Dohsa-hou

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · Gosaku Naruse · 1966 · Kyushu University, Japan

What it is

Dohsa-hou ("body-movement method") is a Japanese psychotherapy that works through deliberate body movement instead of, or alongside, talk. It grew out of hypnosis research by Gosaku Naruse's team (Kyushu University) in the mid-1960s: a boy with cerebral palsy moved more freely under hypnosis, but…

Format

• Dohsa-hou is not a fixed-session manual. Practitioners select tasks from a repertoire to fit an assessment of the person's movement and experience, then sequence them. The typical arc reported across cases:
• Session count and format (reported, not prescribed):

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Dohsa-hou ("body-movement method") is a Japanese psychotherapy that works through deliberate body movement instead of, or alongside, talk. It grew out of hypnosis research by Gosaku Naruse's team (Kyushu University) in the mid-1960s: a boy with cerebral palsy moved more freely under hypnosis, but the gain vanished afterwards, so the team looked for a non-hypnotic way for the person to release excess tension himself.…
• Note on classification: although listed here under psychotherapies rooted in Eastern thought, the sources present Dohsa-hou as a secular, hypnosis-derived psychological method; none of the sources ground it in religious doctrine. Training and professional bodies: the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Psychology (日本リハビリテイション心理学会, founded 1976) and the Japanese Association of Clinical Dohsalogy (日本臨床動作学会, founded…

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

• pain; neck hyperextension.
• few studies have tracked home practice; ask concretely.
• pushing by the trainer, which provokes counter-resistance.
• the client starting the movement themselves after your cue.
• whether the client can describe and reproduce the movement alone.

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.