Working with the Bodily Unconscious: Somatic Narration as a Method to Anchor the Working-Through in the Body-Self

In this presentation, Dr. Sebastian Leikert describes the therapeutic path with a young male adolescent patient suffering from emotional instability, suicidality, and self-injury. Establishing therapeutic contact with his perception of disorganized bodily states led to relief from suicidal pressure. Working through these bodily sensations in a resonant presence of the therapist who privileges perception over interpretation in these episodes, played an important role in alleviating the intense fear of annihilation and helped him overcome states of autoaggression leading to self-injury in the past. Dr. Leikert describes the inner dynamics and structure of the bodily unconscious and the ways in which somatic narration and verbal interpretation can be brought into a fruitful relationship.