Rational psychotherapy: an example and exercise techniques. Cognitive Behavioral Exercises

Exercise "Genogram"

Time - 40 min.

Goals of the exercise:

1. Mastering the skills of collecting information and compiling a genogram.

2. Detection of parallels in the family systems of unfamiliar people who chose each other intuitively, based on the proposed criteria (similar to choosing a marriage partner).

Instruction: “Choose from the group a person who is in some way reminiscent of someone in your own family or, on the contrary, who, in your opinion, fills in the missing link in it. Team up with him, interview and build each other's genogram."

After the participants complete this part of the exercise, the facilitator asks them to compare the received genograms and note the matches, contrasts and their possible complementarity.

Discussion.

Quite often, when comparing genograms, participants find many parallels. For example, having an older sister, a participant may choose a partner who is the eldest daughter in her family, or it turns out that both partners lost one of their parents at a fairly early age, or that both come from families in which divorce is extremely rare, etc. .d. If you devote enough time to this exercise and supplement the formal drawing of the family pedigree with an analysis of the relationships in the parental families of the partners, then you can see how reasonable the supposedly random choice in this exercise will be.

Exercise “Family Roles”

Time -30 min.

Handouts: Questionnaire “Family roles”. (The author's modification of the psychotherapeutic technique “Role-playing Card Game” [R. Sherman, N. Fredman, 1997]).

Purpose: Awareness and discussion of the role structure on the example of one's family, the contribution of each family member to the organization of joint life (role-duties), typical behaviors, including in a conflict situation (role of interaction).

Participants of the training are divided into pairs and fill out the questionnaire individually. Then they exchange feelings and impressions with their partner regarding the role structure of their families.

Instructions: “Enter the names of your family members and mark the number of stars to what extent the listed roles are typical for each of them:

*** - his (her) permanent role;

** - quite often he (she) does it;

* - sometimes it refers to him.

Some of the roles mentioned are not specific to your family or are never performed by any member of your family. In this case, leave the column blank. Perhaps your family has its own unique roles that are not in the general list - add them.

Discuss with your partner the results of completing your questionnaire.”

After completing the exercise in pairs, the facilitator talks about the application of this technique in counseling families.

The technique can be carried out individually or with the whole family as a whole. It is very illustrative, informative and, in a group version, can serve as a basis for discussing the family situation and differences in the perceptions of family members. The questionnaire usually does not cause resistance, it is easily integrated into the discussion of many family topics, bringing an atmosphere of humor and jokes into the discussion.

Role-playing game “Vicious circle”

Time -2 hours 30 minutes.

1. Training skills of observation.

This exercise is performed in several stages:

a) Participants are divided into small groups of 3-6 people. The optimal number of such groups is 3-4. The facilitator gives the following instructions: “You need to choose one of the family problems or situations that seems important and interesting to the members of your subgroup. Discuss the various aspects of this situation, assign roles, and show it to the whole group in the form of a small skit, coming up with a name for it. The situation you choose should not be a personal problem for any of you, as our task at the moment is to develop perceptual skills, not the personal therapy of group members. You have 15-20 minutes to prepare.”

b) Preparation of the episode in small groups.

c) An impromptu scene is organized, and one of the subgroups shows everyone their situation. Participants should act it out, and explanations of what they are doing should be kept to a minimum at this stage. As a rule, the participants spontaneously correct the plot during the game and the situation develops according to its own laws, often quite unexpectedly for the actors.

d) Analysis of a role-playing game in which the whole group takes part.

e) The next subgroup proposes its episode, then its analysis follows, and so on, until the situations of all subgroups are played and discussed. Each subgroup takes about 40 minutes. and after 2 scenes a break of 10 minutes may be taken.

The analysis of the role-playing game proceeds as follows:

a) The report of the players about their feelings in the process of playing roles. How did they feel in this situation, what did they want to achieve, what were their needs. The facilitator deliberately draws a line between the characters of the scene and the personality of the group members. This is achieved by the fact that the leader treats the role played as a theatrical mask arbitrarily chosen by the participant and addresses them not by name, but calls their roles. “What did the husband feel in this situation? What was he afraid of? How did the child cope with this conflict? What did your wife want to do at that moment? etc. Such a distinction allows the host to conduct a diagnostic analysis of the family played without injuring or causing resistance among the members of the group. To draw or not to draw parallels between the game and their own lives - the participants themselves choose. The players' report helps clarify the individual response patterns of the characters in the scene.

b) Next, you need to combine the reaction patterns of the characters in a sequence, preferably circular. The facilitator once again briefly recalls what the chain of plot moves and reactions of family members was (for example: the husband came, the wife said, he answered, the child cried, he left home, etc.). Gradually, they move on to questions about what could have been in a family of this type before the moment played out in the situation, and what might happen later.

The facilitator might say something like this: “We have only seen one act of a multi-act family play, and we know that when a family gets stuck and the problem is not solved, the family gets into a vicious circle, repeating the same moves. The reactions of family members become stereotyped. Imagine that you are a family counselor and happened to be watching this family scene. Our task now is to trace the circular sequence of family interactions. What types of questions and which family members would you like to ask to clarify family dynamics?”

Group members are also trained to notice the circular loops that occur in the skit itself. For example, a father rudely scolds a child for poor academic performance. He starts rubbing his eyes. His mother comes to his defense and tells her husband that he is too strict. The father retreats, but after a while he tries to return to the problem again. The child again takes on an offended look, and the mother again attacks her husband, and so on. The model of family communications over a short period of time may reflect the general family approach to education and the problems of marital relationships.

c) Group members are trained in building various systemic hypotheses, including the reactions of all family members.

