Functional relaxation

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Marianne Fuchs · 1940 · Erlangen, Germany

What it is

FE is a German body-oriented psychotherapy, described as psychodynamically based, developed by Marianne Fuchs (died 11 March 2010, aged 102). It began in the early 1940s. Her one-year-old son had treatment-resistant spastic bronchitis and threatening asthma, and his outbreath was obstructed. She…

Format

• FE has no fixed phase model in the sources. The Praxisbuch names several formats: crisis intervention, short interventions, longer courses of therapy, and a closing separation phase ("Ablösungsphase"). The formats documented in the sources are:
• Single brief intervention: about 5 minutes of elements of FE, given in acute asthma in children and adolescents (Loew et al. 1996). What these elements contained is not described in the abstract.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Manualised group course for stress: 10 weekly sessions of 90 minutes. Session 1 covers expectations and questions. Session 2 adds muscle tensing/relaxing alongside psychoeducation. Session 3 is not described. Session 4 is an imaginary journey with a shoulders/pelvis focus. Session 5 focuses on the heart (warmth, "energy flow", heartbeat). Session 6 covers neck, head, lower jaw, mouth, teeth and shoulders. Session 7…
• Manualised group course in somatic care: 12 weekly sessions of 45 minutes, groups of about 3–10, delivered by an FR-certified physiotherapist trained on the manual. It can be inpatient or outpatient.
• FE is a German body-oriented psychotherapy, described as psychodynamically based, developed by Marianne Fuchs (died 11 March 2010, aged 102). It began in the early 1940s. Her one-year-old son had treatment-resistant spastic bronchitis and threatening asthma, and his outbreath was obstructed. She laid her hand on his chest, supported the yielding outbreath and accompanied it with a soft "puh" sound. Over about a year…

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?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• 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

• strong tensing, which is against FE's no-force stance. Keep it brief and light. It is working when it leads into finer perception in later sessions.
• knee or back strain when rising, and pressure to perform. It is working when the client experiences "Halt" (support) and transfers this to everyday standing.
• comparison and competition, and members who stay silent. Allow them to pass. It is working when members bring back their own experiences from daily practice.
• judging postures as right or wrong; the aim is to perceive them. It is working when the client notices, outside therapy, how they sit and adjusts it themselves.
• any worsening, which calls for medical care at once. It is working when the client feels less panic and a freer outbreath. The client should also have a written medical action plan.

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.