Perchance to Sleep: Minding the Unworded Body in Psychoanalysis

Abstract

In contemporary relational psychoanalysis, influenced by developmental/attachment theories, infant research, and neurobiology, the effectiveness and transformational potential of “the talking cure” can be thought of as, at times, located in areas of nonverbal engagement. It has become increasingly evident that human experience is born in the body and structured in body-based memory that informs us of what we “know in our gut” and contributes to our relating as embodied beings—experiences that as psychoanalysts we cannot or need not necessarily translate directly into declarative discourse. A detailed case presentation from work with a patient suffering from a severe sleep disorder and other forms of bodily dysregulation will be offered to illustrate and explore the affectively meaningful engagement between patient and analyst of somatically encoded, presymbolic memory within the context of a symbolically rich, verbal treatment relationship.

Notes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in May, 2009, with astute commentaries by Jody Davies, James Fosshage, and Alan Schore. My deep gratitude to Jody Davies, Amy Schwartz Cooney, David Brand, Caryn Sherman-Meyer, Joseph Newirth, Barbara Pizer, and Bonnie Zindel for their readings and generous comments.