Voice, body-self and trauma in the analytic space.

Abstract

The author investigates voice and body-self in the analytic space. A look at the role of music and voice in Stone Age ritual, being the core of human culture, and at the role of the mother's voice, being the unborn child's first encounter with the Other, shows the influence of the voice on psychic life. Beyond the symbolic discourse, voice and body-self organize the exchange of emotions. This level becomes crucial when a symbolization disorder dominates the encounter as a result of traumatization. The analytic couple is not limited to a focus on words and images. Both analyst and patient have access to the perception of their body-self; moreover, the sound of the voice proves to be isomorphic to the states of the body-self and provides vocal information. In the analytic space a traumatic inscription in the body-self (encapsulated body engram) can be focused on. Somatic narration describes a way to work through such an engram. Here, the patient is invited to describe his or her body perceptions and thus the disorganized tensions of traumatization can unfold in the analytic space. This enables a cathartic process of overcoming the destructive qualities of traumatic memory. A case report illustrates the method.