Integralbody

We all experience difficulties at some points in our lives and therapy can help us understand what we are experiencing and how to find ways to move forward. It is difficult to describe what happens in therapy as each persons story is unique and his or her therapy will reflect that uniqueness. For example, a therapy that addresses a current problematic relationship may be quite different to one that deals with an emotional crisis arising from loss or bereavement. Another persons' therapy may be concerned with some re-occurring dynamic in his or her life whilst yet another may want their therapy to address and engage with internal experiences of anxiety, confusion, emptiness or feeling stuck. 

Coming from a multi-cultural background myself, I am interested in cultural aspects and how they manifest in our relationships with ourselves and with the world. To my mind, culture includes ethnicity, colour, spirituality/religion or sexual orientations. Anything that differentiates me from a surrounding majority is likely to impact and shape my experience of myself and others. 

But "therapy" also implies a relationship as there is more then one person involved. Trust and confidentiality are crucial in providing a safe and supportive space which allows us engage with difficult or conflicted aspects in our life. Trust is inspired by many factors and I believe that the quality of the relationship between therapist and client should be a central concern for choosing a therapist. Research has indeed shown that the quality of the therapeutic relationship contributes significantly to therapy outcomes.

The field of Body Psychotherapy emerged originally from the work of Wilhelm Reich and forms a distinct branch of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Contemporary Body Psychotherapy is concerned with the integration of physiological/somatic, emotional, mental, spiritual and social/relational aspects of the individual. It involves a extensive body of knowledge and explicit theories of mind-body functioning which take the complexity of interactions and reciprocal relationships between psyche and soma into account.

Body Psychotherapy approaches share an underlying assumption that we are embodied beings and acknowledge a functional unity between psychological and bodily aspects of being. Instead of hierarchical relationships between mind and body, we see dynamic correlations between bodily manifestations and psychological processes we observe. Contemporary Body Psychotherapy draws on both humanistic and analytic conceptions and promotes embodied intersubjective engagement in the therapeutic relationship. In Body Psychotherapy, therapist and client may at times agree to work with touch, movement or breathing.

Relational perspectives in psychotherapy developed initially within Attachment Based Psychotherapy and Self Psychology approaches. Relational psychotherapy is supported by neuroscience research and has emerged as a cross-platform or meeting place between theoretical models in recent years. It is not associated with any particular school of psychotherapy but a broad way of understanding human motivation and the therapeutic process. 

Relational psychotherapy is concerned with understanding the therapeutic relationship and the uses of any intersubjective space co-created within therapeutic relationships. From a relational perspective, the therapeutic encounter impacts on, and potentially changes, both participants. If this meeting is to be real, the therapist must bring their vulnerability and humility to the meeting as well as their knowledge, experience and strength.

Body psychotherapy appears particularly suited to engage with the multiple aspects of relational experience. Whenever two people meet or enter a room, a relationship inevitably takes place that involves the organisms of both participants. Two breathing systems and two sensory-motor systems become aware of each other and begin to respond, interact and relate in some way or form. Relationships rely on bodily experiences of proximity and non verbal communication such as eye contact, facial expressions and emotional or affective content of voice, postures and gestures.

Psychotherapy