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With the exception of Freud's "pleasure-pain principle, " the phenomenon of pain has received very little attention in psychoanalysis. An attempt is made in this paper to approach the problem of pain with the conceptual tools of modern ego psychology and to integrate it into the framework of psychoanalytic theory.
The intimate theoretical linkage between the concept of the ego and the nature of affects is noted. Examination of the psychoanalytic model of the mental apparatus suggests that this model is so constructed that an understanding of the problem of pain is greatly hindered. This assertion is based predominantly on the ambiguous position which the body (of the self) occupies in classical theory. An extension of our views is proposed in line with the fundamental notion of object relationships. It is suggested (1) that we conceive of the ego as relating not only to internal and external objects, but also to the body of the self, as an object; and (2) that we look upon pain (Schmerz) as an affect, having to do with the relationship of the ego to the body. Evidence is presented to justify this view and to demonstrate its value.