You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The relationship of psyche and soma is a preoccupation of current psychoanalytic theory. Some models conceptualize a unity in which there is no differentiation. The somatic area is the psychic unconscious, devoid of meaning. In other words, Bios refers to the physiological body of needs, and Eros to the psychological body of desire. D'Alvia describes three levels of body image: conversion, hypochondriasis, and psychosomatic illness.
Three levels of representation are possible. One is connected with the exteroceptive world, that of the senses. A second is connected to proprioceptive sensations: balance, movement, hunger, cold, and the vicissitudes of pain. The third level belongs to erogenous zones.
The ideal integration between psyche and soma results from the use of external and internal perceptions, affects, desire, fantasy, words, and the adequate experience of the object. In pathology, however, one sees different articulation of these developments. In conversion, repression of conflict and identification are used; at any rate, the symptom is a symbolic message. In hypochondria, the symptom is linked to misperception and misinterpretation. Libido is narcissistic, and “doctor shopping” leads to iatrogenic situations. Primary narcissistic identification