Brief Embodied Therapy

This chapter addresses forms of touch the author terms brief embodied therapy. The duration of this addition to treatment is generally between 1 and 12 sessions. The focus is on symptom relief, such as reducing a patient’s trauma-based anxiety or addressing specific embodied flashbacks. The types of physical interactions can include handshakes, hugs, sitting shoulder to shoulder, and/or holding hands. The chapter includes a case example of how the author used brief embodied therapy in his work with a patient who endured years of childhood physical and sexual abuse.