysfunctional imbalance that arises this way is often perceived as a foreign body within the body-self. These engrams are highly repetitive and are not susceptible to symbolic transformation. Parallels between the encapsulated body engram, the autistic objects (Tustin, 1980) and Freuds theory of inhibition (Freud, 1926) are discussed. The paper argues that body feelings emerging in the chain of associations are attempts to communicate and to unblock encapsulated engrams. In a process called somatic narration, these perceptions are then contextualized with other bodily sensations. The unfolding and working through of this material in the transference and countertransference is described in light of Lombardi's concepts (2017). Two case reports are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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