Listening to Somatosensory States in Psychoanalysis: Body, Trauma, and Poetry

ABSTRACT

The author starts from the apparently outdated James-Lange theory of emotion to rediscover elements of modernity for contemporary psychoanalysis: from James’ bodily-sensory dimension to Damasio’s “feeling of what happens,” to Bucci’s attention to the patient’s visceral narrative in session. William James stated that bodily sensations are the first elements on the path toward consciousness. Damasio emphasizes that “Consciousness is rooted in the representation of the body”. Bucci presents a framework for identifying linkages between bodily and symbolic states and to observe the various degrees of patients’ “visceral speech” in session. These parallels support a sensibility to listen to language as the voice of the body: the relationship between the patient’s narrative and the bodily-sensory dimension can be grasped through the patient’s “imagery” which may reference earlier somatic experience. Particular emphasis is given to the story-telling of trauma.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Even though during the 1909 meeting at Clark University, James addressed Freud with the words “the future of psychology belongs to your work” (Jones, 1955), it would be improper to affirm that there was a mutual influence between the two. A year later, James would have died. Five years later, Freud (1917) would have written: “What you may gather about affects from psychology – the James-Lange theory, for example – is quite beyond understanding or discussion to us psycho-analysts. But we do not regard our knowledge about affects as very assured either; it is a first attempt at finding our bearings in this obscure region” (p. 396).

² Bucci mentions also a fourth level: the Verbal Nonsymbolic (Bucci, 1997a; Bucci et al., 2016).

³ Freud, in his pre-psychoanalytic years, was captivated by the sensory innervation of body membranes. For example, he defines “hysterogenic zones” as “supersensitive areas of the body, on which a slight stimulus releases an attack, the aura of which often starts with a feeling from this area. These areas may be situated in the skin, in the deep parts, the bones, the mucous membranes, even in the sense-organs.” (1888, p. 43). We know how later, along those lines, he articulated his ideas about erotogenic zones. My emphasis on sensory areas is inclusive of erotogenic stimulation.

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Notes on contributors

Michele S. Piccolo

Michele S. Piccolo, Ph.D., is with the Institute of Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) in New York.