Denise Grobbelaar:

The Body as Personal Shadow

Jungian Analyst, Psychotherapist & Clinical Psychologist.

Bodily experiences related to instinctual discharges are deeply unconscious and can never become fully conscious. (1) Solms and Panksepp writes: "… our subjective identity rests on ancient subcortical neuro-psychic processes expressing unthinking forms of experience, which are 'affectively intense without being known'" (2)

In infancy (and adulthood), emotional experiences are psychosomatic, resonating instantly in physiological responses due to the interconnectedness of psyche and body. “Violent affects in infancy disrupt the process of ego formation; therefore, the ego engages in disposing of (splitting), hiding away (persona), or burying in the body its disturbing emotions which evoke dread of disintegration.” (3) These emotions can surface in dreams and nightmares, often featuring disturbing imagery.

Instinctual drives and violent affective responses are deeply embedded in the body, representing the personal shadow that threatens psychological stability and requires defense mechanisms. In infancy, with little ego and impulse control, these contents feel uncontainable, requiring a caregiver to function as an auxiliary ego, transforming overwhelming affects into manageable emotional states.

Archetypal drives need transformation into images, a process starting in early infancy with maternal support. An attuned caregiver helps the infant tolerate and name these preverbal states, fostering stable emotional development. A loving and emotionally consistent parental presence helps infants assimilate experiences emotionally, physically, and mentally.

Children who did not receive such ‘holding’ and containment live in archetypal fantasy worlds, unable to humanize their experiences. Their emotions remain unregulated, and impulses uncontrollable, leading to identification with the darkest parts of the collective shadow. Emotional deprivation and parental neglect can worsen infants’ persecutory states and hinder symbolic thinking development. Infants express instinctual needs through intense, affect-loaded somatizations. Without maternal attunement and verbalization, these experiences remain locked in bodily symptoms throughout life.

Written for @jungsoutherafrica

Image credit: “Fire baby” - Ash Darq @ashdargart

Reference: (1) Sidoli, M. (2000). When the Body Speaks: The Archetypes in the Body, p. 91 (2) Solms, M., and Panksepp, J. (2012). The ‘‘id’’ knows more than the ‘‘ego’’ admits: neuropsychoanalytic and primal consciousness perspectives on the interface between affective and cognitive neuroscience. Brain Sci. 2, 147–175. doi: 10.3390/brainsci2020147 (3) Sidoli, M. (2000). When the Body Speaks: The Archetypes in the Body, p. 73

Posted in Embodiment (Body), Impact Of Childhood Experiences (Core wounds), Shadow on Aug 06, 2024.