CHAPTER NIN

BLet*'iptusert,

;":""':;

.,",';;n" ;;;J

can flourish.

qd4r"rce4--!h"-c!9.9"qe o|*!e!.+r+1ue
l-n his
n.,r.rar,. FI" n"6Til"g"iti.",,t sense o( human possibility
say---enGFitive, thoughtful, intelligent, and-one might almost

-t!1@;"t-nris9!

rhe fatse setf and the fatse

body

*l;"*::Xnf:::::"m#1ilJffi:fflti:{i
"
previously lain
curling
physical sense,

'""i"r".'t"a.

into me_ntal spaces that had

- _-

.r . ,-_ a".;t'il;
r^^-_:L^

cq:Gcler t9-ti"{t\eJeuv-ess- tt'uL. 1q.

life
if,"t l"tti.ft g,*t-;;?rll" to give.,.r49an4g to an individual's
and-rlrt'ff,r"g;@*Atgq,4e*
r D_,,-,1oor',
- exp91grt919!*lq99d what Chr-Etaplgl
ielas (1987)'
own
.or,t"*po.iy i^t"tp."to of his work, has termed' in hiswhich
"*".i,;,!9jl$"*Ce.!ryt ". Wirmicott enters-lrto that
lt o *-11"1".::
tras nol.ielU; formuiatea Uut is-gxPsriieD$d'
t."Ilsro.-atiot octttt"."Jtd ollt
"i;i;;FlF;""".rr'r"t
human desire' and human
r
understanding ot human 'rchaviour'
U9-

motivation is enhanced.
The sensualityif Winnicoft's wlitint

r-F
I
J-

his collection of essays gives me an opportunity both to

pa), tribute to Winnicott, from whom we have all learned so
much, and also to clarify and extend one of his most famous
concepte-that of the "false seif". L-belierrc, that this central concept
of Winnicott's has been misunderstood. &at the adaptive and creaqJ9-qil9i!-sf-th9 teEg s91b" qr'!sqr!919e!-@riteli!c-".$ronrel! heilg!
19.f!Stgt'{v- 1P-P::g3J99' enC that once we
understand Winrucott s metaphor more fuiln the way will open to
9{9!d tiris pg-erful concept to include the concept of a ,,false
body". The extension of the false self to include a false body illum!
nates current difficulties in our understanding of psychosomatic
developmen! as well as opening up the analyst,s bodily experiences as an important but often neglected dimension of clinical
work.
As I begin to write, I am aware of my desire to surrender to the
sensuousness of Winnicott's idiom, to be held by his concepts and
to allow my thinking and writing to come fiorn that place that he
calls the transitional experience. The ahnosphere he creates in his
psychoanalytic writing combines an understanding of the profound and the high.ly personal. He males. foq the reader, a facilitat-

hl

".,tu.Tio
u;*

exP{gs-qeg

hiq 4t1snlPlto

ttrg
tnu liuqd,gxperience gf.the ar-ralysegd an4

lhggqr-e-nlt.

tne

fl.lYlt'
His is -.areie!iqn++:!?,i

""0-O"di"-and
-_tlat-tcgpgl1"s-tha!.$9-uni-querl9ss..C{.-qeFqrv-rguarLs

SCfr

![e rq$tio;19Hf.t it:th"'

*iii"f, it i"?..^",i. rt o wi"t i""tt--rto -iotu th"t "th"t" is no such

r*Gi+;y-e+O-.il!-4!gll lltk"a

unth

His theories, his understanding of psychological

concepts'
J"uiop^"nt,'nit clinical innovations' and his numerous object' the
i"*in"nal obiect, the false self' the use of the canon'
r".t
"J,t
"
nlJ-""o"*t mother, have all entered the psychoanall'tic
be meanfrl"i. *ia"Jpt""a application, the way in which they can speaks
insfullv stretched to accommodate new understandings'
;;",h"''d;ii; trnderstanding wiruricott achieved of the human

,h;;

