Articles

Scott Baum (Faculty member and former IIBA President) has written a new entry for the "SAGE Encyclopedia of Counseling and Psychotherapy", on Bioenergetic Analysis.

Please find below this new chapter as attachment (PDF).

Garry COCKBURN © Bioenergetic Analyst, CBT, Wellington, New Zealand
Published in: NZAP Journal, ATA. Special Issue. December 2014. Pp. 103-112.

Embodying the mind and reminding the body:
including the body in psychotherapy

The place and role of the body within psychodynamic psychotherapy has a long and complex history. Psychoanalysis has traditionally seen the body as being the location for negative psychosomatic enactments rather than as a dynamic part of the therapeutic process.
This paper shows that the dialectical yet unitary relationship between mind and body has been recognised by some key psychoanalytic writers, such as Bion and Ogden. It describes how four trends in modern psychotherapy, e.g. the study of transference phenomena, trauma recovery, infant studies, and affective neuroscience are bringing the body back into focus for all practitioners. The paper then attempts to provide a conceptualisation of how the whole body can be brought back into psychotherapy through an understanding of what has been excluded and included. It highlights the importance of a dialogical approach among psychotherapies and provides a philosophical understanding of why the whole person, mind and body, needs to be “known” in the therapeutic relationship.

Michael J. MALEY © Bioenergetic Analyst, CBT, Ph.D., Minneapolis, MN, USA
Keynote for the IIBA International Conference, Arles, France, 1998

Embodiment, Trauma and Spirituality:
A Path Requiring Heart 

The English novelist, E. M. Forester, author of "A Passage to India", once made a comment that summarizes what I would like to share in this talk. He said in a moment of clarity, "Connection is Everything" and this morning I would like to share some of the ways I believe this to be true in Bioenergetic work, in the healing of trauma, and in our own personal and spiritual growth.

Guy TONELLA © CBT, France
Presentation for an IIBA's "Post Development Workshop (PDW)" , Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 2008

What relationships can be established between attachment patterns (attachment theory) and structure of personality (Lowen's characterology)? What differences can be established between Self and Character? How to differentiate intersubjective relationship and analytic relationship in the therapeutic process? Then, what about transference / counter-transference ?

Guy TONELLA © CBT, France
Published in "Bioenergetic Analysis"*, Vol. 18, 2008, Ed. Psychosozial-Verlag, p. 27-59
*The clinical Journal of the International Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis (IIBA)
Keynote presented at the XIX° IIBA International Conference, Seville, Spain, May 2007

When he founded bioenergetic analysis half century ago, Alexander Lowen initiated a movement of a great amplitude. His personal charisma was an important factor. He also benefited from a vast sociological movement, in the Western hemisphere, that was seeking body experiences, expression and freedom. Back in those days, the hippie era was in full swing, all kinds of personal growth experiences were being made at "Esalen", the development of humanistic psychology, a "vitalistic" orientation in psychotherapy was picking up speed. Bioenergetic Analysis was moving at the same time towards international expansion. It was seen as a form of psychotherapy, but it was also considered to be a preventive approach and a way to foster healthy life habits, in particular through "bioenergetic exercises".

But what is happening today?

Laurie URE © - LICSW, Bioenergetic Analist, CBT - MA, USA
Published in "Psychotherapy networker", 2020

When the graphic video of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police began circulating, people around the world responded with shock and outrage. In the widespread protests that followed, Americans expressed their collective anger about police violence and the systemic racism that perpetuates it. Although work still needs to be done to overhaul the way police treat people of color, we’re already starting to see that this anger, when channeled into action and calls for justice and reform, generates positive changes that benefit everyone.
The public mobilization that followed Floyd’s murder shows the good that can come from anger. But too often, therapists working with anger focus on controlling and preventing it, rather than finding constructive ways to use it. Instead, clients who express anger are commonly labeled as dysregulated, and treatment focuses on tamping it down.
This speaks to a bigger problem: as a society, we chronically repress our anger.