ABSTRACT
The creation of a secure internal space for the experience of thought, imagination and reflection occurs within the intersubjective matrix of the relationship between baby and mother. Interactions between baby and mother that involve the surface of the body, the skin, are critical in the evolution of the infant’s sense of a bounded internal space that is separated from the external world through a boundary experienced as the skin. This chapter shows how both primary and secondary skin functions develop within the context of two observations of infants from different cultural backgrounds, one from North America and the other from Latin America. It also explores the importance of the primary and secondary skin functions for contemporary analytical work. As the primary skin function emerges, the analysand can experience his or her feelings, thoughts, and sensations without feeling overwhelmed, and a capacity for reflection, imagination, and desire evolves.
