Bioenergetic Analysis 2016

On behalf of two case studies this paper aims to present some elements in comprehending change-processes of patients suffering from severe disorders. Knowledge of infant research and neurobiology are used as a blueprint for that. Healing processes are considered to take place on the level of implicit embodied relational knowledge – and embodied resonance (empathy), physical cooperation and rhythms to be fundamental elements. Spatiotemporal, affective and bodily proprioceptive forms of communicative exchange – and less the psychodynamic content – are of fundamental importance to self-development of patients in this perspective.

The “Alchemy of Ground” is a personal essay about finding home in nature. Paleo-anthropologists tell us that the mineral structure of the earth and water of our childhood home, written into our bones, identifies our homeland. As one client demonstrates, while culturally we are independent and mobile, we hunger for our body’s familiar experience of homeland. More than minerals, the colors of the earth, the guardianship of the trees that think in slow time, the dominance of smell over our artificial sense of time – these draw our bodies back to a communication, deep rhythm and longing for a lost earth, that we split away from and forgot.

This article focuses on bioenergetic principles and the link between emotions and the voice, discussing various approaches to vocal expression in the psychotherapeutic process. There is an examination of the idiosyncrasies of bioenergetic work with the voice in contrast to therapeutic approaches that work solely with the body. There is an important distinction for practical bioenergetic work between liberating vocal discharge on the one hand and the build-up of tone, boundaries and self-efficacy on the other hand (cf. Shapiro, 2006, 2008, 2009).

This paper is a synopsis of scientific research on treatment effectiveness of ten varying approaches to psychotherapy. Different types of psychotherapy justify their existence by the basic assumption that therapeutic change is effectuated by specific concepts, attitudes and interventional techniques. In comparative psychotherapy research, for many years, studies have quantified outcome differences (see e. g. Lambert, 2013), and only very few have closely examined the process of treatment. The study reported here was part of a larger multi-center naturalistic process-outcome study (pre-post-follow-up, see e. g. von Wyl et al., 2013; Crameri et al., 2015; Tschuschke et al., 2015), named PAP-S, which included 362 patients from 81 therapists. The synopsis includes methods as well as results and discussion.

This paper introduces polyvagal theory (1995) as defined by its originator, Stephen Porges, for the benefit of somatic, body-oriented, clinical psychotherapists. While there has been a recent explosion of interest in integrating this psychophysiological theory within various fields, some of the references to and explanation of the material can be difficult to grasp. The goal of this paper is to provide a clear explication of this theory. The main tenets of polyvagal theory will be presented including neuroception, the old and new view of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), normal and stress functions of the ANS, and trauma and attachment from a polyvagal point of view. Case material will illustrate somatic relational techniques from an ANS lens. The use of anatomical portals to contact or promote shifts will be provided.

Building on the theoretical and developmental history of the fear of falling, holding and grounding in bioenergetic analysis and other psychodynamic theories, this paper presents some of the expressions, experiences and anxieties of falling and the defensive/adaptive, characterological, intra-psychic and interpersonal correlates of holding. In addition the importance of grounding is discussed for setting a foundation and a space/relationship in which it feels safe enough to surrender to the fear of falling. This yields to one’s understanding of the need to hold, in whatever adaptive form it takes, in order to maintain attachments and protect the life force within.