Three Cases of Skin Self-harm in the Modern Cinema: a Psychoanalytic View

Psychoanalysis of cinema

Abstract

To this day, there is much concern about the problem of non-suicidal self-harm as the number of patients using such way of acting is growing every year. Since self-harm and self- destruction can take absolutely any form, from eating disorders, workaholism to addictions and promiscuity, the author wanted to understand the reasons for choosing the skin as the object of self-aggression. The purpose of this work was a theoretical analysis of the various views of the psychoanalysts on the functions of the skin, the reasons for the attack on it, as well as the study of the experience of practical application of the concept of "I-skin" by Didier Anzieu in the analysis of the works of modern cinema in the psychoanalytic approach. We have investigated how closely the propensity for self-harm skin behavior is associated with failure or difficulties in early relationships with the primary object, leading to disruption in the formation and proper functioning of the psychic skin - the primary metaphorical presentation of the "I", supported by bodily sensory and called Didier Anzieu "I- skin." The features of the primary objects which could be connected to the arising of self-harm behavior later also have been discussed.