Using the SDO model to distinguish

basic forms of intervention

used in Body Psychotherapy
Michael C. Heller
(Lausanne, Switzerland)
FSP/AVP/EABP
Contact: www.aqualide.com

Rfrences:
Michel Heller (2008). Psychothrapies Corporelles. Fondements et
mthodes. Louvain: de Boeck.
Michael C. Heller (2012). Body Psychotherapy: history, concepts &
methods. New York: W.W. Norton.
#

Introduction

http://www.eabp.org/images/journal-cover-1.jpg

Dear colleagues, the aim

of this presentation is to
let you enter in the realm
of what body
psychotherapists do, and
how their way of
thinking could inspire
your own way of
imagining what
psychotherapy could
become.
2

Introduction
I will begin by defining a few general terms
and modes of intervention that are used by
most body psychotherapists. I will then
illustrate different ways of using these chore
notions by describing, historically, certain
main trends that included the body in
psychotherapy techniques.

I hope to show that situating psychological

dynamics within those of the organism is a
crucial issue that is of interest for all forms of
psychotherapy.
#

Introduction
The answers brought by body psychotherapists to this
issue are really a first step that tries to avoid two
traps:
1. Avoiding to entirely separate the mind from
physiology, as if it were a parallel dimension
distinct from the organism.
2. Avoiding to reduce the mind to physiological
dynamics (e.g., as in some neurosciences). Some
neo-reichians therapists believe that there is a
functional identity between mind and body, while
those that think like Fenichel insist that the mind
has its own requirements, that follow different
causal rules than those
of the nervous system. 4
#

Introduction
My position is that the subsystems of the organism
are clearly heterogeneous. This I will now develop.
The easiest example I can think of is that it is
impossible to know why most humans like to think
that 2 + 2 = 4 by looking at neurological dynamics.
Quite obviously the dialogue between
representations and physiology are complex, and
often indirect. Their content is influenced by social
dynamics as much as by physiological ones.
#

Part I. Giving a basic vocabulary

From Hakomi body-mind psychotherapy:

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=body+psychotherapy&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&hs=fyk&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=960&bih=632&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsb&tbnid=ivw4qWnNNlnswM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gabri
ellatal.com/sessions.htm&docid=r9kjDJsyAfgXHM&imgurl=http://www.gabriellatal.com/sessionsdemo2.jpg&w=2100&h=1475&ei=yWPvT52KC
6
eXP4QTNi6HWDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=94&vpy=317&dur=56&hovh=188&hovw=268&tx=88&ty=116&sig=101059712178520355700&page
=4&tbnh=140&tbnw=175&start=53&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:53,i:265

SOMA = BODY < ----- > PHYSIOLOGY

Body psychotherapy began by associating standard

methods of verbal psychotherapy with what is known as
body-mind or psychosomatic methods. I will begin by
proposing a way of characterizing the realm of
psychosomatic phenomena, which have been developed
in many cultures since thousands of years, and are still
highly influential and popular.
I use the notion of soma when I refer to body techniques
which are also designed as a way of influencing
physiological dynamics.
#

PSYCHOSOMATIC = BODY < ----- > PHYSIOLOGY < ----- >

Body-mind methods use somatic methods in

coordination with explicit conscious attention, to
educate moods and ways of thinking. Recent
empirical research has confirmed the utility of
some of these approaches for the maintenance of
physiological and psychological health. An
example is the research on mindfulness, showing
that yoga has a positive impact on depression.
#

Body-Mind approches

Some of these approaches integrate scientific

findings in their development, but for the
moment science has not the means to tackle
seriously (systematically) all the phenomena
managed by disciplines such as yoga, martial
arts, acupuncture and trance. We therefore
observe an original creative integration between
the inherent outlook of a psychosomatic
approach and available scientific findings.
#

Body-mind methods used all over the world

Meditation
&Tai-Chi:
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/hathayoga.html

Yoga,

Iyengar 1976 picture 600

Trance:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwOouPHZmfndZF_ef0Zw7nmb93VEp8GW3nZoBOb4Ey-PD4yuP9

10

Recent Body-mind methods used in body psychotherapy

are, for example, the Feldenkrais method, Selvers Sensory
Awareness and Blow-Hansens Psychomotoric method

11

I.2. The system of the dimensions of the

organism (SDO) as a proposal
To describe the domain of body-mind technics I use
the System of the Dimensions of the Organism
(SDO). It is a topographic model which describes the
main forms of intervention used in most
psychosomatic approaches.

One of the aims of this model is to provide simple

basic concepts and vocabulary. This is needed in a
field where, even in the professional literature, some
crucial terms tend to have highly varied meanings.
#

12

The System of Organismic Dimensions

(SDO) distinguishes:
A. The global organism or individual
system
B. The global regulation systems of the
organism (e.g., cardio vascular, nervous,
hormonal, digestive systems)
C. More specific functional dimensions
(mind, behavior, body and metabolism).
The dimensions interact with each other
through the global regulation system. The
dynamics of each sub-system are structured
by the organism, and influence the structure
#
13
and dynamics of the organism.

The organism
psyche

body

global regulations

behavior

metabolism
#

14

The 5 dimensions of the SDO model:

I will now present the five dimensions of

the organism. They allow us to distinguish
between five different type of
interventions.

