Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is the result of more than fifteen years of work with dermatologists and patients with skin diseases, psoriasis in particular. As a consequence, some of the chapters of this book will be of interest to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists almost exclusively. Other chapters, which are also directed at the field of psychology but are more easily readable and refer more to clinical work, will be more interesting for doctors and dermatologists. The book has also a theoretical part which analyses in depth current theories about the skin from a psychoanalytical perspective, adding the contributions of other disciplines, such as the attachment theory and proxemics. It also investigates and summarises all the references the author could find about the skin in the work of Freud, Didier Anzieu and other analysts.