What Is Body Psychotherapy?

(JAIIM-Online Archives, April 2005)
Erica Goodstone, Ph.D.

The European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) has a requirement that in order for any modality to become legitimate, that is, accepted as a European Wide Accrediting Organization (EWAO), it must establish itself as “scientific.” To accomplish this task, a Scientific Validation Sub-Committee developed 15 questions about Scientific Validity based upon the book, “Psychotherapies: eine neue Wissenschaft vom Menschen,” comprised of contributions by psychotherapists throughout Europe. The 15 questions were passed at the EAP General Assembly in Paris in June 1998.

In 1998 or 1999, the European Association for Body Psychotherapy began the monumental task of answering the 15 questions in order to establish Body Psychotherapy as a legitimate and scientific branch of psychotherapy. In July 1999, The Body Psychotherapy Profession was accepted as “scientifically valid” and in October 1999, it became an EWAO.

As a steering committee member and an active board member of the U.S. Association for Body Psychotherapy, a newly formed organization which became established in 1996, I was invited along with other members to assist in the process of answering any of the following 15 questions.

It is my hope that the American Association for Integrative Medicine can utilize some of this information to assist in the process of establishing the validity of complementary and alternative methods that have not yet been accepted as mainstream and legitimate modalities.

The Fifteen Questions About Scientific Validity

Please provide evidence that your approach:

1. Has clearly defined areas of enquiry, application, research, and practice.
2. Has demonstrated its claim to knowledge and competence within its field tradition of diagnosis/assessment and of treatment/intervention.
3. Has a clear and self-consistent theory of the human being, of the therapeutic relationship, and of health and illness.
4. Has methods specific to the approach which generate developments in the theory of psychotherapy, demonstrate new aspects in the understanding of hman nature, and lead to ways of treatment/intervention.
5. Includes processes of verbal exchange, alongside an awareness of non-verbal sources of information and communication.
6. Offers a clear rationale for treatment/interventions facilitating constructive change of the factors provoking or maintaining illness or suffering.
7. Has clearly defined strategies enabling clients to develop a new organization of experience and behaviour.
8. Is open to dialogue with other psychotherapy modalities about its field of theory and practice.
9. Has a way of methodically describing the chosen fields of study and the methods of treatment/intervention which can be used by other colleagues.
10. Is associated with information which is the result of conscious self reflection, and critical reflection by other professionals within the approach.
11. Offers new knowledge, which is differentiated and distinctive, in the domain of psychotherapy.
12. Is capable of being integrated with other approaches considered to be part of scientific psychotherapy so that it can be seen to share with them areas of common ground.
13. Describes and displays a coherent strategy to understanding human problems, and an explicit relation between methods of treatment/intervention and results.
14. Has theories of normal and problematic human behaviour which are explicitly related to effective methods of diagnosis/assessment and treatment/intervention.
15. Has investigative procedures which are defined well enough to indicate possibilities of research.

I chose to respond to the following Scientific Validity Question, for which I was given honorable mention on the EABP website where the questions and answers are provided in detail:
16. Please provide evidence that your approach describes and displays a coherent strategy to understanding human problems, and an explicit relation between methods of treatment/intervention and results.

Dr Erica Goodstone writes:

"Although each modality of Body Psychotherapy may use a different specific strategy, there are some elements common to the field as a whole.
Observation of the body to determine physiological underpinnings of neurotic and psychotic character structures and emotional patterns.

Touching the body in specific ways designed to release bodily armouring, release neuromuscular tension, and promote less restricted movement.

Eliciting verbal responses and emotional catharsis as the body lets go of habitual tension patterns connected to memories and mental blockages.

Partnership between Body Psychotherapy practitioner and Body Psychotherapy client/patient in interpreting and evaluating the meaning of verbal, emotional and imaginative responses.These strategies are felt to lead to greater wholeness and general integration as seen by:
Body Psychotherapy clients/patients develop a more coherent, cohesive and integrated sense of self, better able to cope with life.

Body Psychotherapy clients/patients gain control over their emotions, become focused on their goals, and accomplish life tasks with renewed energy, vigour and confidence.
Body Psychotherapy clients/patients learn to confront and handle their problems as they arise, communicate authentically with peers, co-workers, friends and family, and as a result create more fulfilling and satisfying relationships, including marital and other intimate love relationships."

If you are not familiar with body psychotherapy, hopefully your interest and curiosity has been piqued. While thinking about what to write for the Online AAIM Newsletter, I returned to the European Association for Body Psychotherapy website, http://www.eabp.org/, and discovered an extremely detailed and well-organized power point explanation of what Body Psychotherapy is all about.

What Is Body Psychotherapy?

“Body-Psychotherapy … is a scientifically validated, legitimate mainstream, branch of psychotherapy, which historically predates Psychoanalysis and Freud.

Body-Psychotherapy … is an ethical and theoretically coherent method of professional practice for relieving emotional and mental distress and for encouraging human growth and awareness.
Body-Psychotherapy involves a different and explicit theory of mind-body functioning which takes into account, and pragmatically uses, the intricate complexity of all the different intersections, and all the different interactions, between the body and the mind.
The common underlying assumption between the many different branches (or modalities) of Body-Psychotherapy is … that the body is the whole person and there is a functional unity between mind and body.

Body-Psychotherapy recognizes and utilizes the continuity, and the deep connections, to which all psycho-corporeal processes contribute, in equal fashion, to the organization of the person. There is not a hierarchical relationship, nor a split, between the mind and the body, between psyche and soma: They are both functioning and interactive aspects of the whole human being.”

“Body-Psychotherapy involves a developmental model; a theory of personality; hypotheses as to the origins of disturbances and significant alterations to the human psyche; as well as a rich variety of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques … all used within the framework of the therapeutic relationship.

Body-Psychotherapy is also a science – having developed over the last seventy years from the results of research in … biology, anthropology, proxemics, ethology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, developmental psychology,neonatology, and perinatal studies – and many more disciplines

Body-Psychotherapy exists as a specific therapeutic set of approaches, with a rich, scientific background based on a set of explicit theories.

Body- Psychotherapy is a Skill – a Craft! There are a wide variety oftechniques used within Body-Psychotherapy … and some of these are techniques used on the body, involving touch, movement and breathing.”

“There are many different and sometimes quite separate approaches within Body-Psychotherapy, as indeed there are in the other mainstream ranches of Psychotherapy. These Modalities include: Bioenergetic Analysis, Biodynamic Psychology, Biosynthesis, Hakomi, Bodynamic Analysis, Core Energetics, Radix, Unitive Psychology, Organismic Psychotherapy, Character-Analytic Vegetotherapy, Rubenfeld Synergy, Psycho-Organic Analysis, Emotional Reintegration, and Concentrative Movement Therapy.” (http://www.eabp.org/)
Check out the EABP web site, http://www.eabp.org/, or send an email to Dr. Erica Goodstone, DrEricaG@aol.com, for further information about this powerful and life transforming method of psychotherapy.

About the Author

Bio – Erica Goodstone, Ph.D., is a licensed and nationally certified Mental Health Counselor, Marriage Counselor, Massage & Bodywork Therapist and Certified Rubenfeld Synergist (a gentle yet profound Body Psychotherapy method). In addition, she is a Diplomate for The College of Mental Health, AAIM, The American Academy of Pain Management, and The American Board of Sexology. Dr. Goodstone maintains a private body psychotherapy practice, working with individuals and couples dealing with relationship, sexual, body image, and pain management issues.