15

1. The Body

I use the term body in its most

restricted sense, to describe
the dynamics that regulate the
adaptation of the organism
with gravity. It is the realm of
what the French sociologist
Marcel Mauss called body
techniques
Thus massage, postural dynamics and the coordination
of body segments are examples of forms of
intervention that characterize body techniques.
This is a minimum definition of what interventions on
the body are. Most experts of bodywork have a more
complex agenda.
#

16

http://www.whit
etigernaturalm
edicine.com/w
pcontent/upload
s/2011/09/brea
thing.jpg

When one refers to body-mind approaches, one

refers to methods that work with that body:
regulating muscular tone, equilibrium and
influencing external
breathing.
#
17

2. Behavior
I use the term behavior to describe those
mechanisms of the organism that are used to
interact with external objects and creatures.
Working on behavior is working on the
following items:
1. Handling tools (e.g., a musical
instrument)
2. Verbal and nonverbal communication
during an interaction with others.
Improving the way a person interacts with its
environment is the aim of behavior and
systemic therapies.
#

18

 The stress here is not on how one thinks,

feels and moves, but on how things are
done, on virtuosity.
The following example shows a form of
interaction that was often observed by
Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson
(1942) between mothers and infants
in Bali.
This illustrates a form of behavior
analysis developed in the realm of
nonverbal communication studies.
#

19

They observed the following

repetitive pattern in several
mother/infant dyads.
1. The mother stimulates the
infant. He responds
enthusiastically.
2. The mother creates a
distance, expressing negative
feelings.
Wondering what emotions
are involved in such a
relationship, defined through
a behavioral pattern, is a
good way to begin an
enquiry.

20

3. Metabolism

Metabolism regulates the production of

bio-energy in the organism. These
dynamics are regulated by cellular
communication.
In anorexia, the metabolism
accommodates to a new way of eating.
Anorexic behaviour links itself not only
with mental and affective dynamics, but
also with new stabilized pathological
metabolic requirements. Psychotherapy
can help a patient to improve his behaviour
and to reflect upon how he experiences his
nutrition, but this work only becomes
efficient in the long term once it has been
supported by relevant metabolic changes.
Metabolic dynamics then need to develop
ways of managing more food.
#

21

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=internal+breathing&start=113&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=960&bih=632&tbm=isch&tbnid=SVIbgMPTi70bvM
:&imgrefurl=http://www.squidoo.com/southern-praying-mantis-internalwork&docid=01Zj_zoA7BZnvM&imgurl=http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_i
mages/590/draft_lens18241616module152305960photo_1313133361circulation.jp
g&w=486&h=390&ei=yHbhT-n7Mc6Mwaq3ZCYAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=506&vpy=12&dur=673&hovh=200&hovw=25
0&tx=97&ty=87&sig=101059712178520355700&page=7&tbnh=129&tbnw=161&n
dsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:113,i:76

Internal breathing
http://www.cegep-stefoy.qc.ca/profs/gbourbonnais/sf_181/powerpoint/respir180.pdf

If body-work activates
external breathing
(movement of the lungs), it is
internal breathing (oxygen in
the blood) that influences
metabolism. These internal
breathing dynamics are part
of what extreme oriental
# cultures call prana and chi.
22

Internal breathing
Some people are oxygen anorexic. As soon as
their breathing increases their head turns, they
experience nausea, and then prefer to keep
their current restricted breathing repertoire.

23

4. Psychological dynamics

For this presentation it is enough to define

psychological interventions as a way of working
on classical psychological faculties, such as
explicit thoughts (representations, images, body
sensations, ways of thinking, etc.). Psychology
describes the means that are situated within the
organism, which permit the construction of
social and institutional regulation systems.
I am assuming that in this room we all have a
more complex vision of what psychological
dynamics are.
#

24

5. Global organismic regulation system

Body-mind therapists work mostly on the body, the
mind and behavior, with the hope that they can
influence and improve the mechanisms through which
these dimensions coordinate themselves. This
coordination mobilizes global organismic regulation
systems, such as the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, breathing, the hormonal system and
the immune system.
Including genetics in this vision is for the moment work
in progress.
#

25

This brings us back to our SDO model of the organism

Body

Organismic
regulation

Beha
vior

Metab
olism
#

26

 To use David Boadellas term, body-mind therapists

work on how these dimensions resonate with each
other, in oneself and, when we communicate, with
the dimensions of other organisms.
Once these dimensions are distinguished, one can
differentiate most body psychotherapy schools.

27

Part II. Schools

that associate
psychotherapy
& somatic
methods

Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy:

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=somatic+psychotherapy&hl=fr&sa=X&biw=960&bih=632&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=7bWwzdmf29lePM:&im
grefurl=http://www.somaticstudies.com/&docid=Eum_U4xOXQo8M&imgurl=http://www.somaticstudies.com/images/hilkegillianruella.jpg&w=404&h=296&ei=RfvT6eRDOfQ4QSX7ciPDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=104&vpy=153&dur=33&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=175&ty=110&sig=10105971217852035570
28
0&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=189&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72

Part II. Schools that associate psychotherapy

& somatic methods
I will now distinguish three types of mix between
psychotherapy and body-mind approaches
II.1. Verbal psychotherapies that use a blend of
classical body-mind methods in function of local
needs (soft body psychotherapy).
II.2. Team work on a patient, in which each member
of the team is an expert in a particular modality.
II.3. The explicit focus of integrative body
psychotherapies is on how the mind participates in
organismic dynamics.
#

29

II.1. Soft body psychotherapy

Most psychotherapies believe that the mind has a
material basis, but classical verbal psychotherapies
often have a parallelistic approach to the
organism. They want to find purely psychological
ways of working on the psyche.
It is through these approaches that psychotherapy
was invented. However even they sometimes
needed to use body-mind methods and concepts.
For example in their work with infants that cannot
use language, or regressed psychotic states where
a coherent verbal interaction is impossible.
#

30

II.1. Soft body psychotherapy

At the beginning, Freuds way of

working could have been situated
in the realm of soft body
psychotherapies for the following
reasons:
He did a thesis on
psychopharmacology (cocaine).
He then studied hysteria with
Charcot in Paris, who had
another co-inventor of
psychotherapy as a student:
Pierre Janet
#

Freud & Libido &

Unconscious:
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTK8
BtId0kpS2bh5NTtpCRf_5OMhSIrjdElnVeBvi31
IM1A2AC6g

I.1. Soft body psychotherapy

Charcot
teaching
on
hysteria
&
opisthotonus:
http://www.lessingphoto.com/p3/4011
05/40110537.jpg

32

Early psychoanalysis and body work

Hysteria is presented as
a psychological
illness that influences
the body.

