Body Modifications - Aesthetics and (Re)Construction of Identity in the Psychoanalytic Process

Abstract

From the typical daily routines to complex aesthetic and / or reconstructive interventions, body modifications, in their different forms and diverse meanings, are also present in psychoanalytic clinical work. Taking into account the “somatopsychic unity” concept, rather than establishing iniquitous delimitations between “normality” and “pathology”, we present, in this paper, three brief clinical vignettes where body modifications that occurred during the therapeutic process were integrated in it contributing to the (re) significance of the patients’ identity.