“What a strange organ is our skin. I wouldn’t hesitate to define skin as the ‘Self organ’ as described by Freud (contact barrier and psychic shell) E. Brick (psychic skin) and D’Anzieu (self skin).

Albeit in slightly different ways these three important psychoanalysts have theorized the creation of the human sense of Self and the distinction between inner and outer matter through the psychic representation of the physical surface and the contact with it.

Touching the skin somehow ‘shuts’ the shell and avoids dispersing its inner content.

This is why embracing, caressing and massaging are so important and nurturing for children and adults all the same.

But who wouldn’t appreciate the soft brushing of a feather or finger tips on their back?

This is a very different sensation altogether.

This sensation doesn’t shut but rather raises one from oneself to that dimension where the difference between oneself and the other isn’t clearly cut anymore.

What is going to happen to your Ego considering Bick’s Psychic skin or Anzieu’s Self skin? It will stay suspended, open and undefined, lying in wait of…something better.

I find this technique extraordinary! Why? Because it amplifies this sensation, allowing the whole body to perceive this new feeling.

We will feel lighter, emptied and less separated from the rest.

Only one warning, it’s not suitable for psychotic individuals.”

Dr Stefania Grazzini, psychologist