Somatic Psychology

A bodily orientation and a psychosomatic awareness has been a part of psychotherapy since its inception approximately one hundred years ago through psychoanalysis. The humanistic, existential and transpersonal traditions have, however, been the main carriers of this orientation with their primary focus on the experience of being an embodied subject. Many specific body oriented traditions have been developed since the 1970's within a professional practice and then been offered through training in diverse centres. Methodology varies across a spectrum from simple focused body awareness, through expressive techniques, movement/dance therapy and psychodrama, to direct hands on approaches utilizing breathing, postural exercises and massage. This means both working with psychosomatic psychodynamics and facilitating alive energetic physical dynamism, so that the whole spectrum of the experiential range is available, positing this as a definition of healthy human functioning. The body is seen to reflect the psyche, and by working directly on the body the psyche is affected in a unique way, not available via verbal and interpersonal techniques. Some of the most challenging questions in body oriented psychotherapies concern touch, necessitating specific training regarding appropriate professional ethics and the particular intensification of transference and countertransference engendered. Body oriented psychotherapy must be used judiciously, and the proper application of techniques varies according to personality type and stage of therapy. Bioenergetics and core energetics, primal therapy, dramatic enactments and gestalt are the main traditions HEP draws on. Jim McNamara