;;"bta

"bi"ito qrrot"ti.rns from winnicott settle upon me, many days

or when I
.ner, iu.i *itn u patient whose hurt seems unbearable'
a psy-

experience.as
am writin8, and trying to make sense of my
form a theoretical
They
lover'
frlend,
iio,ft".uof,,, o",ent, p-atient,
whel thinS'; 8'o
happens
what
of
..Ji" niai"i ". understanding
in a colder
might
what
life. The quotatiJns dignify
*ron* it
ln Win"-iv
structure
i".Ji" rnlr"'.r,"tcal descriptions of the psychic

126

sustr oRBAclT

THE FALsT SELF AND THE IALSE

mcott's writings, they illustrate rvith grace the dilemmas at the

heart of human subiectivity.
The first quotation talks about a phenomenon that is often observed and often felt in the countertransference. The analysand is
unable to experience himself or herself as being viable, worthy, and
as eisting for her or himself in a reliable way. Winnicott discusses
t!'s-.Itqr u Jrg!!!sC.-rrg&Be.!!9gp_9^f-s__ol-T.1y-_cgrygg!e, 4,eerlre"oI
being for herself .or himself by gg.S1a-qry__qg-rSlg:ncies, or moments of intensity, which by their very n4q!-ele,qrllrg eltglltion.ajltj
solufions. In the establishment of such q!g;, the perion gathers rrp
for herself or himself a sense that he or she engenders, maruges,
artd does: therefore he or she is. As Winnicott wrote:

BODY I2/

gesture for the irLfant's teshrre, the infant begirs to develop a false
J"f ot on erpression of personal agency, as an active adaPtation to an

otherwise rmworkable situation. Humans work with possibili

ties-possibilities that can be recognized within the relational field'
B]!
Tlut *l',1.-rre
T: tr9ili:i::
*'_

_::ij:::-L:---+

^lsL:ssoslgs*W+!

those asDects o( sel{ that cdn receive -vallda-Uon' lt wrr-llve men

bL,ualrtiG to..U.. o h.theunrecognlztd-irg2ge t's
tension g!ld!U!!!g
*itt
vith the
*G't"*ion
.i19fi-wffi..r-t true seiO, wlrile-rrst being alle tq trus-! -tha! they

Survival is sought in the ma.nagement of crises, ln other word.s

the person has no real sense of continuity of being an ongoing
proposition themselves. They provide this continuity for them-

Hist'letthet whafTlfgclrfiEt
nurnits
first
when
Sestures have been
offers back to the caregiver

e;t self states humans

in extrerne cases the irrfant exists only on the basis of a

continuity of reactions to impingememt and recoveries from
such reactions. [Winnicott, 19651
ses . . ,

fiffiiia

The mother \ /ho is not good enough is not able to implement

the infant's omnipotence, and so she repeatedly fails to met
the infant gesture; instead she substitutes her own gesh.ue
which is to be given sense by the compliance of the inJant. This
compliance on the part of the infant is the earliest stages of the
False Setf, and belongs to the mother's inability to sense her

by

r;";"

i" at

btG

lffirhEEq-tO
--:i;

$
-.-.

of the self. it contairs inglinatiors' way-q of

less visible'
-fi$ei wittr the iess dqvlloped,
---

asPects of the self (the-true.selfl

vY[rmThe false self has been constructed within a retahonshrP

lFiecog4ized

of the
cott tells us that its aetiology lies in the infan/s acceptance
enterthrough
mother
the
mothefs testures. The infant confirms
s
thl,mother
gesture and rnaking it
1a
febg-tqU.f$-prae!9dJeU. rn that the, Personttas
tfrl UrUy".

