Ego (Psychology), Skin--Psychological aspects, Mind and body, Psychoanalysis, Ego, Psychoanalytic Theory, Skin 

In this classic work, Didier Anzieu presents a synthesis of his research and proposes a theory on the functions of "the skin-ego". Just as the skin is envelope to the body, Anzieu sees "the skin-ego" as a psychic envelope containing, defining and protecting the psyche. From this perspective, the structures and the function of the skin can provide psychoanalysts and psychotherapists with fertile analogies. Anzieu's concept of the skin-ego is the answer to questions he regards as crucial to contemporary psychoanalysis: questions of topography which were left incomplete by Freud; the analysis of fantasies of the container as of the contained; issues of touch between mothers and babies; extending the concept of prohibitions within an Oedipal framework to those derived from a prohibition on touching; and questions pertaining to the representation of the body and to its psychoanalytic setting This new translation of Le Moi-peau is based on the second and last (1995) edition. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Editorial Reviews Review 'It is wonderful to see Didier Anzieu's The Skin-Ego reissued in English. The Skin-Ego is one of the most significant psychoanalytic texts of the last thirty years. It offers a radical revision of Freudian thinking, closely linked to major traditions in British psychoanalysis but also distinctively French in its philosophical and cultural reach. This sparkling and accessible new translation by Naomi Segal gives Anglophone readers an opportunity to appreciate the versatility of Anzieu's ideas on the skin and on psychical "wrapping", and to absorb his deeply scholarly, systematic and practical style. There is more to French psychoanalysis than Lacan - and this book is one of its most important contributions to the psychoanalytic literature.'- Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London'This new translation is brilliant, and makes the Skin-Ego theory very accessible; now that neuroscience and research on infants and parents have demonstrated how Anzieu was right in his ideas of an early influence on narcissistic disorders, this new translation will be very useful for young therapists who didn't have access to this kind of manual of psychoanalytic treatment of difficult patients. Naomi Segal, who knows so well Anzieu's developments on the origins of the capacity for thinking and its roots in early experiences, manages the task of the translator wonderfully, and captures the essence of this very original theory of containment and psychoanalytic technique.'- Christine Anzieu-Premmereur, MD, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University and Director of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center's Parent-Infant Program --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Language Notes Text: English, French (translation)