Didier Anzieu and his conception of the originary and the body/psyche link

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Didier Anzieu, one of the most productive authors of “Frenchstyle” psychoanalytic thought, theorized (without dogmas and without locking clinicians into a system) a number of central elements and concepts for the theory of the originary and early psychic constructions (the skin ego, bodily envelopes versus psychic envelopes, formal signifiers, the “drive body,” etc.). His monumental advances and his epistemology, always tied to clinical practice, are like an “open” work promoting a “psychoanalysis of today,” allowing us to think about the archaic clinic and the most contemporary psychopathological issues. In addition, his work on transitional analysis, on the framework and analytical technique of interpretation or of psychodrama and group therapies, demonstrates a potential link between theoretical concepts and technical-practical issues in clinical practice. Paying homage to him is not just a panegyric but a modest attempt to connect the great topicality of his work with the problems of psychopathology today, and with the paradigmatic questions of the body/psyche link for clinical practice and for an open and fruitful metapsychological exploration.