Nonverbal Stories: The Body in Psychotherapy
Keywords:
body centered psychotherapy, body therapy, relational psychotherapy, inhibited gesture, retroflection, integrative psychotherapy, emotional experience, touch in psychotherapy, music therapyAbstract
Emotional experience is stored within the amygdala and the limbic system of the brain as affect, visceral, and physiological sensation without symbolization and language. These significant memories are expressed in affect and through our bodily movements and gestures. Such body memories are unconscious non-symbolized patterns of self-in-relationship. Several methods of a body centered psychotherapy are described and clinical case examples illustrate the use of expressive methods within a relational psychotherapy.