The scientific character of modern medicine has been put at a distance from the particularity of clinical cases, and the concept of “self” has thus become a metaphor of individuality. Based on the difficulties introduced by this concept, the present article analyses biological individuality and its relations to psychoanalysis, in order to establish a discussion on somatic disorders. The challenge that immunity disorders present to medical knowledge bring up the human dimension in organic suffering, consequently permitting a place for subjectivity. This dialogue becomes possible through the “self.”
Biological individuality; psychoanalysis; somatic disorders; fundamental psychopathology