
The Skin-Ego
A New Translation by Naomi Segal
Didier Anzieu(Author)
Karnac Books (Publisher)
Published on 4. April 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
356 pages
978-1-78220-100-7 (ISBN)
Description
In this classic work, Didier Anzieu presents and develops his theory of the importance of 'the Skin-ego'. Just as the skin is wrapped around the body, so Anzieu sees the 'Skin-ego' as a psychical wrapping containing, defining and consolidating the subject. From this perspective, the structure and functions of the skin can provide psychoanalysts and general readers with a fertile and practical metaphor.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. The translator, Professor Naomi Segal, is Professorial Fellow in French and German Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.
Reviews / Votes
'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 ProgramMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Professional Practice & Development
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
597 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78220-100-7 (9781782201007)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
07/2019
1st Edition
Routledge
€167.41
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Persons
Didier Anzieu (1923-1999) was a French psychoanalyst and theorist whose work brought the body back to the centre of psychoanalytic enquiry. He was the author of numerous books and articles, on areas ranging from Freud's self-analysis, group psychology, and psychodrama to theories of creativity and thought; he also published short stories, literary criticism, a drama, a book of cartoons and a study of May 1968 written from the heart of Nanterre. His research was always conducted alongside his academic and clinical practice, both characterised by inclusivity, curiosity, a broad mind and a gentle manner. Naomi Segal is a professor of modern languages, specialising in comparative literary and cultural studies, gender, psychoanalysis and the body. In 2004 she created and directed the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London. She has published fifteen books, of which the most recent monographs are 'Consensuality: Didier Anzieu, Gender and the Sense of Touch' and 'Andre Gide: Pederasty and Pedagogy'. She is an Academic Associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes academiques and a Member of the Academia Europaea.
Content
Series Editor's Foreword , Translator's Foreword , Introduction , Discovery , Epistemological preliminaries , Four sets of data , The notion of a Skin-ego , The Greek Myth of Marsyas , The psychogenesis of the Skin-ego , Structure, Functions, Overcoming , Two precursors of the theory of the Skin-ego: Freud and Federn , The functions of the Skin-ego , Disturbances of basic sensori-motor distinctions , Impairments of the structure of the Skin-ego in narcissistic personalities and borderline cases , The double taboo on touching, the condition for overcoming the Skin-ego , Principal Configurations , The wrapping of sound , The thermal wrapping , The olfactory wrapping , Confusion of qualities of taste , The second muscular skin , The wrapping of suffering , The film of dreams , Summaries and further observations , Chapter Eighteen from 1985 edition , Table of Case Studies