Body-behaviour therapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Maren Langlotz-Weis · 2019 · Germany

What it is

It is not a separate school. It is a way of bringing body and breath work into ordinary cognitive-behavioural therapy. Langlotz-Weis is a licensed behaviour therapist with further training in psychodrama, systemic family therapy and body-oriented therapy, and her material grew out of the training…

Format

• The published sources give no phase model or a session count. Jost's review describes the book in three parts: Part 1 is theory (Downing's affect-motor schemas, differentiation learning, the Carpenter effect). Part 2, "Handwerk" (the craft), covers setting, prerequisites, basic stance, the…
• Format. Individual outpatient behaviour therapy in standard session lengths. The workshops also use groups. Patients wear comfortable clothing, and the room needs floor space, mats or blankets, a free wall and a sturdy cushion. Session count: not specified in the sources. In Germany the work sits…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Move on when: the patient can feel and regulate core emotions (anger, grief, fear, joy and desire are the ones the review names), and links between body patterns and their learning history have been understood.
• What it is. It is not a separate school. It is a way of bringing body and breath work into ordinary cognitive-behavioural therapy. Langlotz-Weis is a licensed behaviour therapist with further training in psychodrama, systemic family therapy and body-oriented therapy, and her material grew out of the training curricula of the IFKV in Bad Dürkheim. She presents it as an extension of the body tools behaviour therapy…

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?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• 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

• perfectionism about the numbers. It is working when the patient can change the signal on purpose and recognise the state without the device.
• the patient "performing" without feeling it. It is working when the new body stance appears spontaneously and the predictions are disconfirmed.
• skipping straight to intellectualising and losing the felt sense; ending raw and unsettled. It is working when insight, feeling and behavioural intention line up.
• embarrassment, compliance without real agreement, fear of losing control. It is working when the patient is curious, asks questions, and can say what they noticed.
• relaxation-induced anxiety (keep the eyes open, keep it short, give the patient control). It is working when relaxation comes faster and the hierarchy items lose their charge.

Problems the guide addresses

• Embarrassment, feeling silly, "this isn't behaviour therapy"
• "I feel nothing" (no access to the body)
• Overwhelm, hyperventilation, panic
• Dissociation or flashback during breath or recollection work
• Touch-related problems
• Strong anger or rage in separation work
• Strong grief, neediness, "bottomless" needs
• Eating disorders: distress in body confrontation or boundary work
• Somatoform and health-anxious patients who fear amplifying symptoms
• Non-adherence to home practice

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.