Silence, Second Skin, and the Unrepresented.

Abstract

Using the concepts of microdialect and second skin, this paper explores the idea that a patient's silence in the session may function at multiple levels of psychic and relational organization, and-by virtue of its somatically experienced qualities and the special countertransference states these may elicit-might serve as a vehicle for movement between levels. It can thus be fruitfully approached as a potential portal for access to, and creative transformation of, unrepresented experience.