Notes on the meaning of clothing in the group
Abstract
I have pointed out how the analytic process can seep also into less visible fields, causing a continuous change of different dimensions and levels. These dimensions, which are simultaneously coexistent and which convey different meanings, make it harder and more complex the grasp all the different elements that take part in the process of healing and in its setting. Searles said that the face of the analyst during a session is actually the face of the patient (1986). He stated that when the words spoken during a session were not efficient or speakable, a facial expression could visually and scenically show communicable feelings. We think that clothing can be libidinally invested, and that frequently or occasionally it can carry representations and act as an iconic container of elements. These elements can be less visible but representative of the psychic scene of the cure, particularly in the perceptive and sensory field of the group, connected, at a more underlying level, to the more undifferentiated values of group relations.
