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8 - Body-as-Object in Social Situations

Toward a Phenomenology of Social Anxiety

from Part II - Grief and Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2020

By
Shogo Tanaka
Edited by
Christian Tewes  and
Giovanni Stanghellini
Christian Tewes
Affiliation:
Heidelberg University Hospital
Giovanni Stanghellini
Affiliation:
Chieti University
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Summary

The aim of this chapter is to explicate the relationship among social anxiety, bodily experiences, and interpersonal contact with others. In so doing, I will first revisit the phenomenology of bodily experiences and confirm the difference between the body-as-subject and the body-as-object. Next, I will describe the experiences of one's body-as-object for others, distinguishing them from those of one's body-as-object for oneself. Among phenomenologists, it was Sartre (1943/1956) who emphasized the former aspect of bodily experiences as the “third ontological dimension of the body.” On the basis of this notion, I will try to develop a phenomenology of social anxiety as well as its disorder. In its most basic form, social anxiety can be described as a feeling of uncertainty of the other's mind that becomes salient in social situations.

Keywords

Borderline Personality DisorderEmotion-RegulationEpisodic EmotionsExperiential WorldNarrativePhenomenologySignificanceTrust
Type
Chapter
Information
Time and Body
Phenomenological and Psychopathological Approaches
 , pp. 150 - 169
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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