The Self and the Body: I. The Body Self and the Body Image

The present discussion extends previously formulated concepts of the self as agent and as object to include the body as an integral component of the self system in psychoanalysis. Three components are discussed—physical body, body self, and body image—and their differentiation and interrelationship are analyzed. The analysis begins with Freud's views of the derivation and functioning of the mind in relation to the body, and then takes up the meaning and various manifestations of the body image, particularly with reference to its representational and experiential functions, and its involvement in pathological conditions. Then I discuss the concept of the body self and its relationship to and distinction from the body image, with special focus on the differentiation between body self as structurally conceived and the body image as essentially representational. These differentiations are evident in various pathological conditions, states of dissociation, out-of-body experiences, autoscopy, distortions of body boundaries, near-death experiences. The interrelationship among the three terms—body, body self, and body image—and their implications for the integration (single or multiple) of the self concept in psychoanalysis are explored.

The discussion concludes with some observations on the development of the body self.