Charcots
hysteria &
opisthotonus:
http://t3.gstatic.com/imag
es?q=tbn:ANd9GcQW_D
ouUmdEgRJ3tY2N2i1oO
cUyuhip3OWTX0sxyKcHOVk3
b23

Mesmerism &
hypnosis:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/n1OzFCkSD2M/TytlDR1CTsI/AAAAAAAA5
bo/3PXc1ngNpNU/s1600/mindmesmergd3.

At the beginning Freud used

hypnosis, touches his patients,
sometimes prescribes massage,
and encourages emotional
catharsis.
#
33

The creation of the psychotherapy of Janet &Freud

Janet and Freud defended
one main common issue:
Psychopathology could be
cured by psychological
interventions, which could
also influence some
somatic dynamics.

http://reflow.scribd.com/57marjtf9c70yga/images/image-1.jpg

34

Key difference between Janet & Freud: The mutual

influence between body and mind
Freud was so intent to prove that psychological
interventions could cure psychopathology, that after a
few years he mostly used verbal interventions, restricted
motor action, and believed that only sexuality could
connect somatic and psychological dynamics.
On the other hand, for Janet, motricity was a key
regulator of the mind.
In these days medical practitioners such as Alfred Adler
tried to convince Freud that he should not only consider
the influence of the mind on the body, but also that of
the soma on the dynamics of representations.
#

35

Freuds second topic induces an approach that is

closer to that of Janet
In the 1920s, Freud second topography stressed two
points:
1. The ID and the unconscious are mostly influenced by physiology
(e.g., the brain and hormones).
2. The EGO and the preconscious have a major influence on
motricity.

This immediately stimulated psychoanalysts like Alexander,

Fenichel, Ferenczi, Groddeck, Spielrein, Rad and Reich to
look for ways of working on the interaction between mind,
behavior and the body during psychoanalytical sessions.
They did not form a dominant trend in psychoanalysis, but a
highly influential one. For example, Alexander and Rad
developed psychoanalytical psychosomatics
in the USA. 36
#

Sndor Ferenczis active technique

Ferenczi introduced activity as a basic form of
psychotherapeutic intervention. He
reintroduces emotional cathartic discharge
abandoned by Freud, asking patients to
explore gestures during sessions. He also
integrated forms of intervention developed by
behavior therapy as practiced in the USA.

All new forms of psychotherapy will henceforth develop

various forms of psychotherapeutic activity as a central
method. For example Fritz and Laura Perls, who worked
with Fenichel and Reich in the 1930s, introduced a
particularly varied set of active techniques when they
developed Gestalt therapy.
#
http://www.mdpsychotherapy.com/web_images/ferenczi0034.jpg

37

Sndor Ferenczis active technique

An example of Ferenczis active
technique is the following:
A patient dreams that she sings. For
several sessions Ferenczi persistently
asked the patient to explore what
happened when she actually tried to
sing that song. She was asked to stand
up, to sing in a variety of ways, to move,
and to find a form of singing that is as
spontaneous as possible. This helped the
patient to re-experience a form of
pleasure she had lost when she became
an adult.
#

Ferenczi:
http://bipolarworld.net/images/ferenc
zi.gif

38

Beebes version of the active technique

Beatrice Beebe presents a recent

version of Ferenczi's psychoanalytic
active technique:
1. She shows to mother patients video
recordings of how they interact with
their child, and then explores how
these images resonate with their
psychological dynamics.
2. She also modulates her vocal and
gestural behavior to modulate the
patients affects.
#

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=bea
trice+beebe&hl=fr&sa=X&biw=960&
bih=632&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&t
bnid=MsXR7qrq9Dm8M:&imgrefurl=http://asp.cumc.colum
bia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp%3Funi
%3Dbab4%26DepAffil%3DPsychiat
ry&docid=J718h851Crye8M&imgurl
=http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facd
b/pics_/bab4_3_beatrice_beebe.jpg
&w=132&h=173&ei=WUHaT5L4NIT
64QSLl7m8Aw&zoom=1&iact=hc&v
px=116&vpy=189&dur=162&hovh=
138&hovw=105&tx=111&ty=89&sig
=101059712178520355700&page=
1&tbnh=138&tbnw=105&start=0&nd
sp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71

39

Beebes version of the active technique

Inter-& intraorganism
regulation in a
dyad (Beebe &
Lachmann 2002)

Beatrice Beebe also shows how the autoregulation of

self and behavior participates
in interactive dynamics.
#
40

This ends my brief description of psychoanalytic

approaches that integrate various forms of body
mediation. There are of course many others.
For examples in Latin speaking countries like
Spain, there is a school of psychoanalysts that use
classical relaxation techniques in parallel with a
psychodynamic form of intervention. They use
methods like Edmund Jacobsons influential
progressive relaxation to explore psychodynamic
notions, such as the awareness of boundaries,
with patients with a weak ego. It is called the
Psycho-tonic Ajuriaguerra method.
#

41

II.2. Team work intervenes in specific ways on

different dimensions
Another current of body psychotherapy prefers
to combine experts in verbal psychotherapy and
experts in body-mind approaches for a patient.
The basic assumption is that the coordination of
the dimensions of an organism cannot be
explicitly understood for the moment. Explicit
modes of intervention are proposed by a team
in a coordinated way. They can then observe
how the patients individual system
spontaneously accommodates to these
interventions.
#

42

Otto Fenichel meets Elsa Gindler

in the 1920s
This trend probably began in the
1920s, when the young
psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel left
Freuds Viennese team, to join the
booming psychoanalytic Institute in
Berlin. There he married Clare
Nathanson, who was a pupil of the
famous gymnastic teacher Elsa
Gindler. Together they introduced
this type of body work in the Berlin
psychoanalytic institute.
#

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=otto+fenichel&hl=fr&cl
ient=firefoxa&hs=Gjo&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=1173
&bih=772&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsbo&tbnid=YmDOJs
ntnPr4UM:&imgrefurl=http://www.koob.ru/fenichel/&do
cid=FYfzwqfG6n6q_M&imgurl=http://www.koob.ru/ima
ges/fenichel.jpg&w=150&h=160&ei=7rrTT9PwB4Gg4
gTb7IWfAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=269&vpy=337&du
r=596&hovh=127&hovw=120&tx=96&ty=19&sig=1010
59712178520355700&page=1&tbnh=125&tbnw=119&
start=0&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:99

43

Otto Fenichel meets Elsa Gindler in the

1920s

Elsa Gindler

:
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT
OSaP8Y51-l07HDpVBMbFhZk9vd-MLUXDyruwpgeT4wABmtMeKQ

Elsa Gindler taught a method that is a

mix of gymnastics and body-mind
approaches. She was very popular, and
has influenced body-mind techniques
that are still being developed in
Europe and America.
Fenichel and Gindler believed that
both methods could be combined to
help patients, and that each method
could enhance their theories mutually.

