ABSTRACT
Both Esther Bick and Didier Anzieu put forward the thesis that the skin plays a primordial role in the formation of the Ego. In The Experience of the Skin in Early Object Relations (1968), Bick, using beautiful imagery, spoke of the body as a vulnerable state, one that may become unbound from its bodily source (the skin). She explained that the primary processes of bodily development are greatly influenced by the infant’s dependence and separation from its caregiver. The most primitive parts of the personality are unconnected to each other; it is the infant’s skin that contains them. For the skin to contain all parts of the personality, the infant must differentiate between what is internal and external. The mother’s care and her response to the infant’s dependency are what induce this awareness of difference. Dependency is crucial to reinforce the first skin in this period of fragility. If the caregiver’s response is insufficient, the creation of an analogous double skin may occur to replace the integrity of the first one.
