The Acquisition of a Body: Establishing a New Paradigm and Introducing a Clinical Tool to Explore the Intergenerational Transmission of Embodiment THE BODI GROUP MEMBERS: CATHERINE BAKER-PITTS,

Introduction In 2005, our multidisciplinary group was convened by London psychoanalyst Susie Orbach and attachment researcher Miriam Steele from the New School to investigate the intergenerational transmission of gendered embodiment 1 —how in the first body-to-body relationship between a mother and her child, ‘body-states’ are passed on. Borrowing from the abundance of attachment work focused on the co-construction of the psyche (Beebe & Lachmann, 2 2002; Steele & Steele, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c), we set out to collaborate on a series of instruments 3 to look at the developmental trajectory of the body, culminating in the Body Observational Diagnostic Interview (BODI, see Appendix) 4 .