Somatic Experience in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy: In the expressive language of the living

175 Pages·2015·2.385 MB·English

by  William F. Cornell

Somatic Experience in
Psychoanalysis and
Psychotherapy
The body, of both the patient and the analyst, is increasingly a focus of attention
in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice, especially from a relational
perspective. There is a renewed regard for the understanding of embodied experi-
ence and sexuality as essential to human vitality. However, most of the existing
literature has been written by analysts with no formal training in body-centered
work. In this book W illiam Cornell draws on his experience as a body-centered
psychotherapist to offer an informed blend of the two traditions, to allow psycho-
analysts a deep understanding, in psychoanalytic language, of how to work with
the body as an ally.
The primary focus of S omatic Experience in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy
situates systematic attention to somatic experience and direct body-level interven-
tion in the practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It provides a close read-
ing of the work of Wilhelm Reich, repositioning his work within a contemporary
psychoanalytic frame and re-presents Winnicott’s work with a particular emphasis
on the somatic foundations of his theories. William Cornell includes vivid and
detailed case vignettes including accounts of his own bodily experience to fully
illustrate a range of somatic attention and intervention that include verbal descrip-
tion of sensate experience, exploratory movement, and direct physical contact.
Drawing on relevant theory and significant clinical material, S omatic Experi-
ence in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy will allow psychoanalysts an under-
standing of how to work with the body in their clinical practice. It will bring
a fresh perspective on psychoanalytic thinking to body-centered psychotherapy
where somatic experience is seen as an ally to psychic and interpersonal growth.
This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychodynamically ori-
ented psychotherapists, transactional analysts, body-centered psychotherapists,
Gestalt therapists, counselors, and students.
William F. Cornell maintains an independent private practice of psychotherapy
and consultation in Pittsburgh, PA. He has devoted 40 years to the study and inte-
gration of psychoanalysis, neo-Reichian body therapy and transactional analysis.
He is a Training and Supervising Transactional Analyst and has established an
international reputation for his teaching and consultation.
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Co-Editors
STEVEN KUCHUCK & EYAL ROZMARIN
Associate Editors
The Relational Perspectives Book Series (RPBS) publishes books that grow out of
or contribute to the relational tradition in contemporary psychoanalysis. The term
relational psychoanalysis was first used by Greenberg and Mitchell 1 to bridge the
traditions of interpersonal relations, as developed within interpersonal psycho-
analysis and object relations, as developed within contemporary British theory.
But, under the seminal work of the late Stephen Mitchell, the term r elational psy-
choanalysis grew and began to accrue to itself many other influences and develop-
ments. Various tributaries—interpersonal psychoanalysis, object relations theory,
self psychology, empirical infancy research, and elements of contemporary Freud-
ian and Kleinian thought—flow into this tradition, which understands relational
configurations between self and others, both real and fantasied, as the primary
subject of psychoanalytic investigation.
W e refer to the relational tradition, rather than to a relational school, to highlight
that we are identifying a trend, a tendency within contemporary psychoanalysis,
not a more formally organized or coherent school or system of beliefs. Our use of
the term r elational signifies a dimension of theory and practice that has become
salient across the wide spectrum of contemporary psychoanalysis. Now under the
editorial supervision of Lewis Aron and Adrienne Harris with the assistance of
Associate Editors Steven Kuchuck and Eyal Rozmarin, the Relational Perspec-
tives Book Series originated in 1990 under the editorial eye of the late Stephen A.
Mitchell. Mitchell was the most prolific and influential of the originators of the
relational tradition. He was committed to dialogue among psychoanalysts and he
abhorred the authoritarianism that dictated adherence to a rigid set of beliefs or
technical restrictions. He championed open discussion, comparative and integra-
tive approaches, and he promoted new voices across the generations.
Included in the Relational Perspectives Book Series are authors and works that
come from within the relational tradition, extend and develop the tradition, as
well as works that critique relational approaches or compare and contrast them
with alternative points of view. The series includes our most distinguished senior
psychoanalysts, along with younger contributors who bring fresh vision.
1 Greenberg, J. & Mitchell, S. (1983). O bject relations in psychoanalytic theory. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Vol. 1 Vol. 9
Conversing with Uncertainty: Infl uence and Autonomy in
Practicing Psychotherapy Psychoanalysis
in a Hospital Setting Stephen A. Mitchell
Rita Wiley McCleary
Vol. 10
Vol. 2 Fairbairn, Then and Now
Affect in Psychoanalysis: Neil J. Skolnick & David E.
