Body Psychotherapy

Since the moment we are conceived and throughout our development we have been adapting to our environment. Body and mind, united by the bond of emotions, have been forming a unique character structure that, anchored in our past, limits our perceptions and emotions, creating a defensive system that Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) called "character armor" or "muscular armor." By working on the three levels of this armor, mind, body and energy, body psychotherapy manages to soften and make it more flexible, reestablishing the person's emotional and physical balance and restoring their ability to live with pleasure and self-esteem.

When we are children, traumatic events, emotional deficiencies, fears and disappointments that we experience mark us both psychologically in the form of memories and associations, and physically in the form of tensions and muscle blockages that become chronic over time. What we call "muscular armor" is, therefore, the set of these chronic muscular blockages and tensions that have been accumulating since childhood and that, in the end, have become completely integrated with our way of being. The armor is linked to the character structure of the person and their way of living reality, and has its roots in a long series of adaptation processes to an environment with possible emotional deficiencies, forced learning, hostility, authoritarianism, negligence, etc. As the years go by, then, we build a defense system that, when it becomes obsolete with the arrival of adulthood, becomes a trap, a trap from which we are incapable of getting out on our own, since one of the The most notable characteristics of the muscular armor is the fact that the person wearing it is so accustomed to it that he does not even realize its existence. The effects of this armor, however, are felt both in the mind and in the body of the individual and are manifested through emotional symptoms such as a reduction in the capacity for pleasure, contained aggression, life dissatisfaction, depression, feeling of emptiness. , anxiety, etc., and psychosomatic symptoms such as cardiovascular diseases, back pain, obesity problems, etc.

Body Psychotherapy is a type of psychotherapy where the patient's mind and body are treated as a single unit. It is a therapy that has a long history, with a set of publications and knowledge based on experience and a solid theoretical position.

Body Psychotherapy is applied based on an explicit theory of the functioning of the mind-body, which takes into account the complexity of the intersections and interactions between the body and the mind. It is based on the fact that the body reflects the totality of the person and that there is a functional unity between the mind and the body. The body does not only mean the 'soma', nor is it independent of the mind, the 'psyche'. There is no hierarchical relationship between mind and body, between psyche and soma. Both are interactive aspects in the functioning of the entire human being.

Body Psychotherapy includes a developmental model, a theory of personality, hypotheses regarding the origins of disturbances and alterations, as well as a rich variety of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic resources, used within the framework of the therapeutic relationship. As in other branches of Psychotherapy, within Body Psychotherapy there are many theoretical approaches and differentiated practices.

Body Psychotherapy is also a science that has been developed over the last seventy years from the results of research in Biology, Anthropology, Ethology, Neurophysiology, Neuropsychology, Developmental Psychology, Neonatology, perinatal studies, etc., and through experience, results and knowledge obtained through practice.

Body Psychotherapy encompasses a whole set of specific therapeutic approaches, with a rich theoretical and scientific basis. It has a wide variety of techniques, some of which are used with the body or with the participation of the body, through touch, movement and breathing. Although there are some points in common with other therapies that use bodily, physiological or medical techniques that intervene on the body, Body Psychotherapy is a completely different discipline, since it uses contact with the body within a psychotherapeutic relationship.

Body Psychotherapy has been scientifically validated by the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) as well as the European Association of Body Psychotherapy (EABP), also recognizing several of its modalities as scientific.