Body psychotherapy

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Body psychotherapy , synonymous with “body-oriented psychotherapy”, is the name given to various psychotherapy methods that treat the psychological and physical dimensions of human experience equally. They share the assumption that body and psyche form an inseparable unit. Almost all body psychotherapy methods are humanistic or depth psychological oriented and use body awareness as an opportunity to uncover unconscious psychological processes, i.e. to bring them to consciousness. Body psychotherapy methods work experience-oriented, which means that the current and, above all, physically felt experience during the therapy process is the focus of attention.

Access to the unconscious

Therapy directions based on depth psychology assume that unconscious psychological processes have a significant influence on human behavior, thinking and feeling and that the awareness of these unconscious processes is an essential prerequisite for change or healing. Sigmund Freud described the dream interpretation as the "royal road" for access to the unconscious. His method of free association complemented and expanded this approach. In today's depth-psychologically oriented therapy directions, the analysis of transference events plays a more important role in uncovering unconscious events. In body psychotherapy, access to the unconscious is sought through the body.

The body psychotherapeutic approach

Usually it seems quite natural that physical postures, gestures and facial expressions “fit” certain feelings. In contrast to the everyday situation, in which the physical expression and the physical sensation simply happen automatically and unconsciously, in body psychotherapy physical phenomena are focused and brought into consciousness. Physical structures, processes or sensations that are so familiar and natural to the sense of self that they are not consciously perceived are of particular therapeutic interest.

Body psychotherapists assume that emotional information from early childhood is stored in the adult's physical organization. These can be "core beliefs" derived from early experiences, such as: "I am not good enough." According to the theories of body psychotherapy, such "core beliefs" are stored as feelings in the body and determine the belief how the world "really" is . According to this, a person with the feeling "I am not good enough" anchored in the body since childhood would always maintain this principle, regardless of what he has already achieved in real life or what he sees intellectually. Body psychotherapists assume that an emotionally internalized belief can only be changed if another experience becomes possible on the perceived physical level. Albert Pesso calls this alternative and reality-related, directly felt experience "antidote". In the example of the person who believes that they are not good enough, this “antidote” would be the feeling of being good enough, experienced in the here and now and independent of rational considerations.

Body psychotherapeutic techniques

The number of different schools and techniques is difficult to understand. In principle, three categories of techniques can be distinguished, namely working through physical contact, working through physical exercises and working through physical awareness. The selection and combination of techniques vary depending on the body psychotherapy method. Body contact can be very gentle and serve to raise awareness or can be used massively with the aim of physical change. The physical exercises range from taking "stressful positions" with strong tension to minimalist experiments in which the effect of the smallest physical changes on consciousness is examined. With body awareness, attention is drawn to the inner and above all physical experience. Mindfulness is a state of consciousness in which it becomes possible to witness the momentary experience from a non-judgmental inner distance.

history

The origins of body psychotherapy at the beginning of the 20th century can be traced back to psychoanalysis and the reform movements in gymnastics and dance. As a result of the reform movements, Elsa Gindler in particular had a strong influence on body therapy and body psychotherapy with her "Seminar for Harmonious Body Education". The strongest influence came from Wilhelm Reich , a psychoanalyst , whom Sigmund Freud had excluded from the International Psychoanalytic Association mainly because of his departure from the pure "speech cure" . With his vegetotherapy, which he developed from 1934, Reich laid the foundation for body psychotherapy.

As a result, more than 20 body psychotherapy schools were founded, each of which is shaped by psychoanalysis , body therapy , humanistic psychology , reform pedagogy , expressive dance , theater , western philosophy and / or eastern philosophy . Since 2010 there has also been a cross-school specialization in “Body Psychotherapy”, which is offered as part of the Motology master’s course at the Philipps University of Marburg.

For decades, body psychotherapy received little positive attention in the most important psychoanalytic and behavioral psychotherapy directions and led a shadowy existence in the health sector. Since the new neuroscience research results obtained using imaging methods were published in the 1990s, interest in body psychotherapeutic methods has been growing and the inclusion of the body in psychotherapy is increasingly being discussed within established psychotherapy directions.

