Under the Skin - Book

Under the Skin considers the motivation behind why people pierce, tattoo, cosmetically enhance, or otherwise modify their body, from a psychoanalytic perspective. It discusses how the therapist can understand and help individuals for whom the manipulation of the body is felt to be psychically necessary, regardless of whether the process of modification causes pain.

In this book, psychoanalyst Alessandra Lemma draws on her work in the consulting room, as well as films, fiction, art and clinical research to suggest that the motivation for extensively modifying the surface of the body, and being excessively preoccupied with its appearance, comes from the persons internal world "under their skin". Topics covered include: body image, disturbance, appearance, anxietybody, dysmorphic disorder, the psychological function of cosmetic surgery, tattooing, piercing, and scarification.

Under the Skin provides a detailed study of the challenges posed by our embodied nature through an exploration of the unconscious *phantasies that underlie the need for body modification, making it essential reading for all clinicians working with those who are preoccupied with their appearance and modify their bodies including psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.

*Phantasy is a state of mind of an infant child during the early stages of development.

Extreme Body Modification in Japan

As with most things they embrace, the Japanese have taken the western cult of Extreme Body Modification to new extremes in recent years. "Scar Factory is a document of the Japanese scene in words and pictures.

Includes Japanese tours by scarification and piercing/implant artists Lukas Zpira and Steve Haworth; interviews with extreme manga artists Hideo Yamamoto ("Ichi the Killer") and Kago Shintaro; a pictorial history of Torture Garden Japan; clandestine tribal gatherings in Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto; branding festival in Tokyo, 2004; body suspension parties in Tokyo; Eizo Mamiza, Japanese Body Mod pioneer; and interviews with Extreme Body Mod practitioners.