However they recommended that a patient does body

work with a body expert, and psychological therapy with
a psychotherapist.
#
44

For example Gindler was working on a set of very

strong muscular tensions in the neck of one of her
pupils. She could not find a way to solve the
problem. She sent this patient for a psychoanalytical
treatment with Fenichel. By analyzing her dreams
he found that she had been terrorized as a child
when she saw a pigeons head being torn off and
the headless pigeon still moving its wings a few feet
away. (Fenichel 1928)

45

In this example there was a

clear link between the
chronic muscular tensions of
her neck and a repressed
traumatizing memory. Only a
collaboration between the
gymnast and the
psychoanalyst could have
helped that patient.
In other examples it is the
loosening of the muscles that
allows the repressed memory
to emerge.
#

http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2011/11/2
9/aed66d62-2c73-4c44-8d227ac0b53067f4.jpeg

46

Elsa Gindler & Clare Nathanson-Fenichel

http://search.babylon.com/imageres.php?iu=http://dc426.4shared.com/doc/KaqRfSkZ/preview007.png&ir=http://dc426.4shared.com/doc/KaqRfSkZ/preview.html&
ig=http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRK7x1ERYsbfIQlVkyOWLa0p4xw56GsRA0RHGFQ7wImGfQeT3JwN48maWC&h=1516&w=1073&q=elsa+gindler&babsr
c=SP_ss

47

Otto Fenichel meets Elsa Gindler in the 1920s

In 1928 Fenichel publishes an article on Organ

Libido, in which he uses an analysis of muscular
tone and breathing to refine Freuds model of
the motoric ego. However he also stresses that
muscles and thoughts follow different causal
requirements, that cannot be fitted in a single
form of intervention.
In the 1930s the theme of body and
psychotherapy became fashionable, in
psychology, psychiatry and the increasingly
diversified field of psychotherapy.
#

48

Treating the soul from the body, in the 1930s

In 1931, the 6th congress of the Common Medical Society
for Psychotherapy met in Dresden. Its general topic was
treating the soul from the body. The famous Psychiatrist,
Ernst Kretschmer, was the chair of this congress.
Psychoanalyst Gustav R. Heyer, a colleague of Jung, spoke on
Treating the Psyche starting from the Body and suggested
ways to include gymnastics, sports, breath work and
massage into a psychotherapeutic treatment. One speaker
went so far as to state that a combined body-mind-therapy
would be the future of psychotherapy. Georg Groddeck gave
a presentation on Massage and Psychotherapy, which
describes how he used deep muscular massage in some of
his psychoanalytic treatments.
#

49

Trygve Braaty & Aadel

Blow Hansen
N.B. Braaty was trained by
Fenichel at the Berlin
Psychoanalytic Institute

Photos given by Berit Bunkan

Combining psychoanalysis and body work in psychiatric

institutions began in the 1940s in Oslos psychiatric
institutions. For example, Trygve Braaty (a psychoanalytical
psychiatrist) and Adel Blow Hansen (a physiotherapist)
worked on the same patient, but each one used his own
techniques. Similar procedures spread in a variety of
institutions, as Willy Pasinis center of sexology in the Geneva
#
50
psychiatric institutions, during the
1970s.

 In the 1960s, in Esalen Institute of California, new forms

of psychotherapy (Gestalt therapy, family systemic
therapy, etc.) were combined with a variety of bodymind techniques (Charlotte Selvers Sensory Awareness,
Rolfing, the Feldenkrais method, Californian massage,
etc.). Far eastern techniques (Yoga, Zen, Tai Chi, etc.)
were also proposed. Clinical observation and
commercial needs quickly showed that each approach
had to be modified in function of how clients could
integrate these multiple approaches.
In Esalen methods were mixed in all sorts of ways, with
more or less rigor.
(N.B., Therapists like the Perls and Selver had worked with
Fenichel, Reich and/or Gindler in Berlin during the 1930s)
#

51

Cognitive psychotherapy & mindfulness

A recent example of this trend is the use of yoga and

mindfulness by cognitive therapists. This trend
coordinates in a more or less coherent way cognitive
therapy, hatha yoga and Zen meditation for the
treatment of depression. The relevance of this
approach is supported by empirical studies.
http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=mindfulness+cognitive+therapy&hl=
fr&client=firefoxa&hs=m8j&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=960&bih=632&tbm=
isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=aPzLo3P4qvJ7VM:&imgrefurl=http://www.
mindfulnesstherapy.ca/mindfulness-based-therapytoronto.html&docid=JRk3paRnEgl1M&imgurl=http://www.mindfulnesstherapy.ca/images/mindfulnessmeditation.jpg&w=475&h=300&ei=KJXfT_yHHIzsgalpICjCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=400&vpy=6&dur=1378&hovh=17
8&hovw=283&tx=181&ty=142&sig=101059712178520355700&pag
e=4&tbnh=141&tbnw=192&start=56&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:56,i
:260