The facilitator from time to time asks the participants who put forward their versions of what is happening: “Which side are you on in this family? How does this affect the formulation of your hypothesis?” Such reflection helps the participants to clarify their own connection to family issues and restores the neutrality of the counseling position.

Diagnostics of the family situation takes place according to all parameters of the integrative model of systemic family psychotherapeutic diagnostics (Chernikov A.V., 1998), thus combining the knowledge gained during the training.

Communication Clearing Technique

Rationale: This technique is used when organizing a negotiation process with a married or parent-child couple of clients. The concept of using this tool in domestic psychotherapeutic practice was actively developed by Spivakovskaya A.S. Ideally, this technique requires the work of two therapists. However, with a certain training, it can be carried out by one specialist.

The technique is especially effective in situations of acute family crisis, when clients have strong and conflicting feelings towards each other. “Clarifying Communications” allows you to organize the constructive expression of these emotions and achieve a deeper acceptance of each other by clients. The most appropriate use of this technique in marital therapy. It also works with a parent-child client couple, but there are age restrictions in its use. The same goes for any negotiation strategies that work the worse the younger the children.

Description of technology. In fact, the communication clearing technique is a development of the psychodramatic duplication technique. Clients are asked to discuss one of the family topics. As the dialogue between them becomes more and more emotionally charged, there is an opportune moment to move on to clarify communications. At the same time, psychotherapists are transplanted, located slightly behind and to the side of each of their clients. Therapists then, as with duplication, try to connect with the emotional state of their clients, articulate their experiences in the first person, and help them express themselves more fully without resorting to defensive maneuvers. Therapists stop clients from time to time and ask them to evaluate how faithfully they reflect their messages to each other.

The "translation" of the psychologist must match the client's inner state, so much so that the client may get the impression that the therapist expresses his feelings better than himself. The partners' messages become clearer, previously hidden fears appear, and the spouses move on to a real live dialogue, moving deeper and deeper in understanding themselves and each other.

At the same time, family members are learning through modeling the process of open communication. Therapists transform clients' critical You-statements into I-statements, which allows them to manage the negotiation process, curb the flow of accusations and mutual attacks, teaching them more constructive interaction.

In the case of a heterosexual couple of therapists, when working with spouses, the man, as a rule, voices the wife, while the female therapist voices the husband. In this way, a male-female coalition is avoided. To work effectively, psychotherapists must have “clean” communications and analyzed difficulties in interacting with each other.

Organization of technical training during the training:

1) Demonstration session of the hosts - 0.5-1 hour.

2) Working out in fours (two participants in the roles of “therapists” and two in the roles of spouses or a parent with a teenager) - 1.5 hours.

3) Demonstration game session of training participants under the supervision of the presenter - 0.5-1 hour.

Technique “Unfinished sentences”

Purpose: Development of trainees' skills in organizing negotiations in family therapy.

Rationale: This technique helps to modify the nature of communication of family members in the situation of a therapeutic session, namely:

a) stimulate the dialogue of distant family members;

b) structure the communication of two people and make it safer for them (wording in the form of I-statements, the balance of expressing negative and positive feelings, indicating the direction of change). Voicing positive characteristics is especially important in a situation of family conflict, when family members exchange mostly negative reinforcements, provoking an increase in a quarrel;

c) ensure equal contributions to the conversation by discouraging the verbose and encouraging the silent family member.

In addition to changing the procedural characteristics of communication, this technique allows us to explore the main content of mutual claims.

Description of the technique: Two family members are selected, the relationship between which is supposed to be investigated. They are asked to sit opposite each other and alternately complete the following series of unfinished sentences:

I like that you...

I get upset when...

I get angry when...

I thank you for...

We could do it differently...

Empirically, it was found that the optimal in such work is the completion of five sentences. Family members should go through this list 3-4 times. This usually does not take more than 15-20 minutes and usually does not meet with much resistance. On the contrary, it can stimulate jokes and laughter. All those present can clearly see how quickly negative feelings fly out and in what agony the recognition of each other's merits is born. Teenagers often say that they heard something good about themselves for the first time. A limitation in the use of this technique can only be a small age of children. This procedure can be used on its own or serve as a good warm-up for further negotiations.

Exercise “Workshop in positive redefinition”

Time - 40 min.

Purpose: Teaching feedback skills.

Rationale: One of the options for responding to a problem situation is to emphasize its positive aspects. A distinction must be made between positive review and customer support. If support is based on the psychotherapist accepting the ideas and experiences of family members, encouraging them if necessary, then positive reassessment allows you to present certain aspects of problematic behavior in a different, more advantageous light. The purpose of positive reassessment is not to deny the problem or minimize it. Redefinition must always be based on truth. The specialist simply points out those aspects of the situation or behavior that were previously obscured by negative emotions and prejudices of family members.

Exercise options. There are many variations of redefinition exercises. For example, one of the participants proposes a problem. It may be fictional or based on real experience, it may be about individual difficulties or interaction problems. His neighbor must then try to find a positive formulation of the problem. If he fails, then the next participant makes the same attempt in a circle, and so on until a variant is found that satisfies the one who proposed the problem.

Another option for training this skill is based on the “brainstorming” method. One member of the group names the problem, and the whole group comments on it in all sorts of positive ways. The quality of the wording does not matter at this stage, and the participants are free to come up with the most fantastic versions. This allows the group members to feel more relaxed and makes the creative process easier. At the next stage of work, all the ideas put forward during the brainstorming are carefully analyzed and evaluated from the point of view of applicability to this problem.

It is also possible to perform this exercise in small groups.

Simulation of a Therapeutic Interview

Time - 1 hour demonstration and 1 hour discussion.

Purpose: To learn how to work with a family group.

