Abstract
After describing the role of sensations in the primary levels of mental organization, this part of the article suggests viewing somatic idioms as the language's way to connect with these levels. We seek to exemplify the qualities, meanings and functioning of idioms, since they serve as a basic key in investigating the different layers of the mind. Examples taken from clinical cases, as well as from universal literary products, such as fairy tales, provide useful contributions to this argument.
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Notes
Neurological research associates the comprehension of idioms with the same network activated during the comprehension of literal sentences—that is, the left super marginal gyros and left middle temporal cortex—suggesting that comprehension of literal and idiomatic sentences share the same core process. This is different from the network activated in figurative language comprehension, in which metaphors are involved. See Papagno 2006.
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1Ph.D., Lecturer, The University of Haifa, Israel, and a clinical psychologist.
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Raufman, R., Yigael, Y. “Feeling Good in Your Own Skin” Part II: Idiomatic Expressions – The Way Language Connects to the Primary Levels of Mental Organization. Am J Psychoanal 71, 16–36 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2010.33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2010.33