4"-

r,

ft:"-!ot!

i.' ;rr ;t*i;".

rn;

true- self

contai$

P9*PtI|T'

Tdl ne
"*a
den aspects of the personality that are feared and dreaded
true.self
for
the
place
is
a
p"i"i.'Jv,r" therapeutic reiationship

This second quotation, addressing the aetiology of the false self in

earliest experience, shows Winnicott finding a language that describes prelinguistic emotional hansactions. The shape of the rela-

shaped

strates

;;-;. #.

infant's needs. lwiruricott, 19@c, p. 1rt5l

in which these interactions occur is

*hil" it i" aduptiie and,.ffa-lse, is ne,v-elthgtet ref.ana fgionitre .o^p&-ofhum"-nsulieclivily The false self is no
tru; slf Or, to Put it another.way' the defence
16 regl thflttte
-aspect
ii"d,

For Winnicott, this problem-the lack of continuity or betief in

self-arises when the infanfs uniqueness has not been able to be
r99gCnrz9d. It has rlglgadbeen-netgled- But irEleadotgiylDg;_lp,
f.om the possibility of Sglglorp-hip, of iollap-srng
@$btey
inte!*;hic annihilation, thS inlant
atr"ropJirp*ts or
t}".Csl{.$g! ::fgplyi9.9+9_!'9ld-thg inlerest of the-.caresiver:

tionship

can encompass

the

mother's psychology and by the child's creative adaptation to what

if is nffered Tn ifc r.l.hr.ri^n l^ iha '..l--.1
.,,L-+ .,A^^ ^f k^-

possibilities and fears to emerge, for iti geshrres to t'e reco$ized

tn ne
ard et gag"d with. The true selJ, like the false self' grows
context of a relationshiP.
The false self and the true self need to come to a different
accommodation with one another' In that new accommodation
that have
be ur,lr,tegration of those aspects of the person
tt.ru
"ur,
yet
undeveloped lf
L^^- r^---,.{ zlafenqiwelw and those that are as

128

sustE oRBACH

u/e see the false self h this way-as a real self in its own right
rather than as a temporary keeper of the real person-we can
understand that psychic structura.l change needs to incorporate
these aspects of self rather than jettison them. That which has been
v.gfoped " fdsely" is of value and cannot simply Ue girin up-or
lost.

'---lvlany

patients seek psychotherapy and psychoanalysis because

of a felt disiuncture between their different selves. Ibegrjvg.te
-self
is often a self who feelssh46e. The public self, or the one that keeps
them going, is a self whose nourishment depends upon a shoitterm fix. Decorutructing the content, the feelings, the pulposes,
derivations of these different aspects of self minimizes the space
between the true self and the false self. Where a hole existed between these two self-conceptions, which neither filled, their association makes it possible for the person to integrate and n;llrr outside
in those attributes that were once felt
on the surface
of the person and to turn
out those that were once
deeply private. The interpenetration of these aspects of the seltthe defensive false self and the private Eue self-now permeate the
psychic structure, giving it strength, resilience, and the capacity to
grow/ to be nou-rished, and to nourish.
Winnicott did not propose a new term for the accommodation
of the false self and the true self. He tried to flesh out what were felt
as distinctive self states that in the course of a therapy could come
to a less houblesome state of being. His attention to these senses of
self (senses of self that I imagine were articulated by his patients),
shows us hjs respect for the patient's experiences as well as his
profound capacity for understanding early psychic development.
His therapeutic work is not about the substitution of one state for
another but about the knitting together of the adapted self (the
false self) with a true self of possibilities that now out of fuding has
a chance to develop (cf. Davies & Frawley, 194).
Winnicott's work on the true self and the false self has been
particularly useful to me in trying to push current analytic practice
with adults beyond what I have come to describe as its ,,mentalist
period" (Orbacl; 1995). Freud's work laid the foundations for a
science of body and mind. Indeed, Breuer and Freud,s (1895d)
work on hysteria was among the very first to establish the connections betu/een certain physical symptomatology and emotional life.

