Scar Tissue That I Wish You See: Hidden Meaning in Body Art and Self-Harm - Marica Rytovaara
Date: 27 February 2010
10am - 12.30pm
In this talk I want to explore some of the hidden meanings and symbolism behind tattooing, body piercing and deliberate self harm. The skin, the epidermis, is usually seen as a protective membrane between the self and the outside world. I want to look at what happens when the semi-permeability is disrupted and the container ossifies into a suffocating carapace holding the skinless infant self hostage as in Gianna Williams ‘no-entry anorexic adolescents’. This defence mechanism is also evident in dissociative states and body dysmorphic disorders and the therapist advances at her peril.
The skin can also be perceived as an alien Other, not-Self; a vellum to ritually inscribe, burn or scar. James George Frazer described in The Golden Bough, the magic of mimesis where a representation acquires the properties of the represented. Freud talked about ‘ideational mimetics’ in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. I will try to explore the self soothing aspects of deliberate self-harm and the mutilation of the skin as a displacement for transgressions, real and imagined and limenality. I will use case vignettes from infant observations, adolescent and adult material as well as extracts from literature and film clips to illustrate some of the theoretical points I wish to make.
Marica Rytovaara is a Professional Member of The SAP and Reviews Editor of the JAP. She works as a consultant in adolescent psychotherapy in the NHS and has a small private practice in North London.
Venue: The Society of Analytical Psychology
Cost: £25 including coffee
Posted by SAP Admin
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