Body Experience: The Subjective Dimension of Psyche and Soma Contributions to Psychosomatic Medicine

In this book body experience is seen as the subjective expression of psyche and soma and is discussed in relation to its significance in modern medical practice and psychoanalysis. The authors relate how the patient's subjective expression of his or her body frequently plays only a marginal role in current therapy and how the central factor of many diseases is consequently missed. Particularly in the growing field of psychoanalytic psychosomatic medicine it will be necessary to pay the issue of body experience more attention. These theoretical and empirical contributions on body experience were specially prepared for the volume. Initial chapters cover a variety of aspects of body experience and its general significance in medicine and psychoanalysis. Following chapters consider body-oriented forms of therapy, sex-related aspects of body experience and the empirical measurement of body experience and bodily complaints.