Neuroscientific Aspects in Body Psychotherapy

Both Freud's basic assumption that thinking and acting is at least partly determined by unconscious inner processes, a basic assumption that is also shared by body psychotherapies based on depth psychology, and the central assumption of body psychotherapy methods that body and mind are in an inseparable interaction, are supported by new research results in neuroscience.

Eleven leading neuroscientists point out the importance of the unconscious in a joint manifesto: "We have found that in the human brain, neuronal processes and consciously experienced mental and psychological states are closely related and that unconscious processes consciously precede them in a certain way."

António Damásio investigated the interactions between body and consciousness and after his empirical studies came to the conclusion that the separation between body and mind that had been assumed for centuries, especially by Descartes, was a mistake. Instead, he establishes an indissoluble connection between body and mind, which constantly influence each other.

Damasio's theory of emotional experience memory corresponds to the concept of implicit memory of Daniel Schacter . According to this, in addition to the usually known explicit memory, there is a sensory and motor structured memory that is localized in the limbic system and which is not directly accessible to consciousness. This is where body psychotherapy comes in, which uses its methods of body awareness to make affective-sensorimotor memories aware and thus editable.

Body psychotherapy methods

The European Association for Body Psychotherapy (EABP), which is also the co-initiator of the American Association for Body Psychotherapy, has established itself as the umbrella organization for body psychotherapy methods and sets the worldwide conceptual and ethical standards. As an organ for the presentation of current scientific research, it publishes a quarterly magazine: International Journal for Body Psychotherapy (IJBP).

Body psychotherapy methods recognized by the EABP

Other body psychotherapy methods

The following methods can be named:

Differences between body psychotherapy methods

There are theoretical and practical differences in body psychotherapy methods. In some therapy schools, for example, the energetic aspect with assumptions about physical “energy flow” and “energy blockages” is in the foreground, in others information-theoretical aspects are emphasized. There are methods that consider physical contact to be a central element of work, and others that work without contact. There are very different points of view on the type of verbal communication and its role in the therapeutic process.

Effectiveness considerations

There are many meaningful empirical studies on the effectiveness of body-oriented psychotherapy. Central assumptions of body psychotherapy are supposedly supported by recent neurophysiological research results. According to the German Society for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy (DGK e.V.), body-psychotherapeutic treatment methods are the most frequently used second method in psychotherapy.

Legal status of body psychotherapy

Germany

According to the Psychotherapists Act , psychotherapy as disease treatment may only be billed to the statutory health insurance companies by doctors with further training in psychotherapy (including specialists in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy), psychological psychotherapists or child and adolescent psychotherapists. However, body psychotherapy as the sole therapy method is not billable. The reason: body psychotherapy is currently not a recognized procedure in the psychotherapy guidelines (2020). However, it is possible that licensed psychotherapists, i.e. behavioral therapists, depth psychologists, analysts, systemic or conversational psychotherapists, work with elements of body psychotherapy. The professional recognition by the Scientific Advisory Board for Psychotherapy (WBP) as part of the Humanistic Psychotherapy procedure with the perspective of social law recognition by the Federal Joint Committee (GBA) was applied for in 2012. Persons authorized to psychotherapy according to the Heilpraktikergesetz may offer body psychotherapy as a psychotherapy method. The assumption of costs by private health insurers depends on the respective contract.

Austria

According to the Austrian Psychotherapy Act , from the range of body psychotherapy methods listed here, only concentrative movement therapy and indirectly - via the integrative therapy method recognized in Austria - integrative movement therapy (as part of integrative therapy) are officially recognized by the state. Only state-recognized methods may be offered to the public under the name of psychotherapy and offset against the health insurance companies. In Austria, however, there are some professional associations for other body-oriented methods that strive for state recognition and have meanwhile turned to registered psychotherapists with further training offers.

Switzerland

In Switzerland no distinction is made between methods. The qualification of the therapist is decisive. Doctors trained in psychotherapy are admitted, who in turn can employ psychologists trained in psychotherapy. The therapies carried out by them - including all body therapies - are paid for by the health insurance companies.

For its part, the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (FSP) has recognized two methods of body psychotherapy: Integrative Body Psychotherapy according to Jack Lee Rosenberg and Bioenergetic Analysis and Therapy according to Alexander Lowen .

