The Skin-Ego 2

  To fully understand Anzieu's theory, it is important to look at the eight functions of the skin-ego. Before going into that, I want to mention two peculiarities of skin that Anzieu highlights, to emphasize the connection between skin and mind. First, the skin and the brain derive from the same embryonic structure, the ectoderm. Secondly, humans differ from other mammals not only in their brain size and complexity, but also in their lack of hard skin and fur.

The list of eight skin-ego functions that correspond to biological ones;

1. Maintenance 

 Skin-ego supports the psychic systems in the same way that skin supports the skeletal and muscular systems. This is accomplished through what Donald Winnicott refers to as "holding," in which the mother supports the baby's body. It is through this support-object that the baby gradually develops the ability to sit and stand up, verticality, and resistance to gravity, which will lead to a sense of self.

Anzieu refers to two main sources of support, from the back and the front of the body, and points out how traces of back support can be observed in language. (I've got your back)

2. Containment 

This function is fulfilled by the mother's daily bodily care (being changed, fed, and washed). This allows the baby to perceive its body as a sac-like container with bodily contents, and its ego as a psychic container with psychic contents.

3. Protection 

 Just as the epidermis protects the body against physical trauma, the skin-ego protects the psyche against psychic trauma. Freud (1895) recognised
that the ego has the parallel function of a protective shield against stimuli. Anzieu proposes that smoking addiction may be caused by failure of this function, building a smoke barrier between the ego and external stimuli.  

4. Individuation

  Through its surface appearance, color, and odor, human skin represents a range of individual differences. This function allows one to identify oneself as an individual.

5. Intersensorality

  The skin-ego provides the infant with a feeling of common sense, the feeling that its sensory organs function in a coordinated, rather than chaotic manner. This function allows infant to manage sensory data without feeling alienated or overwhelmed.

6. Sexualization

  By skin-to-skin contact with the caregiver, the pleasures of skin are awakened. These primitive pleasures serve as fundamental support for the development of sexual drives. 

7. Recharging 

  Skin-ego  organizes and synthesizes the stimuli directed at the mind, which enables the infant to feel its mind is either over or undercharged.

8. Inscription

  Similar to how the skin records our external experiences, the skin-ego records our internal experiences.