THE FALSE SELF AND THE FALSE

BODY

129

Although the early period of psychoanalysis is marked by a high

degree of interest in the interrelatedness of Psyche and soma, this
aspect of psychoanalysis-with notable excePtions-has not been
in ascendancy duing the Post-World-War-1l period. While work
with children necessitates explicit attention to a child's physicality,
it has been quite gosslb-!9.ryitb!4 49,g1!PsJ$ee[aly!ts*!,o.- {ErySad
the body unless it inserts itself in especially Powerful ways in the
coiiiu.lting-room (cf. Davies & Frawley, 1994; Sinasoru 1D2)'
Present discussion of psycho.somatic or hystgl]1glqymptomatology has tended to privilege discourse about the psychic, seeing
physical symptoms as manifestations of Psychic distress rather
than as indicators of disturbance in the psychosomatic development of the individual. Furthermore. within a mentalist psychoanalysis, physical actioru taken by the individual-such as, for
instance. the cutting of self, the wish of the transsexual to remoYe
external genitalia, the stuffing and purging of the body in bulimia
They are classed as derivatives of psy,chic dislurlancg $th9u1!ue
reference to the psychosoma lic'field in which the human being's
body deyeloPs. This is often the case even in sexual abuse or physi'
cat ibuse situatioru where the patient's body has been penetrated

or violated literally but the therapist's preoccupation is with a

mental penetration and violation. The vulnerability of the bod)' is
traislated as an emotional vulnerability (which, of course, it is)' but
the physical basis of that vulnerability is rarely addressed' WlnljcqJtt fyerk both on the aetiology of the false seU and on the mind
and its relation to the Psyche-soma prgvilg- the-basis Ior a-panadirgn shift, for r'gintegrating that which has become inaccurately
fiTlabely sepa.ated into distinct but unviable discrete entities of
bodv and miiid (Wirmicott, 1954).
-i tiive founa it particularly useful to extend Winnicott's work
on the false self to the notion of the false body' I suggest that the
not only instability in emotional
1 individual's corporeality reflects
recognition in physicai'
\ development but instability and a lack of
\"omatil development as well. In other words, we must go further

th" body as the recipient or container of psychic distress

(Bick, 1968; McDougalt, 1989; Pines, 1980) and, instead, lo-9]:qbbmatize ala\e !E$-$altEetlrC{Ag"J4XJClf (Orbach, 19tlr, 1994'
rs95i:The-f,odv and the mind are coparticipants in the Psychoso-

'thur, to

*e

130

THE FALSE SELF AND THE FALSE

susrE oRBAcH

matic drama.

'l\1!!99

body-.can be understood as a parallel devel_

opment to the false self: the

wheh

of the parental bodv over-

the

genesis of the baby's false sense of self.

In extending Winrucott's ideas about the self to the bodv,

it is,
then, possible to link in with those obsrvations of tr@1gg1et
Uebl,sr and her colleagues who, in writing of c\Knn whrc-Iive
not. been-able to achieve physical or emoJional sepa.letiO! from
their mothers, have bodjes that arg ana.logous to_[!44Licott,s false
serves-bodies that fail to be fully alive foJ-']hg. pefepn (Mahler,
Pine, & Bergrnan, 1975). They are, rather, i"anir"ite or predifferentiatg4. Mahler's ideas on the psychologGmiih of tie i"G"[

*ot

cgntral part elSe psvcbfory 4 fhis E i co"""dru- b*.,rse

of our current mentaliet proccupations. But I am highlighting our
relationship to the body in order to begin the process of integratint
and reintegrating the corporeal with the psychic.
4_Cq94ll!99f f.qlacs-o^14p-bs!1;4g_,tt-u5.u!eg5l[on.rs!o_-19gg!the
countertransfe_r,nc_ as. a pqgsjble b)t of .tfrf-9fqlaliO4;rbout td-i_.rJ
strustion of the pStien/s body, just as we do for information about
th9 991"t*"tion of the.petient's p-sye,hr. This means observing and
registerinlthe physical, the palpably corporeal responses that are
aroused in the clinical situation. At the technical level, it means
extendint our view of the countertransference beyond the register-