Rationale: The facilitator conducts a demonstration of an assessment interview with a simulated family, which is played out by the training participants. Other members of the group act as observers. The theoretical model for this session is Jay Haley's modified first interview with his family (Chernikov A.V., 1998). The first session has a clear structure and develops according to quite predictable stages:

1) Social stage. (The therapist meets the family, arranges it comfortably in the office, establishes contact with each family member, builds a simplified genogram, collects primary social information about the family, etc.).

2) Problem stage. (Therapist asks the family about their problems):

a) revealing the point of view of everyone on the problems of the family;

b) group discussion of family members;

c) finding out the details of the problem (a variety of interviewing techniques are used).

3) The stage of defining the goals of therapy and concluding a therapeutic contract.

The assessment interview should enable the practitioner to obtain information about the family structure, interactions, historical roots of the family, and life cycle tasks that the family is currently unable to cope with. The result of the interview for the therapist should be a set of circular hypotheses about the family, on the basis of which he can plan the creation of the necessary conditions for solving the problem. For the family, a good result of the first meeting is a jointly accepted contract for further work, increased motivation and involvement in therapy with this particular specialist, and the emergence of hope for success. The first interview can also stimulate the family to initiate change: its members engage in homework between sessions and change their view of their own problems as the therapist reformulates them.

Discussion. After a short break, the participants, together with the facilitator, conduct a detailed analysis of the session. The facilitator asks those who played family roles to speak first. They express their feelings from the roles of family members and watching the course of the therapy session. Further, in a free order, other members of the group speak. The moderator answers questions. The analysis of the session occurs in two directions. Firstly, the diagnostics of the played family is carried out using an integrative model according to the main points of the map of structuring information about the family system, hypotheses and therapy planning (Chernikov A.V., 1998). Secondly, the host analyzes the technical elements of the interview, tells what, when and why he did in this session. Possible prospects for further work with this type of family are discussed, and a therapy plan is being developed in general terms.

Technique “Family Reconstruction”

Time: 5-8 hours

1. Personal therapy of the training participants.

2. Teaching systemic perception of family processes.

Rationale. This technique was first described by Virginia Satir in 1964. In this approach, based on the systemic family theory, V. Satir managed to integrate the ideas of psychodrama, gestalt therapy, communication theory and hypnotic techniques. From the point of view of the author of the proposed curriculum, this approach, better than others, allows you to show and experience the “arrangement of families”.

Family reenactment is a form of personal therapy using group resources. The main character (“star”, “researcher”) is a member of the training group, whose family is reconstructed in three generations. The reconstruction itself is a consistent series of “family sculptures” and role-plays, symbolizing the relationships in the families of the researcher and his parents at key moments in family history. At the same time, the researcher most of the time is in the position of an observer of what is happening (psychodramatic technique “mirror”).

Family reconstruction allows the researcher to:

1) achieve new insights about intergenerational relationships;

2) “meet” in the game with relatives and complete unfinished business, for example, express grief and sadness of their loss;

3) experience a unique experience of perceiving parents as ordinary people, demystify their images. In real life, it is difficult to objectively see your own parents. They are perceived, as a rule, as gods or demons, and not as real people with their childhood experience, trying to survive with the means available to them;

4) make sure that there is a deep need to change one's own parents, to get them to support and approve themselves, which is more adequate for a child than for an adult, and to develop their own self-support systems;

5) say “yes” to their historical roots, feel like part of a family clan, accept their own parents and other relatives. The consequence of this is changes in self-identification, greater internal integration and self-acceptance.

Other members of the study group, playing the roles of relatives of the researcher or just spectators, are also quite deeply involved in the process of work, associating what is happening with their own families. Before their eyes, a hundred-year segment of the history of the life of an individual family passes against the backdrop of social cataclysms of the twentieth century.

Stages of family reconstruction.

1. The researcher does part of the work at home (Handout “Structured Family History Activities”) and brings family photos and homework posters to the group.

2. Group preparation. It is important for the facilitator to provide the researcher with the necessary level of security in the group. To do this, a number of procedures are carried out that stimulate group rallying and warming up on the topic of family history.

Warm up example. The group is divided into pairs. One of the partners tells the story of his family on behalf of one of its members. Being in the role of his mother or father or anyone else, he describes events through the eyes of this person. The task of the other member of the couple is to listen carefully and help the partner to remain in the chosen role. To do this, he asks him questions from time to time in such a way as if he were actually a character of his choice. After 15-20 minutes, the group members change places, and at the end of the exercise they exchange experiences that arose during it. This is followed by a general discussion.

3. Researcher interview. The facilitator invites the researcher to designate the focus of the upcoming family reconstruction. To do this, he asks the researcher about what he would like to receive in the course of the upcoming work, what life choices and dilemmas he is currently facing. Family history work is not important in itself, but as a way to shed light on his real life situation.

4. Sequential reconstruction of three families (parental families of the mother and father of the researcher and the family in which he himself grew up until the age of 18). The reconstruction of each family is an independent therapeutic session (1.5-2.5 hours) with the final processes of exchanging feelings and removing roles.

The real family in which he lives with his wife and children is not reconstructed, since in the implementation of this approach it is more important to trace the historical roots of the formation of the researcher. Moreover, it is believed (Nerin W., 1986) that the reconstruction of families in which his parents grew up should be given more time than the family in which he himself spent his childhood.

The reconstruction itself begins with the selection by the researcher from a group of three key players who will represent the father, the mother, and the researcher during the entire action. All other members of the group may be involved in more than one role.

There are special ways to introduce players into roles by listing the events that happened to this person in life and building a “psychological sculpture” that reflects the character of this character.

