ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the relations of the adolescent with the body or, from the metapsychological standpoint, the mind–body link in the adolescent process. Due to the symbolic reordering, it suggests that mentalization insufficiencies are inevitably created – to a greater or lesser degree – during adolescence; the body, therefore, playing a central role in the attempt to dominate the anxieties of this period. Winnicott elaborates on the role of destructiveness in development, specifically in adolescence, emphasizing that during this stage of life, besides the possibility of realizing incest, there is the possibility of realizing parricide or even suicide. The chapter presents a case study, in which it is believed in Livio, as well as in many other adolescents in which somatosis appear, a negative container-contained relationship occurred. There are some attacks on the body, which, although not somatosis, are ways of expressing in the body some of those non-symbolized or badly symbolized dramas.
