Jungian body psychotherapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Agnes Birgit Heuer, Gottfried Heuer · 1987 · London

What it is

This is not a manualised therapy with a protocol. It is an integrative clinical approach developed by two London practitioners. Gottfried Heuer is a training analyst and supervisor with the Association of Jungian Analysts, and also a Biodynamic body psychotherapist and trainer. Birgit Heuer is a…

Format

• No formal phases. None of the sources sets out treatment phases, session counts or criteria for ending. The structured unit the Heuers describe is the arc of a single session. The overall course follows the open-ended analytic frame of Jungian analysis.
• Format. Individual sessions in a room that allows sitting face-to-face on chairs, standing and moving, and lying down. The Heuers also run groups led by a male–female pair who alternate leadership. Frequency and length are not given; ordinary analytic practice (weekly or more often, about 50–60…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. This is not a manualised therapy with a protocol. It is an integrative clinical approach developed by two London practitioners. Gottfried Heuer is a training analyst and supervisor with the Association of Jungian Analysts, and also a Biodynamic body psychotherapist and trainer. Birgit Heuer is a Jungian analytic psychotherapist (BAP) with a background in body psychotherapy. The approach is sometimes…
• Status today. Practice is carried mainly by the Heuers' own clinical and training work and by the wider Jungian/body-psychotherapy literature (Sassenfeld, Conger, Chodorow, Howe). No separate training institute or certification for "Jungian body psychotherapy (Heuer)" was found.

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

• Dissociation with eyes closed. Offer open eyes.
• Splitting of the co-leaders by the group. Process it openly.
• Abandonment feelings. Explore the transference fully before any change.
• Projecting your own state onto the client. Check it first in supervision.
• The client being still "in" the experience. Lengthen the grounding before they leave.

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.