Reconstruction begins, as a rule, from the moments of the weddings of the grandparents of the researcher. The family chronology is read with stops at key dates in family history (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, serious illnesses, wars and repressions, moving to another city and changing professions, etc.). Events are illustrated by family sculptures and short scenes in the style of Play back theatre. Moreover, sometimes they are directed by the researcher himself, and sometimes the players chosen for the roles create them spontaneously, as it seems to them from within the characters.

All this makes it possible to reflect the dynamics of family relationships, the development of specific patterns of coping with stress, and to restore white spots in family history. The researcher can ask family members questions, and they can answer him without leaving the role. Their answers often strike the researcher with their depth and accuracy. Being inside family sculptures, players are able to capture the smallest nuances of relationships in a particular family.

The role of the leader in this technique is quite active. Maintaining contact with the experiences of the researcher, he simultaneously manages the entire unfolding process: helps the players to enter the role; prompts the researcher to face frightening fragments of family history; based on system hypotheses, offers an alternative vision of what is happening in the family. As the experience of the author of this training program and other domestic specialists shows, the technique of family reconstruction makes it possible to adequately reflect the multigenerational traumatization of Russian families.

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Visual technique "Star screen"

Goals: relieve tension, stop the flow of disturbing thoughts; preparation for mastering the methods of the AT-3 complex.

Close your eyes, relax. Imagine that your brain is space or a screen, and your thoughts are multi-colored luminous balls, trying to fly through it. Your task is to represent each thought that has arisen in the form of a colored ball flying towards you, and then mentally push the visual image into space. So it is necessary to do with each fixed thought.

This lesson will allow you to abstract from real events. You "objectify" thoughts and remove them from consciousness. It reduces the degree of your anxiety, calms, relaxes.

Art therapy technique

Target: formation of a positive emotional background; increase in vitality; developing skills to work together.

Equipment and materials: PVA, vegetable oil - 50 g, a set of paints (gouache), salt - 100 g, flour - 0.5 kg, disposable cups - 5 pcs, water container, rough cardboard (50 cm X 50 cm).

Paints are being prepared (5 - 6 colors): for a glass of flour, a third of a glass of water, one tablespoon of PVA, two tablespoons of fine-grained salt, a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mix everything, spread the mass into several glasses and add different colors of gouache. After preparing the paints, a drawing on the theme “Happiness” is made on a hard cardboard with fingers. The maximum effect is achieved when working in a group (in a family).

Reframing "Learning from mistakes"

Target: response to traumatic experience of stressful situations.

Reframing means restructuring. This technique by Donald Krill and Catherine McLaren is used to help you see the perspective of solving your problems, learn how to think constructively and verbalize your thoughts in a positive way. Words, phrases, judgments are an expression of our attitudes (social attitudes) and, at the same time, when pronounced, they fix in our minds the way of action, the image of the result and, as it were, encode us for a certain outcome. Moreover, it is often easier for us to justify our passivity by shifting responsibility to others or attributing the causes of problems of being to circumstances. Therefore, it is important for us to actualize the need to take responsibility for our own destiny.

People who are often under stress have difficulty identifying their thoughts. Since they mentally constantly talk to themselves, they stop noticing what they constantly repeat and over which they rack their brains. However, the thoughts they are most interested in are the negative, evaluative, irrational thoughts that can be identified. They can be so familiar that people don't notice them. But it is they, at the level of the action of the second signaling system, that are a significant stress factor. It is with these thoughts that we are supposed to work. You need to remember the situation with which you could not cope.

Close your eyes and try to remember the feelings and thoughts that overwhelmed you at the time of its occurrence. Open your eyes and write them down briefly. Think about how you would like to end the situation? List reasonable beliefs and supporting constructive statements that you might find helpful.

Destructive feelings, stress create psychological discomfort, destroy the personality. To relieve internal stress, correct the condition, body-oriented psychotherapy (BOT) is used, based on the interaction of the psyche and body. The integrative method is aimed at identifying provoking causes, releasing closed emotions, and liberating the mind and body.

Our physical health is directly related to our mental health.

The fear of admitting to oneself the existing problems, their deliberate exclusion from consciousness triggers a mechanism in the body that causes affective stagnation. The unused energy of emotions, motor impulses creates blocks that prevent the passage of vital energy, which increases the load on the joints and organs. Psychological aspects that depress the psyche complement the clinical picture. It:

perinatal distress;
children's fears, complexes;
internal contradictions;
interpersonal and social conflicts.

Internal tension activates the neuroendocrine and autonomic systems, leading to pathological changes in blood vessels, smooth muscles, and the hormonal system. If it is not eliminated through bodily relaxation, it is fraught with:

the appearance of psychosomatic diseases - hypertension, ulcers, asthma, and other serious pathologies;
vegetative neuroses.

Body-oriented psychotherapy is not considered an alternative to traditional medicine, but it significantly increases the chances of recovery.

Who is treated for

Oscar Wilde in "Dorian Gray" showed by example how life experience and vices are reflected in appearance. If you look closely at the faces of young people, many of you can see unnaturally pursed lips, progressive wrinkles on the forehead, clenched jaws. Constrained movements, scoliosis are also signs of muscle clamps. At certain moments, emotional experiences paralyzed parts of the body, imprinting in the muscle memory masks and gestures that protect against experiences.

The effectiveness of body therapy has been proven in practice

Body therapy is indicated for:

in protracted conflicts;
chronic fatigue, apathy;
internal tightness that interferes with communication, relationships, career;
panic attacks;
after divorce, loss of a loved one.

A traumatic experience disrupts the mind-body connection, leading to chronic stress and depression. Unlike other techniques, TOP does not censor the mind by identifying ineffective beliefs. With its help, hidden problems are delicately solved, which you don’t always want to share with others.

