Synergetik therapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Bernd Joschko · 1975 · Hesse, Germany

What it is

Synergetik-Therapie is an imagery-led trance method. The client lies blindfolded in deep relaxation and is guided on an “Innenweltreise” (inner-world journey). There the client describes inner images, talks with inner figures and confronts them. Sometimes the client strikes at inner images with a…

Format

• Format. One-to-one sessions in a practice or institute. In 2004 Joschko and a co-practitioner opened an “Informationscenter für ganzheitliche Therapie” in Goslar offering Synergetik-Therapie and -Profiling. In the BGH case a lay practitioner ran sessions in her own flat. Clients were recruited by…
• Phases of a single session, as reconstructed from the court's and encyclopaedia's descriptions. The sources do not number or name the phases; they are ordered here for clarity.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training and regulation.
• Since the rulings, practice in Germany requires a medical, psychotherapist or Heilpraktiker licence.
• Version followed: Bernd Joschko's Synergetik-Therapie (with its offshoot Synergetik-Profiling) as practised in Germany c. 2004–2010. The method is described here as its practitioners presented it, in the form summarised by the German Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG 3 C 28.09, 26 Aug 2010) and the German Wikipedia article (read via the bionity mirror). The school's own texts are not drawn on here: the Synergetik…

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 use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• 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?

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.