In this issue
Features
In search of mother鈥檚 love
What unconscious phantasies may be at听work when a person chooses to go under听the scalpel to enhance their body?
Manifesting men
Should men take collective responsibility for听past mistreatment of women? A manifesto听aims to raise men鈥檚 consciousness.
Reclaiming diagnosis
The medical model has transformed the听metaphor of illness into a reality but are there听any advantages to the diagnostic approach?
Epilepsy and emotional wellbeing
What are the links between epilepsy and听mental health and what sort of emotional听support might those living with epilepsy need?
Regulars
From the chair
Amanda Hawkins: Full of hope for the future
In practice
Julia Bueno: Breaches of confidence
In the client's chair
Caitin Wishart: Awkward silences
Questionnaire
Mick Cooper
Dilemmas
A dress code for counsellors?
Day in the life
Werner Kierski
Fiction
The Wednesday Group
Articles from this issue are not yet available online. Members and subscribers can download the pdf from the听Therapy Today听archive.
Editorial
Going under the scalpel in pursuit of youth听and beauty is increasingly commonplace these听days, not to mention the trend in lunchtime听Botox injections, fillers and chemical peels.听Programmes like 10 Years Younger in which听some bedraggled, exhausted-looking woman听is led around a shopping centre where people听are invited to guess her age 鈥� the humiliating听verdict usually being that she looks 56 instead听of her actual 40 鈥� make primetime viewing.听She is then taken to a Harley Street cosmetic听surgeon who diagnoses her 鈥榩roblem鈥� and听recommends face lifts, teeth whitening or听hair transplants, all of which are followed听through on camera.
Of course there are many听reasons why people might choose to enhance听their appearance 鈥� not least because these听things are available 鈥� and there has been听much comment about the cultural influences听of supermodels and celebrities at play here.听But less has been written about the听unconscious drivers that motivate people to听actually risk modifying their bodies through听cosmetic surgery or indeed simply being听overly preoccupied with their appearance.
A new book by psychoanalyst Alessandra听Lemma explores this subject in terms of early听maternal responsiveness on the developing听sense of self. In an extract from Under the听Skin, she draws on her听experience as an advisor to reality TV shows听where, for example, young girls were invited to听improve their appearance (albeit without the听use of cosmetic surgery). One recurring and听striking theme in the stories of the girls 鈥� who听Lemma was assessing for their psychological听fitness to take part 鈥� was the wish to present听themselves in a way that would secure the听loving gaze of their 鈥� in most cases absent 鈥撎齧others.
Lemma also describes how she听declined to advise on another TV show where听participants were to undergo complete surgical听makeovers as she felt uncomfortable with the听ethics of the programme. She noticed however听that a significant number of the women who听had put themselves forward for this makeover听were adopted 鈥� a fact which she felt might听support her theory that the motivation to听remodel the body may disguise an unconscious听desire to heal a wound from early attachment.
Sarah Browne
Editor