Modern methods of treatment

Corrective technologies include different directions. The combination of different techniques increases the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Among them:

Massage.
Bioenergetics according to the principle of A. Lowen.
Primary therapy A. Yanov.
Methods of Ida Rolf and Moshe Feldenkrais.
The "sensory consciousness" system.
Techniques of respiratory self-regulation, muscle relaxation.
Work with images, body scheme.

The creator of the method, W. Reich, was the first to discover that muscle relaxation releases locked energy. He compared movements, grimaces and habits, analyzed how emotions are suppressed in the body. As soon as a person accepts a repressed emotion, spasms and energy blocks disappear. He suggested kneading the body with his hands and physical activity to relieve muscle strain. According to Lowen, the creator of bioenergetic analysis, a body-oriented approach in psychotherapy is the key to understanding the emotional state.

It is useful to knead the body with your hands, relieving physical stress.

Bodynamic analysis L. Marcher is based on the anatomical classification of muscles. It covers the stages of muscle development from the prenatal period, proves that standard reactions lead to a violation of the development of certain muscle groups. For this purpose, a body map with a projection of psychological aspects has been created. For example, mimic wrinkles express states, pectoral muscles are associated with self-esteem. The unrealized energy of emotions blocks the development of these zones, creating a muscular imbalance. The condition of the musculature allows the psychotherapist to form an overall picture.

From the point of view of the TOP, the blocks are in the eyes, jaws, throat, diaphragm, pelvis and abdominal area. They begin to form in childhood from the bottom up, cover the entire body and create a shell - a static muscle tension that dulls the senses, interfering with the flow of orgone energy that affects sexuality and freedom of expression of experiences.

The resulting discomfort is the signals by which the subconscious mind tries to pay attention to the problems of the body. In order to synchronize the mental and physical energies, it is necessary to get rid of interference in the body. When normal circulation is restored, positive changes in health and psyche will occur.

TOP trainings allow you to live traumatic situations, key life events in a new way. Training in body-oriented psychotherapy is carried out individually and in group classes.

What is the task of a specialist

Working with physics helps to realize and accept repressed problems. A body-oriented psychotherapist destroys muscle armor, helps to relax, relieving spasms and emotions. Before starting a practice, the doctor always evaluates:

posture, posture, gestures;
gait, range of motion
muscle mass.

To imagine how the method works, one can draw an analogy with Ovid's Metamorphoses, when a stone statue came to life. At first, Galatea's eyes opened, her lips moved, and the stiffness of her body disappeared.

Physical manipulation of the body can stabilize the mental state

When pressing on the points near the eyes, tears begin to flow involuntarily, and after working with the lower part of the face, people begin to naturally respond to situations, expressing their internal state through facial expressions.

Physical manipulations with the body allow you to verbally analyze the state. Muscular freedom expands the range of motion, allows you to understand body language, restore a comfortable moral state. As soon as a person plunges into transpersonal experiences and gives freedom to feelings, inner liberation occurs.

How to get rid of injury

Mental shocks create tension in smooth muscles. If the throat is intercepted by thought and what happened or discomfort is felt in the body, the localization of the problem can be determined by physical sensations. To get rid of, for example, backaches, a person attends massage sessions, but after stress the pain returns. Without eliminating the cause, the effect of treatment is temporary.

A good massage helps to cope with mental trauma

Working with trauma in body-oriented psychotherapy consists of several stages:

De-energization of provoking impulses.
Purification of the psychological space.
Recovery of CNS reflexes.
Adaptation of the psyche to strong experiences (containment), strengthening of natural self-regulatory mechanisms.
Insertion of new information.

There are no universal technologies that relieve stress at once. Psychotherapists use:

somatic experiences of P. Levin;
somatic therapy by R. Selvan;
F.Mott biosynthesis;
art therapy;
Jungian analysis and other methods

The most commonly used massage, relaxation techniques. All practices begin with breathing. Controlling the inhale-exhale cycle is the foundation of all relaxation techniques. According to the Reich method, before the session, the patient lies down and breathes, focusing on bodily sensations.

Lowen suggests an exercise in activating the sympathetic nervous system to prepare the systems and organs for emotional experiences. You need to stand with your back to a high stool, put a pillow on top for insurance, bend back, grabbing the back of the chair behind it, and perform several breathing cycles.

Body Psychotherapy Techniques

Before attending a group session, you can learn at home the basic practices that are part of the set of exercises for body-oriented psychotherapy.

Gymnastics for the eyes

The technique consists of 6 parts. We sit on a chair, with our feet resting on the floor. We tightly close the eyelids, with tapping movements we relax the circular muscle of the eye. Open your eyes as wide as possible and look up. We repeat 3 times. Focus on each point for 8 seconds.

We take the eyeballs to the left - to the right, we linger for 8 seconds.
Slowly lower and raise the eyeball. We perform a cycle until pain is felt.
Rotate 10 times clockwise and in the opposite direction.
We repeat point number 1.
We sit for 5 minutes with closed eyelids. During relaxation, discomfort in the throat and jaws is often felt.

Gymnastics for the eyes - another method of body-oriented psychotherapy

This Feldenkrais exercise releases tension from the eyeballs, synchronizes movements.

We sit on a chair, take the right leg far to the side, pull the left one towards us. We turn around, lean on the left hand, raise the right hand to eye level, move it horizontally.
Having closed the left eye, we look away from the right hand to the wall, again we transfer it to the fingers. We change hands, close the right eye. We perform 10 times on both sides. For complication, we repeat according to the scheme with open eyes, tracking how much the angle of lateral vision has expanded.

"Lowen's Ring"

People suffering from neurosis lose most of their energy to maintain the work of protective mechanisms. Exercise will help to relax the middle part of the body, the nervous system, to feel the body.

