ABSTRACT
Use of touch can be evocative, expressive and intimate with the word ‘touch’ often being used to express a felt sense. Different types and qualities of touch are associated with sexual intimacy, friendships and business to name but three relational areas. It is not surprising that the use of touch in therapy is controversial. The less tactile the culture, the more controversial it becomes — controversy fuelled by touch often being sexualised. Such cultural field conditions mean that one needs to exercise caution in the use of touch in therapy. Whilst there are sound ethical, therapeutic and protective reasons for not employing the use of touch in therapy there is a danger that one then moves away from an embodied way of relating to a more cognitive form of relating. One can work with the client’s body and in an embodied way without using touch such as by noticing body movements and posture.
