Psychosomatic Therapy and its benefits

Hakomi therapy is an alternative, experiential psychotherapy approach that supports growth and integration of emotional suffering.

Developed in the late 1970s, Hakomi therapy embraces a variety of principles and styles that merge Eastern philosophies with other body-centric therapies. At the core of Hakomi, is the belief that the body holds internalized beliefs and thought patterns that have become unconscious and habitual. Hakomi therapists can use consensual touch to help comfort patients and to encourage them to stay with unpleasant feelings to uncover and understand unconscious limiting beliefs and thoughts.

Core Principles of Hakomi Therapy

Hakomi therapy is directed by a series of core principles designed to aid both the therapist and the client.

Mindfulness refers to a state of presence and inward focus. The intention of generating this state is to aid the client in identifying the sensations that they are experiencing. This state of mindfulness can aid in bringing unconscious things to consciousness.

Organicity: According to Hakomi therapy, as organic beings, humans are inherently able to self-correct and to heal. Hakomi therapists are simply there to help aid in this natural healing process that already exists in all human beings.

Nonviolence: The principle of nonviolence is two-pronged. It refers to the therapist allowing the session’s process to unfold naturally without interference. It also refers to the Hakomi approach of not perceiving defenses or other barriers as something to be forcefully removed, instead they are to be viewed as defenses designed to protect the individual.

Mind-body integration: Mind-body integration refers to the idea that body, mind and soul all combine and work in tandem to influence an individual’s perception of themselves, others and the world that they inhabit. One of these parts is no more influential than the other and so it is important to examine all three to understand a person and their beliefs.

Unity: Unity is the view of the patient being comprised of interdependent parts. All of these parts exist to make up the whole person.

Techniques Used in Hakomi Therapy

The therapy is client focused and led, so that each session is structured to meet the individual's personal needs.

Contact: This is a process in which the practitioner seeks to create and establish a comfortable and safe environment for the client. A safe environment is one where the patient is more willing to participate.

Accessing: Accessing is the stage of the session where mindfulness is used to discover unconsciously held beliefs. The therapist can help create4 a mindful state by asking the patient to notice what they are feeling.

Processing: In this phase, the therapist examines the patient’s experiences and responses and aids in creating new experiences. It is here that somatic experiencing is used to go deeper into images and sensations. At this time, therapists may use “experiments” to create an element of self-awareness in the patient. For example, a therapist might ask, “What happens inside you when you hear, ‘you are safe here’?” This aids in eliciting a response internally from the client, giving them a chance to explore what they are feeling and experiencing.

• Benefits

• Increased body awareness:5 This may be helpful for trauma survivors who perhaps hold tension in certain areas of their body

• Improved therapeutic awareness:6 This means that it can help patients be more aware and in-the-moment during their therapy sessions. this can make talk therapy much more effective, and can help patients feel more present.

  Increased comfort around others:5 Since this therapy uses touch, many practitioners have found that the hands-on approach improves patients' comfort-level around others. This is particularly important for some that have experienced trauma or abuse and may have trouble connecting.

Integrative Psychotherapy embraces an attitude towards the practice of psychotherapy that affirms the inherent value of each individual. It is a unifying psychotherapy that responds appropriately and effectively to the person at the affective, behavioral, cognitive, and physiological levels of functioning, and addresses as well the spiritual dimension of life. Sessions are humanistic, positive, constructive, narrative, and educational based in character strength building.

Attunement Based Psychotherapy. Attunement is a nonverbal process of being with another person in a way that attends fully and responsively to that person. A key aspect of attunement is that it is a joint activity, experienced in interaction with a caregiver. In therapy, the therapist attunes to the client with a goal to become a “co-regulator” with the client's responses. Over time, the client is able to transfer the sense of being co-regulated, to self-regulation outside of the therapy room, in everyday life. Through attuned relationship, clients lean to expand their capacity to endure the pain and loss of trauma and its aftermath.

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