The stronger the support under the feet, the safer the person feels. We put the feet on the line of the shoulders with the fingers turned inward, we perform the deflection. Bending your knees, we take out the floor with our hands, transfer the weight of the body to the socks. We breathe deeply and measuredly. Holding on for a minute in a static position should cause shivers.

"Arch of Lowen"

Abdominal practice. We put the feet wider than 40 cm, turn the toes inward, clench our fists, rest against the sacrum with our thumbs up. Without lifting the heels, we lower the body, bending back. From the center of the foot to the shoulders, we stretch the body into a string. If the muscles are very spasmodic, it will not work the first time because of the pain to get into the correct position.

Deflection of the pelvis

We lie down on the carpet, bend our legs, place our feet 30 cm apart. We tear off the shoulder blades, stretch forward, wrap our arms around our ankles. We swing back and forth 10 times. To stretch, we put our fists under the heels, raise the pelvis until the thigh muscles tremble. For effect, we swing the middle part of the body.

Psychotherapists insist on the benefits of exercise "bike"

Body psychotherapy exercises are not limited to static postures. To finally relieve tension from the pelvic region, we lie down on our backs, actively move our feet in the air, touching the wall or bed. We constantly increase the speed of movement and strength by saying “no” loudly. It is important to consciously perform the techniques and follow the physical sensations.

Release of anger

To give vent to anger, we visualize the object of irritation, with strong blows we strike with a racket, a stick, fists on a pillow, a punching bag. We breathe through the mouth, do not hold back emotions and words.

According to reviews, body-oriented psychotherapy helps to cope with pain, corrects the emotional state, and improves the quality of life. The main thing, admit to yourself the problem and seek help from a specialist.

Body-Oriented Psychotherapy is a way of soul therapy that has existed for as long as humanity has lived. Its techniques developed in parallel in the eastern and western directions, since for centuries in the eastern currents there was a different culture of the body and corporality in general. Now, different approaches are found in modern psychological body-oriented practice. The methods of this direction are easily superimposed on other methods of psychological work. Moreover, very often, using the body-oriented approach, we can raise from the unconscious those deep contents that are blocked when working with other methods.

Finally, it has become more common in our culture to pay attention to the experiences of one's own body, and not only when it is sick. They began to treat the body more respectfully, but still the dominant is often shifted towards the head, the body is left with less attention. This is clearly seen in the statistics of the drawing test, when it is proposed to draw a person, and many do not have enough space for the body on the sheet. This is why throat problems are so common, because the throat connects the head to the body.

In the European tradition, the history of the body approach is difficult to trace; in psychology, it is customary to begin with Wilhelm Reich. Despite his frequent criticism, he introduced all the concepts that body-oriented therapists use to this day. Modern European body psychotherapy has grown under strong influence, therefore it can be considered as a method of working with the same problem, but through a different entrance.

The body direction allows the psychologist to work with a client who is difficult to understand and verbalize his problem. He would be ready to explain why he feels bad, but he literally lacks words. The other extreme is when the client is overly talkative and even uses language to get away from the problem. Body-oriented psychotherapy will allow him to deprive him of his usual protection, covering up a psychological problem.

Methods of body-oriented psychotherapy

The body does not lie, revealing the very essence of spiritual experiences. It is also difficult to hide your resistance in the body - it can even be fixed. You can deny your anxiety, but you cannot hide the trembling in your hands or the stiffness of your whole body. And since working with resistance in solving a psychological problem often takes up most of the time, an objective, materialistic body approach is very effective.

Absolutely all human experiences are encoded in the body. And those that we cannot decode through speech, perhaps reveal through the body. The amount of non-verbal information that signals the state of a person is simply huge, and you just need to learn how to work with it. Problems of overcontrol appear in the head, difficulties in contacts with people appear in the hands, shoulders, intimate problems are reflected in the pelvis, while the legs carry us information about the difficulties of supporting a person, his confidence and movement through life.

Body-Oriented Therapy is built on an attempt to address the animal body of a person, to what is natural in us, natural and contains a lot of useful information. However, our social body often comes into conflict with instinctive aspirations, taboos them and gives rise to many psychological problems. We often do not hear our body well and do not know how to establish interaction with it.

Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy is based on the studied psychological defenses and their manifestation in the body - the so-called muscular shell. This concept was introduced by Reich to refer to tight muscles and tight breathing, which form like armor, a physical manifestation of the various psychological defenses considered by psychoanalysis. Reich's method consisted in modifying the state of the body, as well as influencing the clamped area. For each individual muscle group, he developed techniques to reduce tension and release trapped emotions. Techniques were aimed at breaking the muscle shell, for this, the client was touched by squeezing or pinching. Reich saw pleasure as a natural flow of energy from the center of the body outward, and anxiety as a shift of this movement to the person himself inside.

Alexander Lowen modified Reich's therapy and created his own direction - widely known by this name today. Lowen's Body-Oriented Psychotherapy sees the body as a bioelectric ocean with an ongoing chemical-energy exchange. The goal of therapy is also emotional release, emancipation of a person. Lowen used the Reichian breathing technique, and also introduced various tense body positions to energize blocked areas. In the postures he developed, the pressure on the muscles constantly and increases so much that the person is eventually forced to relax them, unable to cope with the exorbitant load anymore. In order to accept one's own body, the technique used to observe it naked in front of a mirror or in front of other participants in the training, who gave their comments afterwards. The description of the body made it possible to create an image of the muscular shell, characteristic of a particular person, and the problems coming from it.

