Eczema Patients’ Skin as a Projection of Psychic Processes

Abstract

This paper presented psychoanalytic evaluations of the psychic processes of chronic eczema patients. Issues related to skin-ego construction, body-related anxieties, and barrier-penetration variables were evaluated by testing three hypotheses. Semi-structured interviews and the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Tests were applied. The skin is a meaningful interface between the body and the psyche. In various skin diseases, mental factors seem to accompany the physical symptoms. Didier Anzieu’s skin ego theory emphasizes the importance of the first experience between the mother and infant through the skin. Maternal capacity for practices such as handling and holding constructs the child’s ego. Deficiencies in these areas might cause disruptions in ego and skin-ego development, as supported by the results of the present study. In addition, body-related anxieties were discussed in this paper with a psychosomatic psychoanalytic approach. Anxieties related to the inner body and the maintenance of bodily integrity were identified among eczema patients. Finally, Fisher and Cleveland’s work on individuals’ barrier and penetration variables was used to determine the relevant variables for eczema patients. The dynamics of both barrier and penetration were among the presented findings.