#THE SUPEREGO SKIN#

Penelope Garvey lives in Devon and is a training and supervising analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society. She discusses the importance of being able to recognise the kind of superego we are up against and raises questions about the limits to its modifiability by psychoanalysis. Penelope Garvey outlines the differences between Klein’s early harsh superego, her normal mature superego and the extreme forces from the deep unconscious that constitute what has been variously named the ‘abnormal superego’, the ‘ego destructive superego’, the ‘envious superego’ and the ‘ego splitting superego’. She is the course lead for ‘Understanding Trauma: Principles and practice’ at the Tavistock where she also runs supervisions and a workshop on trauma and early development for trainee child psychotherapists.ġ1.45-12.00 – Chair: comments and online questionsġ2.45-13.45 Questioning the Superego – Penelope Garvey Louise has a long-standing interest in complex trauma and its impact on development. Both patients were seen in the context of a specialist service for adolescents with complex medically unexplained conditions.ĭr Louise Allnutt is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist at University College Hospital in London where she primarily works with adolescents with complex medical conditions.

#THE SUPEREGO SKIN#

The paper will explore the development of physical symptoms as possible second skin defences against an internal persecutory super ego, that contributes to the struggle to separate and grow psychologically. She is in full-time private practice in London.ġ0.45-11.45 Emotional Insecurity and Bodily Protection: Developmental Complexities in Adolescents with Complex Medically Unexplained Symptoms – Louise Allnutt Drawing on Bick’s concept of second skin (1968) and Klein’s understanding of the early superego, this paper will explore two case examples of adolescents who developed crippling physical symptoms at the moment of transition into secondary education. She has had many years of experience working in NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), and in a Perinatal Service. She’ll discuss some clinical vignettes from her own experience of working psychotherapeutically with parents and infants in a perinatal service, and under-five year olds in private practice, in the context of Kleinian and post-Kleinian theories.Ī psychoanalyst and member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Anjali Grier is a child and adolescent psychotherapist, and a member of the Association of Child Psychotherapists. His book, The Psychoanalyst’s Superegos, Ego Ideals, and Blind Spots: The Emotional Development of a Clinician (London: Routledge) was published in 2019.Ġ9.30-10.30 The Superego in Infancy and Young Childhood: some Benign and Pathological Developments – Anjali GrierĪnjali Grier reflects on the superego in infancy and young childhood. The day will be chaired by Dr Vic Sedlak, a Training and Supervising Analyst in the British Psychoanalytical Society and President Elect of the British Society. In this sense, it can be a helpful and necessary companion, critical to how we conduct our life. This form of the superego can support one to think about complex questions on how we treat others, what actions we take, and how we manage our desires and our guilt. This more approachable internal object or presence can be turned to when the individual is considering matters of conscience, morals, and ethics. The second version is a superego which reflects more positive aspects of parental figures which are internalised as protective, benign, and forgiving. How destructive a force it is will be influenced by individual familial experiences and innate personality factors. This is a critic who is anything but companionable. There can be a fundamentalist character to this voice, or internal presence, dominating and absolutist in nature. The version with which most immediately springs to many people’s minds is that of a harsh critical voice in one’s mind, a judgmental, moralising, persecutory presence which undermines and distorts the individual’s capacity to assess reality and come to balanced judgements about themselves and others. Freud described it as the heir to the Oedipus Complex, linking it with the introjection of parental injunctions and restraints.įollowing the title of this conference, it is ‘critical’ in two ways. The superego is a central concept in psychoanalysis. Saturday 9 July, St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester M12 6FZ and also online