52

II. 3. Organismic therapy

During the 1920s, the young Wilhelm
Reich was one of Freuds main trainer.
Like his friend Otto Fenichel, he was
asked to teach Freuds new second
topography (Id, Ego & Super Ego) to
the old and new psychoanalysts.
When Wilhelm Reich left Vienna for
Berlin in 1930, he was welcomed by

http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=wilhelm+reich+image
s&num=10&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=1152&bih=642&tbm=
isch&tbnid=hLkCf3feYCCQOM:&imgrefurl=http://clart
e.eu.com/petiteperfection/theoscopie/articles/invitatio
naladansedusabre.htm&docid=zjILRL0XcPkJmM&im
gurl=http://clarte.eu.com/petiteperfection/theoscopie/a
rticles/invitationaladansedusabre/Wilhem.jpg&w=225
&h=310&ei=UTreTovcMobYsgb8sdT5CA&zoom=

Otto Fenichel, who introduced the . Elsa Gindler

technique to Reichs family (e.g., Annie and Eva Reich).
There, Reich met Elsa Lindenberg. She was a dancer
trained by the famous choreographer Rudolf Laban.
#

53

Elsa Lindenberg, a pupil of Laban and Gindler

Reich et Lindenberg
http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=elsa+lindenberg+images&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=1152&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbnid=dW5GmVTCLwhJPM:&imgr
efurl=http://heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.3.WILHELM%2520REICH.htm&docid=J4jXbIcF4
http://a4.ec7iVWM&imgurl=http://heyokamagazine.com/wr-und-eva-amimages.myspacecdn.com/images02/87/6d2014907b8f4593b48154f0a9549cbd/l.jpg
strand.jpg&w=498&h=320&ei=Mj_eTtadItGJhQeG8IzqBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=260&sig=11
#
54
7036279167446822923&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=174&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0
&tx=108&ty=95

Notice that Reichs way of playing with Elsa that was photographed
is close to a Gindler exercise I have already shown

http://search.babylon.com/imageres.php?iu=http://dc426.4shared.com/doc/KaqRfSkZ/preview007.png&ir=http://dc426.4shared.com/doc/KaqRfSkZ/preview.html&
ig=http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRK7x1ERYsbfIQlVkyOWLa0p4xw56GsRA0RHGFQ7wImGfQeT3JwN48maWC&h=1516&w=1073&q=elsa+gindler&babsr
c=SP_ss

55

Rudolf Laban

Rudolph Labans approach to movement has

influenced many body and dance psychotherapists. He
also developed a way of noting down the gestures of
dancers that has often been discussed in the literature
on nonverbal communication.
#
56
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQhS1DwAo03lZFxUsZB9BLDq1gAhpnjhr6qDpl2_U7e63RfGyjLKYzW3Dk

Reich: one of the first body psychotherapist

Like Heyer and Groddeck, Reich believed that

a single therapist should coordinate body
work and psychoanalysis in an integrated way.
He adopted Fenichels notion that the defense
system of what Freud called the motoric ego
was a coordinated mix of psychological and
muscular tensions. The muscular system was
described as a material armor that protects
and supports the psychological repression of
unconscious material.
#

57

Reich: one of the first body psychotherapist

Thus loosening chronic

muscular tensions could
activate repressed
unconscious
psychological material.

http://www.cityofcalabasas.com/events/library/AlexanderTech%20.jpg

58

Oslo (1934-1939)

In 1933 Reich was kicked out of the

psychoanalytical association for political reasons,
and had to emigrate out of Nazi Germany. Reich
and Elsa Lindenberg joined the Fenichels in Oslo.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons
/thumb/0/0c/Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg/
800px-Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg

59

Reichs house in Oslo

Elsa Lindenberg:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQh
S1DwAo03lZFxUsZB9BLDq1gAhpnjhr6qDpl2_U7e63RfGyj
LKYzW3Dk

Wilhelm Reich: http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=wilhelm+reich+images&num=10&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=1152&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbnid=GGurPGAPwjMQaM:&imgrefurl=http://treeoflifetech.net/scientific-contributions/blankenshipreich-dinhaw/&docid=As9zuPmNLWeknM&imgurl=http://treeoflifetech.net/wpcontent/uploads/2011/01/WilhelmReich.jpg&w=256&h=276&ei=UTreTovcMobYsgb8sdT5CA&zoom=1

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Wilhelm_Reich%27s_home.jpg/250px-Wilhelm_Reich%27s_home.jpg

60

Oslo (1934-1939)
In Oslo the propositions of Otto and Clare Fenichel on
associating body work and psychoanalysis was well
received in a country that had an immense tradition in
sports and orthopedics.
When Reich arrived, he was presented to all by
Fenichel as one of the most important psychoanalyst of
the day. He wanted to reintegrate Reich into the
psychoanalytic association.
But in the mean time Reich
developed a new agenda.
http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=wilhelm+reich&start=350&hl=fr&client=firefoxa&hs=DLP&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&biw=960&bih=632&tbm=isch&prmd
=imvnslbo&tbnid=SucLq2bLtLDVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Orgone.aspx&docid=
0aHMu4naCtSfFM&imgurl=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sPVJExUPns/0.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=KJPfT5KnL866AaCwtCpCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=305&sig=101059712178520355700&page=
#
18&tbnh=149&tbnw=205&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:350,i:216&tx=137&ty=94
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg/800px-Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg

61

Reichs invents
organismic therapy
Reich used his orgasm
model to show that
most drives
spontaneously activate
a coordination of all the
dimensions of the
organism.

He wanted to create a therapy that worked on such

organismic reactions, which he called Vegetotherapy, and
then Orgone therapy.
He lost interest for approaches that focus on one dimension
only (e.g., the mind of the psychoanalysts, gymnastics for the
body, etc. ).
#
62
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg/800px-Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg

Vegetotherapy

Reich still recommended the psychoanalysis of Freud and

Fenichel to those who needed a form of intervention that
focused on the mind.
But he wanted to develop an organismic therapy where a
therapist actively works in a unified way on the
coordination of movement, breathing, metabolic
energetics, emotional expression and the construction of a
mind that can welcome organismic needs. His
psychological work became mostly educative.
The break with psychoanalysis became even stronger
when Reich followed Jung and Bergson by promoting a
vitalistic vision of global organismic coordination
mechanisms.
#
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg/800px-Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg

63

Vegetotherapy

Reich would for example detect body blocks, then

massage them, open the breathing connected to these
tensions and ask the patient to express the feelings he
experienced during this session.
He would then actively explore mental and body tensions
that prevent whatever emerged from expressing itself as
fully as possible. This implied that the expression flowed
through the whole body.
He and his colleagues observed that this work could
activate deep repressed material in a particularly clear
way.

