Body-oriented interventions… - FOCUSING

Leijssen M., Nagels A. & Dekeyser M.: Body-oriented interventions in psychotherapy.
2.6 Gestalt therapy
As Existential psychotherapy and Interpersonal therapy, Gestalt therapy is a more directive
and confronting form of experiential psychotherapy, where the therapist brings in the aspects
the client tries to avoid or is not aware of.
In the theory of Gestalt therapy, process is always seen as interchange between organism
and environment. The body is the place of contact between field and organism. Interruption
in contact is always a bodily interruption. Interruption of contact happens first of all by
restricting ‘awareness’. The source of awareness is the body, namely senses, sensations
and muscles. According to Gestalt therapy, psychological problems occur because the client
disowns parts of the self. There is a split between the self-identified part and disowned part,
which is the split in the verbal self and the body self. Disowning the body occurs by 1)
preventing movements of disowned aspects by tightening muscles and 2) dulling or
deadening bodily sensations. This prevents emotions which are threatening from coming into
awareness. What was originally a conflict between self and environment becomes a split
I/body.
Opposite to the bodily knowing of the felt sense in focusing therapies, which is related to
language, the body in Gestalt therapy is also approached apart from the verbal self.
In the practice of Gestalt therapy, the therapist is looking very carefully at the body of the
client which tells something more/else than the words of the client, and brings this in
awareness: breathing stops, holding patterns (at the moment and through history), microactions,
liveliness, color, warmth, development… of body parts, therapist body signals, bodyempathy,
phenomenological interpretations, body-metaphors and sometimes bodywork…
In Gestalt therapy, the integration of the disowned self starts with body-awareness and is
further explored on a verbal or experimental level, with continuous attention to body process.
2.7 Psychodrama
Moreno developed Psychodrama from psychoanalysis and body action approaches. It is, like
Pessotherapy, a form of group therapy where the interpersonal relation between client and
therapist is different and less used as therapeutic tool as in the individual Experiential
psychotherapies.
For Moreno it is important to bring the body in action in stead of speaking about the problem.
Action in role-play is seen as a way to discover new aspects of the self by action and
interaction.
In the practice of Psychodrama expression of emotions and experiments with new behavior
are central.
2.8 Pesso-therapy
Al Pesso, a dancer from origin, is inspired by psychodynamic developmental theories. He
states that basic needs are first of all body needs. The need for place for instance is met first
of all bodily in the womb, then in the arms of the parents and only later on a more symbolic
level by a place in the world. This is the same for the other basic needs like food, support,
protection and limits. If not fulfilled on the physical level, later on they can not fully be
experienced on a symbolic level.
According to Pesso, the body remembers what didn’t took place and wants to fullfill the
unmet needs. Pesso sees body contact necessary to complete the previous unmet needs.
The aim of Pessotherapy is the formation of a more integrated memory around traumatic lifeevents.
In Pessotherapy body signals and sensations of the client lead to previous unmet needs.
One member of the Pessogroup takes the role of ‘witness figure’ and very carefully reflects
what he sees at the body and face of the client, which is called ‘microtracking the body’. In
the Pesso role-play or ‘structure’, other group members give the exact sensory and
© 2003, Leijssen, Nagels & Dekeyser (U. Leuven, Belgium)
Proceedings of the 15th International Focusing Conference 2003 Pforzheim/Germany, ed. by HJ Feuerstein,
FZK Verlag, Weingarten (Baden), Germany
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