[Organ worlds: basic principles of analytic body psychology]

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychoanalysis
• Body Psychotherapy

Background:

• The human body serves as a primary object, crucial for basic experiences like aliveness and separateness.
• Understanding the body self is vital in analytical psychology.
• Borderline patients often exhibit disturbances in their body self and organ world.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the concept of "organ fantasies" and pathological zones within the body self and organ world.
• To formulate an analytical psychology of the body.
• To explore the relationship between a defective body self and illness.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework development using "organ fantasies" and pathological zones.
• Analysis of borderline patients to understand the body self.
• Application of a phase model to pathological body self zones.

Main Results:

• Pathological zones in the body self can be understood via a phase model.
• Defective symbolization of experiences contributes to the illness-producing effects of a pathological organ world.
• The body self is foundational for basic life experiences.

Conclusions:

• An analytical psychology of the body can be formulated using concepts like "organ fantasies".
• Defective symbolization is linked to illness in patients with a pathological organ world.
• The proposed framework may be applicable to psychosomatic illnesses.