A Clinical Synthesis Scharff (eds.)
Charles Spezzano
Vol. 11
Building Bridges:
Vol. 3
Negotiation of Paradox in
The Analyst in the Inner City:
Psychoanalysis
Race, Class, and Culture
Stuart A. Pizer
through a Psychoanalytic Lens
Neil Altman
Vol. 12
Relational Perspectives on the Body
Vol. 4
Lewis Aron & Frances Sommer
A Meeting of Minds:
Anderson (eds.)
Mutuality in Psychoanalysis
Lewis Aron
Vol. 13
Seduction, Surrender, and
Vol. 5
Transformation:
Holding and Psychoanalysis:
Emotional Engagement in the
A Relational Perspective
Analytic Process
Joyce A. Slochower
Karen Maroda
Vol. 6
Vol. 14
The Therapist as a Person:
Relational Psychoanalysis:
Life Crises, Life Choices, Life
The Emergence of a Tradition
Experiences, and Their Effects on
Stephen A. Mitchell & Lewis Aron (eds.)
Treatment
Barbara Gerson (ed.) Vol. 15
The Collapse of the Self and Its
Vol. 7
Therapeutic Restoration
Soul on the Couch:
Rochelle G. K. Kainer
Spirituality, Religion, and Morality
in Contemporary Psychoanalysis Vol. 16
Charles Spezzano & Gerald J. Psychoanalytic Participation:
Gargiulo (eds.) Action, Interaction, and Integration
Kenneth A. Frank
Vol. 8
Unformulated Experience: Vol. 17
From Dissociation to Imagination The Reproduction of Evil:
in Psychoanalysis A Clinical and Cultural Perspective
Donnel B. Stern Sue Grand
Vol. 18 Vol. 27
Objects of Hope: Exploring The Designed Self: Psychoanalysis
Possibility and Limit in and Contemporary Identities
Psychoanalysis Carlo Strenger
Steven H. Cooper
Vol. 28
Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. II:
Vol. 19
Innovation and Expansion
Who is the Dreamer, Who Dreams
L ewis Aron & Adrienne
the Dream? A Study of Psychic
Harris (eds.)
Presences
James S. Grotstein Vol. 29
Child Therapy in the Great
Vol. 20 Outdoors: A Relational View
Relationality: From Attachment Sebastiano Santostefano
to Intersubjectivity
Stephen A. Mitchell Vol. 30
The Healer’s Bent: Solitude and
Vol. 21 Dialogue in the Clinical Encounter
Looking for Ground: James T. McLaughlin
Countertransference and the
Vol. 31
Problem of Value in Psychoanalysis
Unconscious Fantasies and the
Peter G. M. Carnochan
Relational World
Danielle Knafo & Kenneth Feiner
Vol. 22
Sexuality, Intimacy, Power Vol. 32
Muriel Dimen Getting from Here to There:
Analytic Love, Analytic Process
Vol. 23 Sheldon Bach
September 11: Trauma and
Human Bonds Vol. 33
Susan W. Coates, Jane L. Rosenthal, & Creating Bodies: Eating Disorders
Daniel S. Schechter (eds.) as Self-Destructive Survival
Katie Gentile
Vol. 24
Vol. 34
Minding Spirituality
Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. III:
Randall Lehman Sorenson
New Voices
Melanie Suchet, Adrienne Harris, &
Vol. 25
Lewis Aron (eds.)
Gender as Soft Assembly
Adrienne Harris Vol. 35
Comparative-Integrative
Vol. 26 Psychoanalysis: A Relational
Impossible Training: A Relational Perspective for the Discipline’s
View of Psychoanalytic Education Second Century
Emanuel Berman Brent Willock
Vol. 36 Vol. 45
Bodies in Treatment: First Do No Harm: The Paradoxical
The Unspoken Dimension Encounters of Psychoanalysis,
Frances Sommer Anderson (ed.) Warmaking, and Resistance
Adrienne Harris &
Vol. 37 Steven Botticelli (eds.)
