Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Body in Today's World

Vaia Tsolas is a psychologist and psychoanalyst on the faculty at Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center and Albert Einstein Medical School, teaching Freud and Lacan. She is the director of Rose Hill Psychological Services. She is the winner of IPA Sacerdoti Prize, Columbia Ovesey and Klar best teacher award. Christine Anzieu-Premmereur is M.D., Ph.D. and Psychoanalyst, member at the Société Psychanalytique de Paris and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She is currently the director of the Parent-Infant Program at the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center and Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University.

"Fidelity to Freud's method in this book featuring contributions by many eminent psychoanalysts, becomes the creative spur towards bold new theories and ideas on the centrality of the body in psychoanalysis. The multiplicity of approaches guarantees a multidimensional and insightful journey that dares to tread new paths while remaining grounded in inalienability of the Freudian perspective.The academic rigor of On the Body makes it stand out and I have no doubt that it will great interest to those working in the field of mental health."Antonino Ferro, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, and Training and Supervising Analyst in the American Psychoanalytic Association."The authors demonstrate that if today’s psychoanalysis wants to remain relevant, the body of the drives should be restored to a central position. Yet our world is dramatically changing. A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Body raises fundamental questions that stem from philosophical and clinical thoughts on the body in post Freudian psychoanalysis. The complexity of infantile and adult sexuality is explored here, and this exploration gives rise to fascinating elaborations on the role of technology, gender, transgenderism. Every analyst should read it."Marilia Aisenstein, a training analyst and the former president of the Paris Psychoanalytic Society."This book reclaims a fundamental connection/integration of the contemporary psychoanalytic mind with the reality of the body of drives. Like a tree’s branches, post-freudian achievements and visions have made psychoanalysis an advanced science and practice, but now we need a harmonious re-integration of the trunk of that analytic tree: as Freud asserted, body and its drives are the basis for a deep psychoanalytic view. This is the role of this wonderful book in our contemporary psychoanalytic literature."Stefano Bolognini, psychiatrist, training and supervising analyst of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society and the President of the International Psychoanalytical Association."This fascinating collection of essays proposes to restore and elaborate original conceptions of drive and body sidelined in contemporary psychoanalysis, and thereby reopen their exciting intellectual and clinical potential. The complex theoretical contributions by brilliant and erudite scholars offer a fresh take on the existing body of thought on sexuality and drive in psychoanalysis. Based in primarily French traditions, On the Body offers rich and radical reflections on the body and its psychic representation that will challenge and enlighten readers of all backgrounds. "Jessica Benjamin, the author of Beyond Doer and Done To: Recognition Theory, Intersubjectivity and the Third.

• TABLE OF CONTENTSGeneral Introduction VAIA TSOLAS PART I: THE BODY IN OUR CHANGING WORLD IntroductionVaia TsolasEmpathy MachinesSherry TurkleChanging Attitudes about Sex: A Dual Inheritance Perspective Robert A. PaulModern Gender Flexibility: Pronoun changes and the Body's ActivitiesRosemary H. BalsamPART II: THE BODY IN THE CHANGING FAMILYIntroductionVaia TsolasIntroduction to: "Transformations of Parentality", by Julia Kristeva, Translated by Edward KennyRosemary H. BalsamTransformations of ParentalityJulia KristevaThe Sibling Body EgoJuliet Mitchell Perspectives on the Body Ego and Mother-Infant Interaction. I’ve Got You Under My SkinChristine Anzieu-PremmereurPART III: THE SEXUAL BODY, THE SPEAKING BODY AND THE SICK BODYIntroductionMaria Christina Aguirre Body and Soul. A Never-Ending StoryPaul VerhaegheSomatic Ailment and Death Drive: Dangerous LiaisonsPanagiotis AloupisWhat is Alive in the Ill Body? Affect and Representation in PsychosomaticsMarina PapageorgiouPART IV: SEX, GENDER AND INFANTILE SEXUALITYIntroduction Christine Anzieu-PremmereurForeign Bodies: The Body-Psyche and its PhantomsDominique ScarfoneBotched Bodies: Inventing Gender and Constructing SexPatricia GheroviciRepudiation of Femininity and the Aftermath on the Female Sexual Body Vaia TsolasCONCLUDING REMARKSChristine Anzieu-Premmereur