Body Psychotherapy Bristol

Why Body Psychotherapy

All too often our bodily sensations and feelings are pushed aside as being inconvenient or inappropriate, maybe even regarded as an inferior part of ourselves. The resulting mind-body split can be the source of much emotional and physical suffering.

Body Psychotherapy recognizes and works with the physical tensions, energy flow and internal processes which result from the long-term containment of emotions and explores the internal conflicts which may prevent full expression.

People come to Body Psychotherapy for many reasons:

because they find that words are not enough

because they recognise that, for them, physical symptoms are associated with emotional distress

because they feel detached from their body and their feelings and want to reconnect

because they find themselves overwhelmed by floods of emotion and wish to find ways of dealing with this

because they feel that Body Psychotherapy may be the best way to deal with their particular problem, whether it is depression, anxiety, past trauma, feelings of rage or whatever

from curiosity to see if this form of psychotherapy is suited to their needs and personal development

and for many other diverse and compelling reasons.

Integrative Body Psychotherapy recognizes the importance of physical emotional charge and discharge, while also taking into account many of the insights and techniques of the humanistic and psychodynamic approaches.

The foundations of Body Psychotherapy were laid in the early 20th century by Wilhelm Reich who provided many insights into the relationship between mind, feelings and physiology which still seem fresh today. This field has been the subject of constant development ever since. Now the findings of neuroscience, immunology and physiological psychology are beginning to corroborate many of the insights which have been gained over the years.