Abstract

Metapsychologically separating the body from the soma allows for the clarification of many conceptual issues. The body would be a surface, turned outward, on the side of the visible, endowed with consciousness, comparable to the Ego. While the somatic, on the other hand, is found on the side of depth, the inside, the invisible, the unconscious, and the Id. The body would be an intermediate formation between soma and psyche. Indeed, by taking a closer look at the question of the tendency for the discharge of the Id, outward for the action, and inward for somatization, can we not think of the body, sensorimotority, as intermediate forma-tions in the elaboration of somatic elements toward the psychic? Thus, the soma receives the discharges inward, causing the drive to lose its communicative function and therefore its connection to the object, the-reby generating an incomplete drive. While the body, sensorimotority, promoting discharges outward, maintains the communicative dimension of the drive and its connection to the object, it generates a reciprocal en-richment through the response of the object, which then becomes pos-sible. This dimension goes in the direction of a drive completion.

Keywords: body, soma, drive, preconscious, sensorimotority

Abstract

This review article examines Sándor Ferenczi’s seminal work “The Unwelcome Child and His Death Drive” in the context of early trauma, discussing in depth its significance for contemporary psychoanalytic psychosomatic thought and clinical practice. Using a theoretical analytical approach, the author re-evaluates Ferenczi’s work while establishing striking parallels with the conceptual frameworks developed by the Paris School of Psychosomatics, particularly those of Pierre Marty and Claude Smadja. In this way, Ferenczi’s thinking is shown to contribute not only to a deeper understanding of the psychoanalytic psychosomatic dimension of this phenomenon, but also to reflections on its possible treatment within clinical practice. The article thus demonstrates how Ferenczi’s ideas influenced not only the clinical perspectives of his own time but also the subsequent evolution of psychoanalytic psychosomatic literature. The text presents significant intellectual debates that shed light on the development of psychoanalytic psychosomatic theory. 

Keywords: unwelcome child, maternal function, death drive, operational life, essential depression

Abstract

The adolescents with psychosomatic illness are more vulnerable than their peers due to very early infantal traumas. Due to poor functioning protective shield function, the subjectivation process of adolescence is blocked. In this article, the protective shield of the psychosomatically ill adolescents will be studied in terms of the maternal and paternal functions under the concept of psychic bisexuality. Clinical vignettes will clarify the functioning of the protective shield.

Keywords: adolescent, psychosomatic, protective shield, paternal function, psychic bisexuality

Abstract

In this study, a 37-year-old female patient who had undergone amputation of her left leg following a traffic accident and was hospitalized in the Orthopedics Department of Istanbul (Çapa) Medical Faculty Hospital was administered the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Tests. The responses were evaluated in terms of maternalism, attachment, differentiation, and individuation patterns. The patient, who was abandoned by her mother at a very early age and lost her father, had to migrate abroad at a young age. After becoming a mother, she experienced a traffic accident, adding a life-threatening physical trauma on top of unresolved psychological traumas. Due to the chronic osteomyelitis (bone infection) that persisted after the accident, she underwent multiple surgeries on her left leg, which was eventually amputated. The evaluation revealed that the patient's early traumatic experiences, combined with the physical loss, accentuated her narcissistic issues. It was observed that her fantasy capacity was insufficient, and due to object loss, the patient clung to a protective and encompassing maternal image. However, she could not connect this image to a whole and libidinal design and had difficulty tolerating separation.

Keywords: trauma, grief, psychosomatic, amputation, projective tests

Michel Fain / Translator: Kübra Koç