The Psychology of the Skin: Integrating Mind, Body, Skin and Psyche in the Therapy Room

November 9, 2024

In-Person Only
[ A certificate of contact hours will be provided. ]

Date: Saturday, November 9, 2024
Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, EST
Fee: FREE (Open to all)
Location: UNC School for Social Work (Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building)
325 Pittsboro St, Room #135, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 [ Google MAP ]

Register Online
Visit: EventBrite.com

Presenter

Stacy Nakell, MSW, LCSW

Program

The modern psychoanalytic framework is grounded research from the 1960s that prioritized the attachment needs of young children, from the ages 0-2, otherwise known as the pre-verbal or pre-Oedipal years. In a little known paper from 1967, “The experience of the skin in object relations,” analyst Esther Bick highlighted the metaphorical element of the skin as a container, naming the container for the developing self the “psychic skin.” In essence, her proposition was that in the same way that the developing organs need certain conditions in order to grow naturally, the developing self too must develop a sense of inner and outer. This 'psychic skin' provides that sense that everything is going to be OK, a visceral feeling of comfort in one's skin.

In her work with pre-teens, teens and adults struggling with body-focused repetitive behavior disorders, presenter Stacy Nakell has come to understand picking, pulling and biting of the dermis as, to some extent, representing damage to this psychic skin container from early in life. Work with the tender, youngest parts of the self entails decoding body language, attending to sensory needs, meeting and joining and mirroring, along with verbal processing in sessions. This talk will guide clinicians in understanding the defenses of perfectionism and over-achieving from the perspective of early attachment disruptions. A case study will illustrate the power of a depth-oriented approach in healing both psychic and literal skin.

Bio

Stacy Nakell is a licensed clinical social worker, certified group psychotherapist, certified clinical trauma practitioner, and author. She has spent the past fifteen years in private practice in Austin, TX providing individual and group psychotherapy to clients struggling with body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). She works with pre-teens, teens and adults from an integrative psychodynamic approach and offers training and consultation for mental health professionals. She is the author of two peer-reviewed articles about her approach, and her book, Treatment for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors: An Integrative Psychodynamic Approach, was published by Routledge in 2023, as part of the Routledge Focus on Mental Health series. In her free time she is an assistant boxing coach for a women's amateur competition team.