Attitude Toward the Body

"Having gotten some hints as to the freedom with which the patient can contemplate the fact that he or she has genitals, without ever having mentioned them, you may then take up a somewhat related topic: namely, does the patient's attitude toward his genitals apply also to the rest of his body? A gentle way to approach this, if you have learned nothing from the discussion of games and sports, is to ask if the patient is a member of the YMCA, an athletic club, or something of that kind, and to ask what he does in such a place. If the patient turns out to be a member of the swimming team, for example, the chances are that he is willing to have some of his skin seen in public, and you don't need to ask foolish questions about that."

Sullivan, Harry Stack. The Psychiatric Interview. New York: W.W. Norton, 1954. (p. 162)