The method of the next famous psychotherapist, Moshe Feldenkrais, deals with the conflict between the social mask and the natural sense of satisfaction, urges. If a person merges with his social mask, he seems to lose himself, while the Feldenkrais method allows you to form new, more harmonious habits that will smooth out this conflict tension and allow inner contents to manifest. Feldenkrais considered deformed patterns of muscular action, which, as they become stronger, become more and more stagnant and act outside. He paid great attention to freedom of movement in simple actions, the client was encouraged to independently find the best position for his body, according to his individual anatomy.

Matthias Alexander also explored bodily habits, postures, and posture in order to find more harmonious and natural postures. He considered the most correct maximum straightening, stretching the spine up. Alexander's therapy also uses pressure from the head down, which causes the client to relax more and more while trying to straighten up. The result is a feeling of release and lightness. This method is often used by public people, dancers, singers, since Alexander himself invented this technique, having lost his voice, and thanks to the solution found, he was able to return to the stage again. It is also effective for therapy in cases of injuries, injuries, a number of chronic diseases.

Body Oriented Psychotherapy - Exercises

For any work with the body, it is primarily important to feel it and ground yourself. Stand straight with your legs straight, stretching the top of your head and even slightly pushing your chest forward. Feel how all the energy goes up from the legs, this is a state of elation and even some suspension. Inhale, then, bending your knees, relaxing your pelvis, exhale. Imagine that you are now sitting in an easy chair, as if you are rooting into the ground. Look around, you will feel more present, as if you even begin to feel the air on your skin. This is the easiest exercise to ground yourself and begin to work deeper with anything, whether it's emotional experiences or further work with the body.

The next exercise is devoted to dissolving the clamp in the mouth area - the jaw clamp. We often clench our jaws at times of physical exertion or the need to be persistent, to get things done. Also, if we don’t like something, but there is no way to express it, we clench our jaw again. Sometimes the jaw is compressed so strongly that blood circulation in this area is disturbed. You can either sit or stand for this exercise. Place your palm under your chin with the back side up and now try to inhale, open your mouth, lower your jaw down, but your hand should prevent this movement. As you exhale, the jaw relaxes and closes again. After several such movements, you will feel the place where the jaws close, you can massage it, relaxing the muscles. As a result, you will feel warm, it will become easier for you to pronounce words and, perhaps, even breathe.

An example of a body block would be tucked up shoulders. If you strengthen this clamp a little more, it turns out that the neck literally hides in the shoulders, which, like a tortoise shell, protect it from a possible blow or push from behind. When a person has already got used to such a position of the shoulders, this means that in his life there were many stressful situations when he had to shrink internally. The simplest exercise here is to try to seem to throw something off your shoulder. To enhance the image, we can imagine how someone's hand is on the shoulder, and we do not want it to be there. Shake it off your shoulder and do it confidently.

Another exercise with the same goal of freeing the shoulders is repulsion. Put your hands forward, as if trying to push an unpleasant person away from you. A variation is also possible when you push back with your elbows. You can even help yourself to withdraw verbally by saying no contact.

In exercises with the presence of another person, which is practiced by both Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy and Lowen's body-oriented psychotherapy, he can, while lying on your back, being behind your head, massage your forehead, then the neck area behind your head. It is better if the action is performed by a professional therapist. Perform swaying of the body in time with massaging movements. Next - the transition to the muscles of the neck, massaging the tendons, the places where the muscles are attached to the skull, gently pulling the muscle. Again you need to pull the neck and even a little hair, if the length allows.

At any moment, if tension is present, you can again return to the forehead area, knead, tightly touching your head with your hands. Requires support and the absence of sudden movements. In the scalp, you also need to perform kneading movements, stretch the scalp. This can be done in different directions with any movements, fingers and knuckles. With each new push, you can change the location of the fingers. Having captured the crease of the superciliary arches, you can pull it to the sides and close it back.

After working with the frontal clamp, the transition to the facial muscles is carried out. Having symmetrically placed the fingers on the sides of the nose, they must be slowly spread apart to the ears. We move down along the nasolabial fold, pulling the muscle. We are working on the jaw muscles, paying special attention to places of tension. We release tension from the jaw bone, put our hands on the sides of the center of the chin and slowly spread them back to the ears. The slower the movement, the deeper it is. Working with facial muscles - we work with emotions stuck in them.

Further work is shifted to the neck and shoulders. If similar kneading techniques are used in the neck, then support and strong pressure are acceptable in the shoulders in order to straighten them. Pressing is performed by swaying movements, then passing to the hands. Taking the hand, which should be completely relaxed, you need to swing, take the wrist and pull, then release and repeat the cycle from swinging again. Then follows the kneading of the brush, which, like plasticine, you need to stretch out with the soft parts of the palms, and also walk with kneading movements along each finger, as if tightening the tension. You can also use twisting movements. You need to complete everything with a soothing sway.

Body Oriented Psychotherapy Techniques

The body, as our largest resource, contains all the information recorded in itself. Like rings on a tree, it stores the history of our life about those difficult and emotionally rich situations that remain like notches on it, manifesting itself in pain and uncomfortable muscle clamps. Working with the body makes it possible to get into the depth, the essence, into those nuclear experiences that can be preserved as a result of conflicts in relationships, at work, internal conflicts, fears, insomnia, emotional stress that cannot be contained, up to panic attacks.

In any situation, the body is turned on, because it takes on absolutely all the stresses that pass through a person's life. At the moment of tension, excitement, breathing changes, followed by changes in the composition of the blood, the hormonal background, which at the level of physiology prepares a person for action. If the gestalt is not closed, this state is then deposited in the muscles.

For the treatment of negative conditions in the body-oriented approach, various techniques are used, ranging from the already described grounding. Then centering is often used, when the client is lying down in a star position, and the therapist massages his head, arms and legs with tightening movements, relieving excess tension from each part. If the first technique can be performed independently and is suitable for use even outside of therapy, then the second requires the presence of a therapist.