64
Reich 1947: Fonction de lorgasme

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg/800px-Oslo_harbour_colors_modified.jpg

II.4. Summary of part II

I have for the moment distinguished three main currents
in body psychotherapies:
1. Soft body psychotherapy: Therapies that mostly focus
on psychological dynamics, but sometimes also use
forms of intervention that included other dimensions
of the organism.
2. Team work that combine expertise on different
dimensions of the organism, with a main focus on
psychological dynamics.
3. Organismic therapy that focuses on the coordination of
the dimensions of the organism. Reich explicitly said
that in doing this he went beyond psychology.
#

65

Part III. Existing options of body

psychotherapy today

66
http://www.bibliomania.ws/bibliomania/images/items/77264.jpg

Part III. The existing options of body psychotherapy today

Let us now consider how body psychotherapies used the
organismic dynamics as a way to focus on psychological
dynamics. I shall briefly say a bit more on the following
movements:
A. Organismic Therapy
B. Organismic Therapy + Psychotherapy given by a single
psychotherapist
C. The Example of Gerda Boyesen in Norway
D. Examples from recent trauma therapy

67

 A. Orgonomy & Vegetotherapy

There still exists schools that teach organismic therapy as a
way of helping people suffering with anxiety, depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive
disorder, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, to name
a few. Their idea is that these disorders are often caused
by a global organismic deregulation that has a direct
impact on the dynamics of the mind. The American
College of Orgonomy does not claim to do psychotherapy.
They would want organismic treatments to be considered
as useful by health institutions and insurances.
Organismic therapy approaches the same dynamics as
psychiatric medication, but from a different and more
integrated angle.
#
68

A similar road is followed by Norwegian

Vegetotherapy schools. They want to
increase the capacity of the organism to
produce metabolic energy, and to find
ways of using it in a constructive way. They
combine body work, breathing exercises,
emotional expression and a pedagogy of
the mind to release spontaneous global
organismic reactions such as the orgastic
reflex. The leader of this movement was a
well-integrated psychologist and
psychoanalyst : Ola Raknes.

Ola Raknes (trained

by Fenichel & Reich):
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:AN
d9GcSR3J5CIlwHMWoxUzoLFyy49u
UWUeiiyFoQOMbAfsJssP9v9ZAqFA

69

His pupil, the late Federico

Navarro, is particularly
well known in Latin
countries like Spain.

Navarro & Raknes:

http://www.assoc-francaisevegetotherapie.com/photos/federico_
ola.jpg
#

70

 B. Organismic Therapy + Psychotherapy given by a

single psychotherapist
Some of Reichs patients and pupils loved the organismic
therapy they received, but then felt a need to follow a
psychotherapy to mentally integrate the changes they
experienced during their cessions with Reich. They
created a variety of schools in which one therapist
coordinates (A) something like Vegetotherapy, and (B)
modes of intervention that help psychological dynamics
to integrate that material. This psychological work is no
more pedagogical only, but a real exploration of the self.
#

71

This trend has been explored in a variety of

schools, where the body psychotherapist works
on the body with a somatic perspective, and
uses classical psychotherapeutic tools and
concepts (Psychodynamic, Jungian, Gestalt,
Transactional Analysis, Systemic, Cognitive &
Behavioral). In most cases the association is
creative and synthetic, as psychological and
organismic theories are presented as forming a
relatively coherent whole.

72

 The first real attempt at this was Alexander Lowens

Bioenergetics. He had had organismic therapy with
Reich. He wanted to combine Reichs Vegetotherapy with
a psychodynamic perspective. However, in this case, the
integration of the two methods is poor, rather more like
a patch work.
As Gindler and
Fenichel had
immediately seen,
such a combination
generates technical
issues that have not
yet been solved in a
satisfying way.
Alexander Lowen in a session:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS_tB4yELBZFiNmA-qDR2#
73
Crys4voOFP9WjtKlPq5-7NiBJ96sU

 C. Example I: Gerda Boyesen (1922-2005) in Oslo &

London
In the end of the of the 1940s, in Oslo, Gerda Boyesen
studied clinical psychology. She became an expert in the
Rorschach test.

#
Photo lent by Ebba Boyesen

74

 C. Gerda Boyesen (1922-2005)

Like most clinical psychologists, she began a
psychotherapy, except that in her case her therapist was
the very Reichian Ola Raknes. In the USA, Reich wanted
all his Orgonomy therapists to be medical doctors. For
him, a solid knowledge of the organism is essential when
one practices organismic psychotherapy. Braaty
informed her that, for Norway, becoming a
physiotherapist and a psychologist is enough for a body
psychotherapist. So she trained in physiotherapy with
Blow-Hansen and in psychotherapy with Raknes.
She gradually developed her own approach, sometimes
called Biodynamic Psychology, as a synthesis between
the options of Fenichels pupils and Reich.
#

75

Those who influenced Gerda Boyesens approach

Last revision: august 2009
as it existed in the 1960s
Gerda Boyesen in the
1970s: Photo lent by Ebba Boyesen

SP

BH
OF

TB

SF

GB
WR

OR
AL

SF: Sigmund Freud; SP: Scandinavian physiotherapy; OF: Otto Fenichel, WR: Wilhelm
Reich, TB: Trygve Braaty, OR: Ola Raknes, BH: Bllow-Hansen, GB: Gerda Boyesen;
#
AL: Alexander Lowen. Dotted arrows indirect influences.

