Jorge Claudio Ulnik, MD, PhD
/Dr. Jorge Ulnik’s award-winning work focused on psychosomatic and psychodermatology exemplifies efforts to address the mind-body relationship from a psychoanalytic perspective. His work represents an innovation that continues the work of Freud ("the skin is the erogenous zone par excellence") and pioneers such as Enrique Pichón-Rivière, Max Schur, Didier Anzieu, Esther Bick, and others.
At the psychosomatic dermatology center founded by Dr. Ulnik, dermatologists refer patients to psychoanalytic therapy, continuing and strengthening psychoanalytic perspectives into areas primarily thought of as medical. Dr. Ulnik's work has helped to revitalize psychosomatic research, theory, and practice in Latin America, Spain, and Russia. His work also reached Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Israel, encouraging renewed interest in research, and promoting awareness of psychoanalysis’ importance in the treatment of somatic diseases. The work encouraged doctors and patients to work with psychoanalysts and advanced psychoanalytic understanding of emotional engagement expressed by the body and specially by the skin. Presentations of this work in many cities where psychoanalytic approaches are not integrated into medical practices have supported the importance of psychoanalysis in treating psychosomatic disorders, and trained doctors and general practitioners to understand the mind-body connection.
Dr. Ulnik is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Associate Professor of Pathophysiology and Psychosomatic Diseases and Adjunct Professor of Mental Health at the Buenos Aires University in Argentina