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New psychotherapy appointments available from 17 September 2018
What
is Psychotherapy? |
People commonly turn to
psychotherapy at times in their lives when internal and external stress
factors combine and become demoralizing or debilitating. Such distress
may be exacerbated by a lack of internal or external skills necessary to
help us manage this situation. Stress or distress may also arise in
situations new to us that exceed or overwhelm our abilities to function
within them. And any external stress factors may combine with, or
re-inflame, preexisting internal stress dynamics, arising from
childhood experiences for example, that became engrained in our
psychobiology. Whatever the causes, stress tolerance and the
self-regulation capacities of the human species are limited and stress
or distress can easily exceed them.
It is difficult to generalise 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. What
happens in therapy is also influenced by cultural aspects. Cultural
values manifest in our relationships with ourselves and with others and
shape our experience of ourselves and others. To my mind, culture
includes ethnicity, colour, spirituality/religion or sexual
orientations.
But "therapy" also implies a relationship as there
is more then one person involved. Trust is crucial in providing a safe
and supportive space which allows us engage with difficult or
conflicted aspects in our life and the notion of a confidential
relationship forms the basis of any therapy. Trust is inspired by many
factors and not just confidentiality and I believe that the quality of
the relationship between therapist and client should be a central
concern for choosing a therapist. Research shows that the
quality of the therapeutic relationship contributes significantly to
outcomes. |
| Body
Psychotherapy |
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
Body Psychotherapy |
All
forms of psychotherapy utilise inter-personal dynamics and interactions
as a vehicle for change. The therapeutic relationship and the
therapeutic space created are crucial tools to help foster the kinds of
self-awareness and behavior change people seek to develop. Relational
psychotherapy developed as
a cross-platform or meeting place between theoretical models in recent
decades. It is not associated with any particular school of
psychotherapy
but a broad way of understanding human motivation and the therapeutic
process.
Relational
psychotherapy challenged
a central principle of traditional psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
For much of its history, psychotherapy has been understood as an
inquiry by one person, the therapist, into the inner world and
psychology of another person, the client. In contrast, a two-person
psychology approach acknowledges that there are two people interacting
mutually, if asymmetrically, in the therapeutic relationship. Both
therapist and client contribute their unique subjectivities to the
therapeutic space which is necessarily co-created. This shift from a
one-person to a two-person psychology has moved the therapist's
position from interpreting observations or administering treatment
towards a more participative and co-creative style of facilitation.
In relational
body psychotherapypay,
we pay attention to the subjectivities of both client and
therapist. A therapeutic relationship inevitably involves the
organisms
of both participants. 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. Bodily phenomena add texture and depth to the therapy process
and may provide clues about hidden conflicts or relational tensions. |
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