Summary

The body as an entry-point to psychotherapy

Although the body is a strange entity in psychotherapy, this article sets out to explore how it can serve as a therapeutic entry-point. Historically grounded in some psychoanalytic approaches, the body gained a central role in what has become known as ‹body psychotherapy› (BP) and more recently as ‹somatic psychology›. In BP a pivotal stepping-stone is the ability to become aware of one's embodied presence in the world, i.e. embodied self-awareness (ESA). The present article explores a more innovative hypothesis: how hands-on bodywork can influence ESA and serve as a rationale for a more body-integrated psychotherapeutic approach. Research shows not only that ESA is a bottom-up ‹bodily› affair but also that it is anchored in an interoceptive-insular pathway which in turn is deeply connected with autonomic and emotional brain areas as well as verbal and non-verbal memory. Moreover, it is emphasised how skin and myofascial tissues should be seen as an interoceptive generator, if approached in the proper manual way. This article offers supportive evidence explaining why a ‹haptic› touch activates this interoceptive-insular pathway and facilitates ESA by contacting the bodily inner world. From a transdisciplinary angle this article reflects on how the integration of bodywork in psychotherapy can be deeply healing, in particular regarding the representational failure of bodily arousal which is typical of alexithymic patients.