ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the interrelationships between the body and its movement and psychic and emotional states. It comes out of a strong wish to puzzle over and grapple with the complex ways in which the two disciplines intersect and inform each other. The nature of the relationship between an infant and its primary caregivers underlies the development of the psyche throughout later life. Even the primordial memory of intra-uterine life has been shown to affect both body and psyche after birth, "especially if prenatal events are reinforced by post-natal experiences". A key element in an approach presented in this book to movement psychotherapy is the somatic aspect of the countertransference as a way of registering the unconscious and primitive psychodynamics within and between patient and therapist.
