Body Oriented Psychotherapy

In addition to standard psychotherapeutic techniques, body oriented psychotherapy utilizes breath, movement and touch to make the patient conscious of chronic involuntary muscular contractions that are inhibiting the ability to feel emotions. These areas of tension are distributed in definite patterns throughout the body and cause a deadening of all feelings, painful or pleasurable. Once conscious awareness of the tensions is achieved, the patient can allow these areas to relax so emotions can again be felt fully, and the mere act of breathing becomes pleasurable, and living a source of joy.

Body Oriented Psychotherapy is generally well suited to treat depressive and bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance abuse disorders. Patients with these disorders generally have good prognoses. Patients with personality disorders, such as borderline, obsessive-compulsive, or histrionic personality disorder, tend to have more severe areas of chronic tension and are therefore more difficult to treat successfully.