76

Gerda Boyesen integrates the following critics of Fenichel in

organismic therapy:

1. Fenichel doubted that the organism is

organized as proposed by Reichs simplistic
model of the body. He doubted, for example,
that the dynamics of the body were as simple
as Reichs model of seven body segments.
2. He supported Reichs basic psychosomatic
vision, but thought that his way of working
could retraumatized some patients.
3. Reich did not have enough respect for the
patients need to have a defence system, and to
protect his fragility.
#

77

Gerda Boyesen integrates the critics of Fenichels in

organismic therapy:
Gerda Boyesen was the first to integrate Fenichels
critiques in a basically vegetotherapeutic
approach:
She showed the need to acquire more refined
body techniques than those used by Reich and
Lowen (e.g., Blow-Hansens method).
She taught her pupils not to attack muscular
tensions, but to make friends with defenses.
However, Gerda Boyesen also defended Reichs
vitalistic approach to integrate in a harmonious
way the heterogeneous dimensions of the
organism.
#

78

Other neo reichian organismic therapies

During the 1980s, like Reich

before, Gerda Boyesen
turned her back on body
psychotherapy to focus on
the development of her
brand of spiritual organismic
therapy. This path was
followed, for independent
reasons, by other schools,
such as John Pierrakos Chore
Energetics.
#

John Pierrakos:
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ
Ypw2LPcGoRiZAXOdW_4O9mIA1eqSb6ezoq
kqcH40h8RFQaEjq

79

 D. Example II. Trauma therapy &

body psychotherapy
In the 1990s, new ways of treating
traumatized people became a central
focus in the field of psychotherapy. A
key figure in this development is the
Dutch psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk,
who developed a wide range of
interventions to treat Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorders (PTSD), with his team
in Bostons Trauma Center. His
approach is another example of a
psychiatrist who prefers to use
whatever tool is most needed by
#
patients.

Bessel Van
Der Kolk:
http://www.traumacent
er.org/about/about_be
ssel.php

80

 E. Trauma therapy & body psychotherapy

Van der Kolks team proposes cognitive and psychodynamic
psychotherapy, body psychotherapy, mind-body
approaches such as bio-feedback, Eye Movement
Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), and techniques
based on far-eastern methods such as yoga and
mindfulness.
This eclectic approach attracted a wide range of body
psychotherapists:

The nervous system can

move out!:
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlbRqQcMvsfYhE5FXLX
b-SsRMnPkshkNPis0fpGY9jZaVdrRHW

81

 E. Trauma therapy & body psychotherapy

For example colleagues close to the Danish Bodynamic school
(Marianne Bentzen, Babette Rothschild), or Marulla
Hauswirth in Switzerland, from Bioenergetics and Somatic
Experiencing.

Marianne Bentzen:

Babette Rothschild:

http://www.polarity.ch/images/ReferentIn
nen/Marianne.Bentzen.239.176.jpg

http://www.zurinstitute.com/broth
schild.jpg

Marulla Hauswirth:
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn
:ANd9GcS-CCTQJ-ltBQ0QaGGffFCdR757OrYY8FddXoPDmr17l6vbDRAn
82
w

and from the USA (Peter Levine from Somatic Experiencing,

Pat Ogden from the Hakomi and Sensory Motor
Psychotherapy, Al Pesso from the Pesso-Boyden System
Psychomotor, Beta de Boer Van der Kolk from Rubenfeld
Synergy and Tantra yoga).

Peter Levine:

Pat Ogden:

http://www.traumahealing.com/somaticexperiencing/Levine_resize.jpg

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tb
n:ANd9GcTEJ22kBMaNeCg2fAJ8oUL5fHqgWhFG3Cgurg
#
JxhoAFSDkPbuwkQ

Al Pesso & Diane Boyden:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRq9rpz8
fJeMXjLXC57AX9w1YY6j2vJ7OueGWQrKYrzR3HOeX8
Y

83

 This trend presents a different way of using

the SDO model than in organismic therapies,
and can be situated half way between bodymind techniques and classical psychotherapy.
It often uses verbal interventions to analyze in
detail what Jean Piaget calls schemas, or
George Downing practices, which amounts to
recurrent specific procedures that often but
not always combine several organismic
dimensions in a relatively local way.
#

84

The modes of intervention

are often a mixture
between refined bodymind and psychological
techniques that can
describe how the different
dimensions of the
organism combine to form
a traumatic vicious circle.
A well-known model for
such a mode of analysis is
Selye's Axis of stress.
http://www.dopadoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/stress#
85
mannequin1.jpg

 Explanations are provided to help the patient to

explore what happens in his organism in a
reassuring way.
The general consensus is that combining body
and mind requires a reformulation of
psychological models as well as ways of working
with the body.
As the work is structured for people who have
suffered traumatic events, the methods used are
designed not to create retraumatisation, while
becoming able to face the difficulties that trauma
generates in the depths of all organismic
regulation systems and dimensions.
#

86

 There are scars in the dreams, startle reflexes

that suddenly appear for no apparent
reasons, traumatic memories and affects than
can suddenly rise to the surface.
To avoid retraumatisation the work must
advance in a relatively predictable way, in a
secure environment. Physiological arousal
through breathing and sensory-motor
exercises must be efficient, and yet never so
strong that one is surprised.
#

87

The re-education of metabolic activity, the

formation of psychological ways of protecting
oneself, coping strategies that support
stronger emotional interactions with those
one loves, relearning to integrate body
sensations that emerge from the depth of the
organism without fear, are some of the points
addressed by these methods.