Adolescent Identities:
A Collection of Readings Vol. 46
Deborah Browning (ed.) A Disturbance in the Field:
Essays in Transference-
Vol. 38 Countertransference Engagement
Repair of the Soul: Metaphors Steven H. Cooper
of Transformation in Jewish
Mysticism and Psychoanalysis Vol. 47
Karen E. Starr Uprooted Minds: Surviving the
Politics of Terror in the Americas
Vol. 39 Nancy Caro Hollander
Dare to be Human: A Contemporary
Psychoanalytic Journey Vol. 48
Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum Toward Mutual Recognition:
Relational Psychoanalysis and
Vol. 40
the Christian Narrative
The Analyst in the Inner City,
Marie T. Hoffman
Second Edition: Race, Class,
and Culture through a Vol. 49
Psychoanalytic Lens Understanding and Treating
Neil Altman Dissociative Identity Disorder:
A Relational Approach
Vol. 41
Elizabeth F. Howell
The Hero in the Mirror:
From Fear to Fortitude Vol. 50
Sue Grand With Culture in Mind:
Psychoanalytic Stories
Vol. 42
Muriel Dimen (ed.)
Sabert Basescu: Selected Papers
on Human Nature and Psychoanalysis
Vol. 51
George Goldstein & Helen Golden (eds.)
Relational Psychoanalysis,
Vol. 43 Vol. IV: Expansion of Theory
Invasive Objects: Minds under Siege L ewis Aron & Adrienne
Paul Williams Harris (eds.)
Vol. 44 Vol. 52
Good Enough Endings: Breaks, Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. V:
Interruptions, and Terminations from Evolution of Process
Contemporary Relational Perspectives L ewis Aron & Adrienne
Jill Salberg (ed.) Harris (eds.)
Vol. 53 Vol. 61
Individualizing Gender and Sexuality: The Embodied Analyst: From Freud
Theory and Practice and Reich to Relationality
Nancy Chodorow Jon Sletvold
Vol. 54 Vol. 62
The Silent Past and the A Relational Psychoanalytic
Invisible Present: Approach to Couples Psychotherapy
Memory, Trauma, and Representation Philip A. Ringstrom
in Psychotherapy
Vol. 63
Paul Renn
Cyclical Psychodynamics and
the Contextual Self: The Inner World,
Vol. 55
the Intimate World, and the World
A Psychotherapy for the People:
of Culture and Society
Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis
Paul L. Wachtel
Lewis Aron & Karen Starr
Vol. 64
Vol. 56
Traumatic Ruptures: Abandonment
Holding and Psychoanalysis:
and Betrayal in the Analytic
A Relational Perspective
Relationship
Joyce Slochower
Robin A. Deutsch (ed.)
Vol. 57
Vol. 65
The Play Within the Play:
The Cut and the Building of
The Enacted Dimension of
Psychoanalysis, Volume 1: Sigmund
Psychoanalytic Process
Freud and Emma Eckstein
Gil Katz
Carlo Bonomi
Vol. 58 Vol. 66
Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Psychoanalysis and
Relational Systems of Subjugation Psychotherapy Integration:
Daniel Shaw An Evolving Synergy
Jill Bresler & Karen Starr (eds.)
Vol. 59
Clinical Implications of the Vol. 67
Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience: The Legacy of Sandor Ferenczi:
When the Personal Becomes From Ghost to Ancestor
Professional Adrienne Harris &
Steven Kuchuck (ed.) Steven Kuchuck (eds.)
Vol. 60 Vol. 68
The Origins of Attachment: Infant Somatic Experience in Psychoanalysis
Research and Adult Treatment and Psychotherapy: In the Expressive
Beatrice Beebe & Language of the Living
Frank M. Lachmann William F. Cornell
Somatic Experience
in Psychoanalysis and
Psychotherapy
In the Expressive Language
of the Living
William F. Cornell
First published 2015
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
And by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2015 William F. Cornell
The right of William F. Cornell to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cornell, William F.
Somatic experience in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy : in the
expressive language of the living / William F. Cornell.
pages cm
1. Psychoanalysis. 2. Psychotherapy. I. Title.
RC501.2.C67 2015
616.89′14—dc23
2014040490
ISBN: 978-1-138-82675-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-82676-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73899-4 (ebk)
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In loving and grateful memory of Rose Leopold: For
giving me a second chance at life and showing me that a
passionate life was possible.
And to Mick Landaiche: For proving Rose so right.