Analytical body psychotherapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Peter Geißler, Günter Heisterkamp · 1980 · Vienna

What it is

What it is: a psychoanalytic (psychodynamic, in Heisterkamp's case Adlerian) psychotherapy that keeps the analytic frame, transference and countertransference work, but can temporarily or permanently "open the setting" beyond chair or couch so that bodily experience, movement, eye contact, voice,…

Format

• The school publishes no fixed session protocol. Three levels of structure can be identified.
• Format and length. Individual long-term psychodynamic or analytic therapy (also group therapy, child and adolescent therapy, inpatient care; named special fields: anorexia nervosa, borderline disorders, "scenic supervision"). Reported courses run for years: e.g. two years of talking therapy before…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is: a psychoanalytic (psychodynamic, in Heisterkamp's case Adlerian) psychotherapy that keeps the analytic frame, transference and countertransference work, but can temporarily or permanently "open the setting" beyond chair or couch so that bodily experience, movement, eye contact, voice, distance and, where agreed, touch enter the dialogue. It is a school and training tradition rather than a manualised…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• shame, freezing; let the patient control duration.
• a felt sense of connection, softening, eventual speech.
• shame about self-care; parallel activity often reduces it.
• defensiveness in the therapist; treat "mistakes" as information.
• patients who feel pressured by the equipment; keep it unobtrusive.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.