Body Awareness Group Therapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Jacques Dropsy, Gertrud Roxendal · 1960 · France

What it is

Body awareness group therapy is not a separate school. It is the group form of BBAT, a physiotherapy method used in mental health care. Jacques Dropsy, a French movement educator and psychotherapist, developed the movement awareness approach in the 1960s. Gertrud Roxendal, a Swedish…

Format

• Phase 0: Assessment and contract (individual, 1–2 sessions).
• Contract: the client's own goals in everyday terms, attendance, confidentiality in the group, a daily practice diary, and the right to sit out any movement.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Tools: the Body Awareness Scale (BAS; Roxendal 1985) has an observational movement part and an interview part (BAS-interview) on symptoms and attitudes to body and movement. The newer Body Awareness Rating Scale – Movement Quality (BARS-MQ; Skjærven et al. 2015) rates movement quality from observed movement. Both are licensed or trained instruments: use them only after training, and they are not reproduced here.
• Scope note for psychotherapists. BBAT is taught as a physiotherapy specialisation through the IATBBAT network and university programmes, for example the Basic Body Awareness Methodology studies at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. A psychotherapist should get BBAT training, or co-lead with a BBAT-trained physiotherapist, before running groups. Massage and touch need specific training,…

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

• too large a plan. Make it smaller rather than drop it (see 5).
• goals that are about appearance or weight. Reframe them towards function and experience.
• explaining too much too early, so clients perform the "right" result instead of finding their own.
• slumping or holding stiffly upright as the "correct" posture. The aim is balance, not a posture held by effort.
• turning this into ergonomics drills. Keep the focus on experience. Working when: diary entries mention using it in real situations.

Problems the guide addresses

• Overwhelm, panic or flashback during a movement
• Dissociation (blank, frozen, delayed responses, "not here")
• Stuck: "I feel nothing"
• Performing, comparing or self-criticism
• Resistance or scepticism ("How does standing help my depression?")
• Non-adherence to home practice
• Ruptures with the leader or between members
• Pain or physical limitation
• Psychosis
• Emotional release (crying, anger) in the group

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.