131

ins of emotional affects and the enachnent of role-responsiveness

to observe the physiGindler, fSZO) c,r reciprocal role (Ryle, 1990),
the course of
cal dimensions of our experience that occur during
our work.
Jn emp.loyI want to give a few brief examples of what I mean
tlYq:
found
I
have
decade'
last
ing the nogeli of-l4bq !g!y over the
psychoin
the
p""rtigg&t;F i" *E.h it might annou-n9e^*iQ9lf
therapv relationshiP
'fn'et" cu" * a felt request or demand within the countert.]
of the
tri#ference for physical provision' I have written elsewhere
counterbansference'
bodily states ttrat iiave been evoked in the
of a contented,. purring body,in,*",pty1}notably the
".rocation body for use by a patient who had a hated
,L"."oir,
"" ^ "ttemal
195). This iody waslnderst:d.by,*h"
iJy'totu".it,
on the part of the patient .whg ne94:d a
a
creation
as
th#oi,
ttg-lutlgg rrue
stabl; body ii-ihe room from wliqh to dggg!4itrus!

ryfli

exlstence:

in the physical embeddedness of the individual or what Winnicott

\797'lc, p. 8) calls "psychosomatic indwelling,,.
Such a shift into thinking of the body as a coparticipant in the
\ dJam:
of the development of the se4 rather than the bit player
I
(dustbin?) that carries that which is inconvenient and psychicitty
[
uncontainable, is of coruiderable value in ciinical wo!k. It helps us
I
understand and approach phenomena that are often elusive. Ii also
I
' suggests modificatiors in technique.
In wantint to suggest som technical innovatiors, I run into a
paradox of higlrlighting the body at the same time as I am arguing

BODY

t7--a:d
ence.

--fh"

;.h"t tri* Sitt

hei antbit'alence about

h-e'4

plysjcal exist-

re;
u,ro"tio., of bodily arousal in another way has leen

Dorted to me by a psychotherapist who experienced-

stim|16"l "t

leel wnen
ih" "l"tdo*t reflex"-the reflex that nursing mothers
regressed
a
of
treatment
the
,f,"i. i"il* *" t"ady to feed-during
tett tne
years'
15
for
oatient. This therapist, who had not brcast-fed
threeof
;; ,h" iet-doo* reflex over an extended period
The theraPist noted these physical

il;iil
ilH;-t;

PsyJoth",upy'
arounl *::I8
feelins in hersetf as well as more sPecilic feelings
at rn oulersucked
rna dine fud from. She had the sense of being
contentedly, sometimes hurriedly' sometimes
irr* n

"*]-**i-o
ro-"ti-es angrily' These countertransference
*?or.-,lly,
physical and psychologiwere discussed ,n ith the patient for their

resPorses

--6]

cal .meanings.

uri"'e tlre idea of the false body, one has

a way.to.eng:F'e

relatronsruP'
Utit gtt g of physical distress into the theraPy

""iYtf,e
iarnitted. explored, and-through the acllPtance
*t o" it
per"^L
iy ,ft" p.y.rr.rf,"raPisFintegated into the body of thefound
unexplored
and
"iii
*r,. rah,ut nla pr".'io*ly remaini rudden
then satuin the 6ychotherapeutic relationship and could
the person'
"fr"o.
."t"'tr," pfty"i.i and psychological experience of

l
I

132

sustr oRBAcH

An easily understood example of this involves a woman of 35

years of age, who moved her chair and body so closely into the
space of the therapist that the therapist founi herself moving her
chair back. The patient then inched her chair closer, and the tierapist observed this time her desire to move away atain, to create a
physical space between them that felt comfortable. The chair_mov_
ing ersued over severa.l sessions. The therapist felt crowded out
and gagged. She felt nauseous, and as if she were being physically
overtaken. tn trying to r,rnderstand her respon." to th" pitiur,t und
the physical ambience between them, she reflected on what she
knew of the physical handling of the patient in infancy. The patient
had sicked up frequently in early childhood and then bed-wetted.
The patient remembers being scolded for bed-wetting and so then
graduated to migraine and vomiting.
The patient and psychotherapist understood together many of
the
of the
and vomi
s attention to the use of the
physical space in the room that brought directly into the treatment
the patienfs difficulties with indwelling and accepting her body.
The therapist suggested at one point that the patient,s body was to
some extent unplotted for the paHent, She did not know where it
began and ended, and that it was onty in its encounter with an
other, with its butting up against another, that her own physicality
could be experienced. The body ego was invaded, noi bounded,

