The body of thought: Psychoanalytic considerations on the mind-body relationship

SUMMARY

This paper is an introductory review of a complex area of development and pathology. Psychoanalytic thinking about the mind-body relationship originated in Freud's studies of hysteria, in which the patient's body exhibited the unresolved mental conflicts. Subsequent psychoanalytic research into early development focused on the emergence of the psychological self from the early mother-infant relationship with its predominantly bodily experiences. The vicissitudes of the mind-body relationship have to be considered within the context of development of object-relationships and affect regulation.