Primitive Bodily Communications in Psychotherapy

‘I enjoyed this book, particularly its openminded approach to different patient groups from those generally described in clinical papers. As with child and adolescent work, and infant observation, we can learn a great deal of what the body is communicating in these patients: another way of thinking about the phenomena of incorporation, evacuation, pleasure-seeking and elimination that are at the heart of all theory that draws on primitive experiences. It is refreshing and illuminating to read about working with marginalised people without power or agency, let alone a voice to be able to make sense of their experiences in a world in which they are all too often displaced. […] Not to look away from what we might find shameful and hard to bear in ourselves as well as the other; this seems to be the timely message of an original and compassionate book.’

Raffaella Hilty MA (Phil) is an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist with The Bowlby Centre. She has worked as an Honorary Psychotherapist within the NHS for a number of years, and she now works in private practice in London.