[The body as the site of self and other perception--a contribution to the identity problem]

The author differentiates between two modes of perception, one is the "expressive" mode, stabilizing and aiming at constancy, the other is the "impressive" mode, penetrating the self and aiming at identification with the percept. The clinical relevance of the latter for the therapy of psychoses is demonstrated by five case studies. The "Leib" as the place of incidence of perception is viewed in its function for the interaction of physician and patient: above all psychotic border states induce forms of communication, which are remarkably close to the body and remain mostly unconscious, but might be the beginning and instigation of a whole of behaviour-(action) chains on the side of the therapist. For the purpose of a controlled handling of the instrument of therapeutic intervention it is necessary to bring to view precisely these processes occurring close to the body. The traditional idea of identity is embarrassing this process of perception.