Body psychology or somatic psychology aims to develop the body and mind simultaneously. Most importantly, it focuses on discovering and releasing the body, mind, and spirit. The combination of bodywork and psychology, which is body-centered, helps one accomplish the purpose of body psychology.
One important aspect of body psychology is body psychotherapy. As you can infer, this is founded on the basics and principles of body and mind.
Somatic touching, breathing, and other movement techniques are among the main characteristics of body psychotherapy.
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Important Concepts of Body Psychology
Bodymind is the fundamental concept of somatic or body psychology and psychotherapy. So what does it represent? It illustrates the integration of thoughts, emotions, physical experiences, and sensations.
During treatment, all parts of a persona can be accessed from various treatment points for an effective, holistic approach to healing.
Character and armoring: Armoring is a crucial point developed by Reich. He discovered that people tend to develop somatic armor, or muscle tension, when they need to protect themselves from physical and emotional pain.
The armoring leads to the development of character, according to Reich. He introduced five character types during the assessment’s development.
Energy: This idea of energy involves the storage and release of energy and its impact on one’s personality, interactions, and experiences.
The treatment focuses on the entering, flowing, and releasing of energy; the pulsation and contraction of muscles; and the charging and discharging of power from the body.
Body Memory: This is a debatable topic in somatic psychology or psychotherapy. However, many body psychotherapists believe that when memories cannot be processed through talk therapy, different traumatic memories can be released through bodywork.
Body or Somatic Therapy Techniques
When seeking treatment of body psychotherapy, the patient may find themselves going through the following sessions,
- Talk therapy session
- Body language reading
Once the problems have been identified, the therapists will implement appropriate treatments. The treatment is selected based on the patient’s personality. Some of the techniques are:
- Dialogue therapy
- Movement or dance therapy
- Somatic experiencing
- Centering
- Grounding
- Breathwork
- Contact and Bodywork
Body Psychology: Why do We Need Body Psychotherapy?
So, body psychotherapy is a holistic approach that integrates the body and mind.
It is believed that many issues, such as traumatic or hurtful thoughts or memories, could impact people’s overall well-being, which is held in the body.
This can be observed through sleep deprivation problems, headaches, chronic pain, and fatigue. All these problems would also affect daily functioning, including relationships, mood, and intimacy.
Therefore, in such a context, body or somatic psychotherapy could help these people affected by negative emotions or trauma to release their tension and thus feel positive.
Institutions That Offer Body Psychotherapy Sessions
Several health professionals around the world offer body psychotherapy. Some popular institutions where the Programs are available are:
- International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis
- Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute
- Institute of Core Energetics
- Hakomi Institute
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Universities That Offer Body Psychotherapy
- Somatic Psychology, MA, California Institute of Integral Studies
- Counseling MCouns, PgCert, PgDip, University of Edinburgh
- Therapeutic Counseling MSc, University of Greenwich
- Dance Movement Psychotherapy – MA, University of Roehampton
- Dance Movement Psychotherapy (MA), University of Derby
- MA – Dance Movement Psychotherapy, Goldsmiths, University of London
- MA – Art Psychotherapy, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Supervision in Counseling, Psychotherapy and Helping Relationships – PgCert, University of Salford
- Somatic psychology, Meridian University
- Somatic counseling, Naropa University
- Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition MSc, University of Edinburgh, Psychology and Language Sciences
- Master of Science program in Counseling with a Concentration in Somatic Psychology at Prescott College
Popular Body Psychotherapy Books
Now, we will share the popular and best-selling 10 books on somatic or body psychology:
- The Dictionary of Body Language: A Field Guide to Human Behavior by Joe Navarro
- The Body Language by Allan Pease and Barbara Pease
- The Psychology of the Body by Elliot Greene
- Body Language Mastery by Brandon Cooper
- Somatic Psychology by Linda Hartley
- Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman
- Positive Psychology and the Body: The Somatopsychic Side to Flourishing by Kate Hefferon
- Mind and Body by George Mandler
- The Body and Consent in Psychology, Psychiatry, and Medicine by Jemma Tosh
- The Secrets of Body Language by Philippe Turchet
Final thoughts
Despite its debatable position, body psychology is a concept believed to be a practical and holistic approach. The idea brings together body and mind when healing or treating a patient.
Many body psychotherapists believe it is effective in myriad cases where other techniques may fail. The ultimate objective of body psychology is to release negative emotions holistically through body work.
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Last update on 2026-05-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API