ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes the specific skills and theoretical knowledge a therapist must acquire when considering engaging in embodied therapy with patients. Application of this work in psychoanalytic psychotherapy links familiar therapy terms and phenomena to embodied work. The chapter includes a section on the importance and benefits of therapists engaging in some form of personal bodywork. The role of supervision and consultation is addressed with attention paid to the processing of case material. The chapter ends with a section on the use of hugs, a form of touch the author is often asked to process with therapists in consultation.
As work with a patient moves from the regressive and transitional phases into the progressive, there is also a movement from focusing on the patient’s embodied past to explorations of the real body and then to body engagement between patient and therapist. Early in embodied work on trauma, patients in a more regressive phase seem to prefer touch by which they can feel a strong distinction between their body boundaries and those of the therapist. In this phase, light touch that can create a deeper embodied connection can feel both welcome and suspicious because often in childhood sexual abuse soft touch and tenderness are used to set up the abuse. Conversely, firm touch can create a solid boundary but may also feel aggressive and can activate thoughts and feelings about the patient’s abuse. Knowing when to make use of soft or firm touch requires some trial and error and processing so as to get the touch just right. Over time, the therapist will likely know intuitively how and when to make use of soft or firm touch in treatment with a specific patient during all three phases of their therapy. This is an important aspect of the art of embodied therapy.