See also

literature

  • David Boadella : Liberated Life Energy. Introduction to biosynthesis (= Schirner-Taschenbuch 67624). Schirner, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-89767-624-4 .
  • Gerda Boyesen : Healing the soul through the body. Biodynamic Psychology and Psychotherapy. An introduction. Munich, Kösel 1987, ISBN 3-466-34167-1 .
  • Malcolm Brown: The Healing Touch. The method of direct body contact in body-oriented psychotherapy. Synthesis-Verlag, Essen 1985, ISBN 3-922026-17-6 .
  • George Downing: Body and Word in Psychotherapy. Practice guidelines. Kösel, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-466-34358-5 .
  • Ulfried Geuter: body psychotherapy. Outline of a theory for clinical practice. Springer, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-642-04013-9 .
  • Ron Kurtz: Body-Centered Psychotherapy. The Hakomi method. The integrated use of mindfulness, nonviolence and the body. LifeRhythm, Mendocino CA 1990, ISBN 0-940795-03-5 .
  • Stanley Keleman: forms of suffering , Ulrich Leutner Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-934391-27-7 .
  • Alfred Künzler, et al. (Ed.): Body-centered psychotherapy in dialogue. Springer, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-01060-6 .
  • Gustl Marlock, Halko Weiss (ed.): Handbook of body psychotherapy. Schattauer, Stuttgart et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7945-2473-X .
  • Albert Pesso: Dramaturgy of the Unconscious. An introduction to psychomotor therapy. 2nd expanded edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-608-95422-8 .
  • Jack Lee Rosenberg, Marjorie L. Rand, Diane Asay: Body, Self, and Soul. One way to integrate. Junfermann, Paderborn 1996, ISBN 3-87387-321-4 .
  • Bernhard Schlage: The discovery of the (im) possible. Personal change through body psychotherapy. Pro Business, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86805-224-4 .
  • Manfred Thielen (Ed.): Narcissism. Body psychotherapy between energy and relationship (= publication series of the German Society for Body Psychotherapy 2). Ulrich-Leutner-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-934391-13-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurtz, Ron: Body-Centered Psychotherapy , LifeRhythm, 1990
  2. ^ Pesso, Albert: Dramaturgy of the Unconscious. An introduction to psychomotor therapy. Velcro-Cotta, 1999
  3. ↑ cf. NN [Wilhelm Reich]: Wilhelm Reich's exclusion from psychoanalysis . In: Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie und Sexualökonomie , Volume 2 (1935), Issue 1 (5), pp. 54–61
  4. ↑ Ulfried Geuter p. 17ff in Marlock, Gustl & Weiss, Halko: Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , Verlag: Schattauer; Edition: 1 (May 2006)
  5. ^ Heike Langfeld and Dagmar Rellensmann p. 77 in Marlock, Gustl & Weiss, Halko: Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , Publisher: Schattauer; Edition: 1 (May 2006)
  6. ↑ Gustl Marlock and Halko Weiss P. 1 ff in Marlock, Gustl & Weiss, Halko: Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , Publisher: Schattauer; Edition: 1 (May 2006)
  7. ↑ Eleven leading neuroscientists on the present and future of brain research in the brain & mind, 6/04, ( PDF file )
  8. ^ Antonio R. Damasio: I feel, therefore I am - The decryption of consciousness , Munich: List, 2000. ISBN 3548601642
  9. ↑ Schacter, Daniel L. (2001): We are memory. Memory and personality. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt. after Christian Gottwald p. 119ff in Marlock, Gustl & Weiss, Halko: Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , publisher: Schattauer; Edition: 1 (May 2006)
  10. ↑ Heike Langfeld and Dagmar Rellensmann p. 77, in: Marlock, Gustl & Weiss, Halko (eds.): Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , Publisher: Schattauer; Edition: 1 (May 2006)
  11. ↑ Gustl Marlock, Halko Weiss: Handbook of body psychotherapy. Schattauer, 2006, p. 7 ff.
  12. ↑ mekkibb.studie: Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.koerperpsychotherapie-dgk.de
  13. ^ Federal Ministry of Health: Recognized psychotherapy methods in Austria
  14. ↑ See: Gerhard Stumm (Ed., 2011): Psychotherapie. Schools and Methods. An orientation aid for theory and practice . Falter Verlag, Vienna (3rd, completely revised edition), ISBN 978-3854394488 .
  15. ↑ Federal Office of Public Health, 8.2007.

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