88

Part IV. Work with specific organismic

schemas & A clinical example

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SwJVN
hni-xQ/0.jpg

89

IV.A. Work with specific organismic schemas

We have thus passed form working on the global

organism to methods that work on specific
organismic coordinations. This requires the
capacity to detect specific ways of reacting, and
then observing the impact of this modular
behavior on the more global forms of organismic
regulation systems. For example, observing how
a ways of saying hallo resonates with a wide
range of mental, behavioral and body dynamics.
#

90

Work with micro practices

Recently, George Downing has

proposed a general frame for
that way of working that can be
used by most contemporary
psychotherapists: The need to
detect modular organismic
ways of operating, and then
seeing how they combine.
These he calls micro-practices.
They can often be observed on
video recordings.
#

George Downing:
http://www.georgedowning.com/images/logo.jpg

91

 A micro-practice is a habitual schema. It is a mix

of mental, sensory-motor, emotional and
breathing patterns that forms a specific coping
procedure.
The psycho-therapist helps the patient to clearly
perceive a practice, and its history in his life. For
example a form of irritation every time a kid
slams the door. Then comes an evaluation of
how this practice associates with other practices,
and of how constructive it is in the patients
present life.
#

92

Consider a child who could not express his anger to a

violent father who beats his mother. He could do it
now. He does not need to repress his anger
anymore. However he may have to learn ways of
becoming angry that does not destroy him.

We are back
to a different
way of using
the SDO
model:
#

93

The organism as a messy system

In these recent approaches, we no-more have a

coherent organism that has been messed up by
social dynamics. We are closer to the following
notions:
The Darwinian notion that the organism is a
messy construction of heterogeneous
mechanisms associated by the laws of
biological and social evolution.
The systemic notion that the global system
structures sub-systems that structure the
global system.
#

94

Systemic democracy: the elements influence the global

organization that organize the elements
Organism

Element II

Element I

95

A systemic view of body psychotherapy

The therapist and the patient become aware

of the heap of procedures that structure the
patient and his relationships, and then look
for ways of finding more satisfying
procedures.
The whole organization follows rules that are
beyond what an individual consciousness can
deal with. But we know that improving how
the mind connects and integrates these micropractices can modify how the global system
works.
#

96

may become the future model for all

psychotherapies

In return, when the global system restructures

itself it may modify specific procedures.
This is any way how I proceed. I am
continuously astounded by how a well
calibrated analysis of body-mind procedures
often generates a gradual but deep reshuffling
of how the organism and its dimensions
function.

97

IV.B. Organismic dynamics, vitality & :

a composite clinical example

Even in body psychotherapy, we talk a lot. In this

case, I began, as often, by gathering information
using a constructive dialogue frame. I learned
that the mother was depressed, the father often
at work, and that the child had more demands
than the parents were willing to deal with.
To avoid the intensity of frustration the infant
had to diminish the intensity of his needs. He
did that by diminishing his breathing.
#

98

Metabolism & needs

The operation is so simple that all infants can

spontaneously put it in place.
1. You breath less.
2. The metabolism is less active, and produces
less energy.
3. There is then less energy for all organismic
needs and affects.
4. The inhibition is global and nonselective.
Constructive and destructive needs are inhibited.
#

99

Metabolism & needs

If the infant finds this procedure less painful than

others, he will develop strategies that maintain a
lower metabolic activity:
1. Chronic muscular tensions that restrict
breathing.
2. Startle reactions activated by strong affective
urges.
3. Ways of thinking that easily activate anxiety
and gilt as way of controlling oneself, etc.
4. A increasingly general disequilibrium between
respect for oneself and others.
#

100

Internal breathing &

metabolism
Finally the metabolic
dynamics
themselves
accommodate to a
lower input of
oxygen. When more
energy comes in in a
stable way, the
whole organism is
destabilized and
uncomfortable.
#

101

Metabolism & needs

The adult that sits in front of me is now full of these

inhibitions. As soon as I give a breathing exercise
the person develops nausea, or feels so exited that
she does things she would not have done other
wise, and does not know how to handle and
integrate. So she does something that she should
not have done, reinforces her fears and regresses to
her usual metabolic low level.

This is our version of what psychoanalysts some

times call and acting out.
#

102

Metabolism & needs

So I begin with a soft breathing exercise, that is

reassuring, but activates metabolic activity
nonetheless, like the famous stool exercise. Doing
nothing in this position automatically deepens lower
abdominal breathing.
The fine point is to avoid spending the energy input
with behavioral activity, as one often does in sports.
90o

90o
#

103

Metabolism & needs

For some patients this is enough. They feel more

energy, and the need to spend it, without knowing
how!
Then comes a long educational and analytical
process of discovering what happens when one has
more energy, and to find creative ways of using it!
The work is educative because the whole organism
needs to recalibrate and learn how to produce and
use more energy. It is analytical because the mind
needs to understand the history of this reduction of
metabolic dynamics, and integrate the negative
underlying affects.
#

104

Metabolism & needs

Alexander Lowen:
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9G
cShMmoofZ_UqAhiJY8jeC5e1CQaAreQvt
#
4SxxuMJkiSKcBQIfCL

As we advance in such
a process, we gradually
use more powerful
breathing exercises,
which mobilize an
increasingly wide range
of affects and
intellectual resistances.
At all times the work is
a mix of somatic and
psychological work,
that is often verbal.
105

Part V. Conclusion

One of the basic aims of this presentation is to

inform you of the deep evolution that is
continuously transforming body psychotherapy.
Another aim is to communicate a way of
thinking to colleagues of other modalities, with
the hope that they will want to enquire on these
developments in a more detailed way by reading
our literature and discussing with us.
#

106

Conclusion

A core focus of my presentation was to show the

following points:
1. Psychotherapists need an organismic
psychology, which considers the mind as a
regulator of the organism.
2. This implies improving ones understanding of
how the mind is influenced by its way of
contacting the other dimensions of the organism.
3. It is probable that the way the psychological
dynamics insert themselves in organismic
dynamics will modify both dynamics.
#

107

Conclusion

4. That the aim of all psychotherapies is to improve

how an individual organism regulates itself while
interacting with its environment.

An interacting dyad

SDO A

SDO B

108

Conclusion

I hope I have conveyed to you the

richness of the many options that exist in
the field of body psychotherapy.
I thank you very much for your patience,
and hope that you will have questions
that will allow us to enliven this
presentation!
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The considerations summarized in this presentation,

have been developed in my Manual of Body
Psychotherapies. The French version is published by
De Boeck. The English version will be published by
W.W. Norton next month.
Contact: www.aqualide.com

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