Functional relaxation

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The Functional Relaxation (FE) is one of the German gymnastics teacher Marianne Fuchs developed psychoanalytically informed body psychotherapy . One of the tasks of relaxation in this psychodynamic method is to facilitate and enable access to previously unconscious , repressed experiences.

history

The original body therapy method was developed by Marianne Fuchs when her one-year-old son developed spastic bronchitis. With the help of breathing exercises in which she supported the exhalation with her hands, she was able to help him sustainably. She developed this method into body psychotherapy in the 1940s and 1950s under the support of Viktor von Weizsäcker . The neurologist and psychotherapist Viktor von Weizsäcker, one of the founders of psychosomatic medicine and medical anthropology in Germany, also provided a theoretical conception of the method with his ideas on the Gestaltkreis. Von Weizsäcker saw Marianne Fuchs' work as a new way of treating people with functional disorders and psychosomatic illnesses.

theory

The Functional Relaxation is deeply psychologically based. In the FE, processes on the physical level should be triggered through special minimal movements of individual joints and conscious breathing, which affect the psyche and release internal blockages. There are no fixed exercises, but these are developed individually with the patient. By achieving a natural breathing rhythm and by the fact that the patient, supported by the therapist, learns to exhale in peace, Fuchs calls this letting go of the breath, relaxation should set in. This relaxation should not be deep relaxation like z. B. autogenic training .

The aim of the therapist's stimulation of movement is to refine the perception of physical functions and thus also self-perception . According to proponents of the method, access to the treated disorders should be created by differentiating sensory perception . In this way, supposedly pre-linguistic life experiences of people can be revived and forgotten memories from early childhood can be brought into consciousness. The advocates of this method emphasize, however, that the effect of the FE does not depend on the uncovering of forgotten memories.

execution

The FE is carried out in individual treatment. At the beginning, the patient lies on his back and the therapist places his hands on the chest in order to feel the patient's breath and, if necessary, to support the exhalation. The therapist then lets the patient perform small movements in exhalation in different areas of his body in order to track down blockages and tension and to release them. The FE is suitable for psychosomatic illnesses, but also for depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and sleep disorders. It can also be used for somatic illnesses such as asthma and to support herniated discs. Fuchs also reports successful applications for stuttering and snoring. The FE is also suitable for children and toddlers. In the case of small children, the parents are trained accordingly in the implementation.

literature

  • Marianne Fuchs: Functional relaxation. 6th edition. Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7773-1223-1 .
  • M. Fuchs, G. Elschenbroich (Ed.): Functional relaxation in child psychotherapy. 2., ext. Edition. Munich 1996, ISBN 3-497-01398-6 .
  • Marianne Fuchs, Thure von Uexküll et al. (Hrsg.): Subjective anatomy. Theory and practice of body-related psychotherapy. Schattauer. Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7945-1631-1 .
  • Rolf Johnen: Functional relaxation. In: P. Buchheim, M. Cierpka, T. Seifert: The body in psychotherapy. (= Lindau texts). Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-540-54803-3 .
  • I. Herholz, R. Johnen, D. Schweitzer: Functional relaxation: The practice book. Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-7945-2669-7 .

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