Psyche and skin

In this short communication, I intend to present a specific psycho-dynamic theory which explains some of the psychodynamics associated with eczemas and perhaps to some other skin lesions. It provides a framework for understanding and treating such lesions with pure psychodynamic methods, i.e., by psychoanalysis or analytic psychotherapy. These ideas were first presented in 1968 by Ester Bick, a Polish psychoanalyst living in London. Her theory of the role of the primal object for the baby, as the provider of necessary psychological containment, a kind of psychological skin, has proven to be of great value for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists treating adults and children with skin problems. When this "skin function" of the caretaking object fails, real skin lesions may follow. When the person finds in treatment an object who has this containing function, his/her skin heals.