06 Nov WHAT IS BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY

► Body Psychotherapy is an important branch of psychotherapy and is a specific therapeutic approach with a broad scientific and theoretical basis. It has a long history, consisting of a wealth of scientific knowledge and publications based on sound theoretical positions.

► Although it is based on psychological and psychodynamic theories and uses concepts such as the subconscious, transference, defence mechanisms, etc., it focuses on the functional mind-body relationship, taking into account the complexity of the intersections and interactions between them.

► A common belief of all its individual approaches is that the body reflects the whole personality and that there is a functional unity between mind and body. In Somatic Psychotherapy the term “body” is not identified with the purely biological dimension of the body, and there is no hierarchical relationship between mind and body, between soul and body. They are both functional and interacting aspects of the whole of human existence. While other psychotherapeutic approaches barely touch on this perspective, Somatic Psychotherapy considers it fundamental.

► Somatic Psychotherapy includes a developmental model, personality theory, hypotheses about the roots of pathogenic symptoms and dysfunctions, and a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques used within the psychotherapeutic relationship. These techniques include looking at the body through observation, touch, movement and breathing.

► Body Psychotherapy is a discipline that has been developing, for more than seventy years, taking into account research in biology, anthropology, cultural history, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, evolutionary psychology, neonatology, and perinatal studies, as well as findings from the experience of its practice.

► There are many different and sometimes quite differentiated approaches within Somatic Psychotherapy, as is the case in the other disciplines of psychotherapy.

► Although Somatic Psychotherapy has commonalities with some somatic therapies, somatic techniques and complementary medical disciplines that refer to the body and deal with its physiology, it is very differentiated from them in that it is a psychological therapy.

► Somatic psychotherapy has been scientifically established by the EAP [EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY] and the professional qualifications required to practice it have also been scientifically defined

Text retrieval source: https://www.pesops.gr/swmatikh-psychotherapeia/plhrofories/ti-einai-i-somatiki-psichotherapia/