and the patient searched for a physical boundary in relation to

another so that she could make that boundary her own.
In th-is instance, we could begin to make serue of thjs patienf s
difficulties with her body.
@e
body, the sicking-up, *_".e n@
a
message about too much milk g,oing
o-le.Egr9j
They
were,
l{ 3,q
instead, translated into reiection of thp mo:trer. Thqdiughter .@k
o
lialce to hgr--molhgr's gg:qre as
\9r gwn. Her physical responses th;;;Gdd;a-E;th:G;;wn
gesture and that of her mothels reading of them. The true body
fought for a presence through the rnigraine, the vomitin& the en_
croachrnent on the space of another. In the psychothei.pv, the
distress that attached ro rh9 rejeclgd. a9te"c$A_rhg
bgdi .;3" 6i
ceived. The therapist saw liirr eiperience as an ittempt on the part
of the patient to be physica.lly recognized. That the patient was

THE FALsE sELt AND THE FALSE

BoDY

133

to move
Dushy and evoked a desire on the part of the therapist
** a hint about the body instability and the anxiety about
led the
"*rf
ohvsical connection' The theraPist's understanding of this
the
and
disease,
discomfort,
physical
wav for the transformation of
was
both
that
of a body within the therapy relationship
emergence

bounded and connected.

have observed t\" &lC" !9dV

coiji;folheraPy is where the theraplgt e2(lgliencgl rn th countertransference a version of the physic,al distress the Patient ex'
oi-iGnie5. l-fve written elsewhere about the countertransference
?.Ji"g" of disintegration and disassembling (Orbach, 1995) conveyed ftorn supervisee to supervisor in the case of a patient whose
phvsical sense c,f self was so precarious that she needed to confirm
irer physicality by cutting herself. The supervisee and the supervisor in discussing the case both seemed to float off'
Since I reported this, many psychotherapists have told me- of

6. )ettotf,". way in which I

narticular patient. The physicai demand in the countertransference

i, fo. sl"ep. Of courre, ti eie .an b" no single understanding of such
to sleep
u phenom"non aroused in the therapist' The inducement
meaning
its
vary
can
ca., hu,re as muny mearrings as patients, and
in the course of a treatment. The sleep could be TlgggsJ JgI ^t-eof another (Winnicott' 1958b)'
,cepagrlr,t-g bg4-qlE-rnjbgnrctnce
phvsical and the
to'iilegiiiiihe
request
.1eet
for
shared soothing'
'Ihe
sleep could also be a search
psychological.
to on. Thr: variety of therapists' experiences and responses
points to the value in extending Winnicott's idea of the false self to

ift

-'jia-t;

*i

rthglg.gett"drheconcepl-we.canerPlore'rafterrhan'
,"d,rc" io the symboliq,-the physical aspects of enactments in the

ing u"dy.

therapy or the countertransference-'

If tire false self is created in relation to the mother's or caregiver's psychology, then Sg-false body is- .'sjmilarly "a rslational
Iorl.t ,t"t. fft" p*"ibility of a true body cannot emerge until there
is-a-i6ldtionship to receive it. We can receive the true body and
deconstruct the fa-ts9 body if we tuneourqelye.s !o the more physrwe
cal aspects of tJre interpersonal exchange As Freud tells us'
neea-io tuneiur uncorccious like a radio receiver to the unconwork can
scious of the other in order to receive their signals' Our
tuning
by
sense,
a
physical
benefit by extelrding this metaphor in

134

sustE oRBAcH

our bodies so that we can receive signals at a physical

level in

response to a particul.ar patient. We can observe

what is aroused in
us physically, how we place ourselves, whether
we feel physicilly
at ease, or in discomfor! and so on.
Attention to such details enables us to extend Winnicott,s
work
into domains about which he was implicit rather than
explicit, In
being explicit, we begin to dissotve the div;rte not
the
Br-edtand the.

"mental self'.

PART FOUR

REMINISCENCES OF WINNICOTT