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Special Section: Attachment, psychopathology, and religion

Clinical and psychopathological research on attachment: the contribution of the psychic envelopes model

Pages 766-776 | Received 30 Sep 2013, Accepted 20 Mar 2014, Published online: 01 Aug 2014
 

Abstract

This paper proposes to put into perspective the attachment model (Bowlby) and that of psychic envelopes (Anzieu) so as to grasp the contribution of attachment theory to the field of psychopathology. Having laid the foundations of the epistemological debate between these two models, relying on a discussion of the stakes inherent in the psychoaffective development approach, the author refers to current forms of psychopathology, which draw massively on the borderline and narcissistic concepts, in order to discuss the sense and benefits of the “skin–ego” model as an alternative and complement to attachment theory. Beyond altering reference models in psychopathology, this debate and related inputs lead to consider therapeutic applications through a combination of the notion of “caregiving group” – a group version of the attachment figure – and the notion of therapeutic offer as a necessary alternative to the ideology of demand.

Notes

1. One may recall the nine functions of the skin-ego described by Anzieu: to maintain thoughts (holding), to contain ideas and affects (handling), to provide a protective shield, to individuate, to manage intersensorial correspondences, to support sexual excitation, to recharge the libido, to register traces of primary communication with the outside world, and self-destructiveness.

2. O. Kernberg identifies these “borderline personalities” based on a terminology which has since tended to be used in a popularised fashion which has little to do with the psychopathological definition of this clinical entity. According to this popular use, we are probably all borderline cases.

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