Special attention should be paid to common breathing techniques, which in various versions are known from ancient spiritual practices. By tracking the natural way a person breathes, one can diagnose his psychological problems. Then, through a change in the rhythm and depth of breathing, a new state of consciousness is achieved. In a superficial form, this can be the usual relaxation or raising the tone, which is also applicable in everyday use, when a person himself wants to calm down or tune in, on the contrary, to work. In therapeutic work, breathing techniques can be used much more actively, even in some cases to put a person into a trance. Of course, this requires the guidance of a qualified therapist.

Work with the body is aimed at turning to internal resources, developing the feeling of this moment of life, the full presence and release of blocked, squeezed energy. All these are essential components of a full, joyful life.

Get into a comfortable position and do a simple but effective self-suggestion about upcoming exams. Technique will improve your image as a business person, a person who is able to remember kindness and respond in kind. This technique is designed to develop sensitivity (sensitivity in communicating with people). Technique will help you better understand people, become more sociable. The association "people - doors" is used. The technique will help you learn to more objectively understand the people around you, to relate to their advantages and disadvantages. Specific ways, the ability to get out of difficult situations of interpersonal communication, to achieve the desired result from the interlocutor. Psychotechnology of problem solving in stages and principles. Psychological techniques that use the ability of a person to influence himself with the words of persuasion. Tips for those who quit smoking. Preparation, incubation, insight, verification. The technique will help to get rid of alcoholism for those who lack the will and confidence to do so. A little introspection, the development of a constructive attitude towards alcohol, a little self-hypnosis - and a person gains the will to resist momentary impulses. The technique is designed to develop the will, gain self-confidence and a sense of inner freedom. The technique is intended to search for internal conflicts. The technique is designed to develop self-identity - the ability to understand one's individuality, to live based on it, and not contrary to it. Also, self-identity is the ability to accept oneself as one is, but without ignoring one's shortcomings, but realizing that it is possible, but not always necessary, to work with one's shortcomings. The technique is designed to help a person understand the complex issues of his past life, where the final attitude to his own and other people's actions has not yet been developed. The technique is designed to develop the ability to realize dreams ("wake up" in a dream), increase the effectiveness of night rest. The basic idea of this technique was proposed by George Gurdjieff, and it was of a mystical nature. The technique is designed to eliminate internal conflicts. Can be used in everyday life. Contrary to the name, there is nothing mystical, supernatural in this technique. It is aimed at increasing emotional balance, and the four elements are designed to help in this. This technique will contribute to your personal growth, the crystallization of interests. If you are stressed out by the circumstances, that is, you cannot boast of poise, applying this technique can help you. In addition, technology can help you tune in in the best way for the upcoming work week. Helps to fall asleep with mild to moderate insomnia. This technique is suitable for those people who experience self-doubt, tend to doubt their own life strategies. And in general, those who feel that they lack the integrity of behavior. The technique is designed to develop willpower. It invites you to work with your feeling of pain (if, of course, there is such a place). Through a deep awareness of pain, love for it is developed, the ability to overcome it. This technique is a tool that will allow you to get rid of extraneous, including disturbing, thoughts at the right time and focus on current affairs. The technique is designed to develop emotional stability through the development of independence from past events that weigh heavily on the present. This technique is designed to change the attitude to time, the awareness of its value for a person. The technique was proposed at one time by George Gurdjieff. This technique is designed to liberate a person, gain a sense of confidence, develop elegance in movements. The technique is based on the ideas of body-oriented psychotherapy by Wilhelm Reich. It includes thirty mini exercises. The equipment is intended for individual, independent use. She will help to create her own family, at least to decide on her plans and expectations. The technique is quite simple, but it works great - it helps to get rid of bad habits. The technique is designed to inventory the expenditure of one's own strength, energy. If it seems to you that your strength and energy are "leaking" in an unknown direction, that the return on your life activity is close to zero, then this technique is for you. This technique will help in personal growth: gradual and confident. The technique will help to somewhat increase respect for oneself, one's life, and personal achievements. Maybe even give a new meaning to life. Equipment for personal use. It consists in reading a list of phrases arranged in a special way. The exercise is aimed at the formation, development of self-confidence and self-esteem. It can also help overcome fears, anxieties, self-doubt and self-limitations such as "I can't do it" or "I'm not skilled enough". This technique is designed to organize your life activities into categories: "goal", "means", "result", "empty". A one-time or - which is better - a systematic implementation of this technique will help determine the cause-and-effect relationships of your life, become more purposeful and collected, tuned in to achieve the main life tasks. This technique will help in the development of original ideas, unexpected solutions to the problem. It is intended for uncertain situations in which all possible ways of solving the problem are not clear. If you are under stress, if the pressure of circumstances has exceeded the norm, if you are simply tired of constantly solving numerous problems, this technique should help you. The technique is designed to help in the analysis of complex and confusing life situations. This technique will help you overcome your own gluttony. From the very essence of this technique, it is clear that it is the easiest way to end gluttony, although at first it may seem unrealistic. The technique will help to master the ability to displace unpleasant and fruitless experiences from your consciousness. Technique will help increase self-confidence, their abilities. Technique will help increase confidence in work, study, and other achievements. This technique will help anyone who wants to overcome learned helplessness in themselves - a negative state that prevents them from improving their life situation, making a breakthrough in some direction of life. Technique will help to significantly develop strong-willed abilities, composure for action. Technique helps to relax, come to a state of balance. The technique will help to be ready for various possible future events, increases the flexibility and adaptability of behavior in general.

Portal for the student. Self-training