ABSTRACT

In this chapter I offer an overview of the communicative or strong adaptive approach (SAA) (Langs, 2004a) to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis (terms I use interchangeably). I then present an assessment of the existing literature on the issue of physical contact between patients and their therapists taken from the vantage-point of the SAA. Because the SAA is a new and distinctive paradigm of psychoanalysis, its view of existing writings is highly critical. The chapter concludes with a presentation of the findings of the SAA in regard to touching in psychotherapy and with a series of recommendations as to how to best deal with this issue should it arise in a particular treatment situation.