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.