WHAT IS BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY?
► Body Psychotherapy is an important branch of psychotherapy and constitutes a special therapeutic approach with a wide scientific and theoretical basis. It has a long history which consists of a lot of scientific knowledge and publications based on valid theoretical views.
► Although this kind of therapy is based on psychological and psychodynamic theories and uses notions such as the subconscious, transference, defense mechanisms, e.tc, it focuses on the functional relationship between mind and body, taking into consideration the complexity of sections and interplay among them.
► All the different approaches within this scientific field have the common belief that the body reflects the whole personality and that there is a functional unity between the mind and the body. In Body Psychotherapy the term “body” does not identify with the pure biological dimension of the body and there is not a hierarchical relationship between the mind and the body. They are both functional and interdependent aspects of the whole human being. While other psychotherapy approaches hardly mention this perspective, Body Psychotherapy considers it fundamental.
► Body Psychotherapy includes a developmental model, a theory about personality, hypotheses about the roots of the pathogenic symptoms and dysfunctions together with a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques which are used within the context of the psychotherapeutic relationship. These techniques include the body through observing, touching and moving it and through breathing.
► Body Psychotherapy is a science which has been developing for more than seventy years, taking into consideration the research on biology, anthropology, the history of civilizations, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, developmental psychology, neonatology and perinatal studies along with the findings that come from the experience of its practice.
► There are a lot of different and sometimes differentiated enough approaches within Body Psychotherapy, as is also the case in other branches of psychotherapy.
► Although body psychotherapy has common places with some body therapies, body techniques and complementary branches of medicine that refer to the body, it is very different on the aspect of being a psychological therapy.
► Body Psychotherapy has been scientifically established by the EAP (European Association for Psychotherapy) and the professional qualifications which are required for its practice have also been scientifically defined.