Feminist body psychotherapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Eva Hartard, Christiane Tutschner · Frankfurt am Main

What it is

The Frankfurt institute calls its method a synthesis of biodynamic body psychotherapy (the Gerda Boyesen tradition) and Gestalt therapy, built on feminist therapy. It works with women in individual therapy, women's groups and residential seminars. It aims to help women leave behind inherited…

Format

• No published phase model was found. The sources describe settings and aims but no phases, session counts or transition criteria. The structure below is a built from the named aims and components, standard body-psychotherapy safety practice and feminist-therapy logic. Follow it as one clinician's…
• Formats named in the sources:

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training in feminist body psychotherapy for women, built on self-experience, with training therapy and supervision. It is open to women seeking only personal development.
• Version followed: Feministische Körperpsychotherapie (feminist body psychotherapy) as taught by the Institut für Feministische Körperpsychotherapie, Frankfurt am Main (founders Eva Hartard and Christiane Tutschner; trainer Bärbel Wenzel), from the institute's own pages and its 2019 and 2021 seminar and training announcements. Rae Johnson's (2009) somatic work on embodied oppression is used as the English-language…
• What it is. The Frankfurt institute calls its method a synthesis of biodynamic body psychotherapy (the Gerda Boyesen tradition) and Gestalt therapy, built on feminist therapy. It works with women in individual therapy, women's groups and residential seminars. It aims to help women leave behind inherited gender-role ascriptions and life scripts, regain aliveness, self-love, personal power (Eigenmacht) and the…

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 any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• 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

• Plans that only add new duties. Check that the plan includes rest and saying no.
• Shame, or withdrawal to the edge of the room. Offer the role of witness as an equally valid way to take part.
• Relaxation can trigger anxiety in traumatised clients. Keep the eyes open and the instructions short, and let her stop at any time.
• Respect the client's beliefs; rituals are offered, not prescribed. Outdoor or solitary vision-quest formats need specific safety planning and training.
• Hyper-attunement to the other person ("somatic vigilance") at the cost of self-perception. It is working when she can stay in contact and still feel herself.

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.