Neo-Reichian Analytical Body Psychotherapy

Madlen Algafari

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ABSTRACT: In a most concise form, this article presents one of the psychosomatic approaches in psychotherapy – the Neo-Reichian Analytical Body Psychotherapy. The text includes: a background history of the method and its founder Prof. W. Bernasconi, what the created by him „Therapy of the Five Movements” consists of while building on the contributions of W. Reich and A. Lowen in the field of the psychosomatic approaches. It also includes the theory of character-forming traumas that the model has endorsed, the theory of the five needs, the specificity of the somatic work with the five main characters, as well as work with the muscle armours on a cognitive, experiential and somatic level. The article clarifies the contribution of the method to the field of the psychosomatic approaches, the term „power neurosis”, and it briefly presents the diagnostic tools used – the two colour tests created by Prof. Bernasconi, the instruments used in the approach – both specific to the modality and borrowed from other therapeutic schools, as well as the philosophical basis and the goals of the psychosomatic therapeutic approach.

Key words: Neo-Reichian Analytical Body Psychotherapy, Therapy of the Five Movements, the five needs, muscle armour, muscle blockages, cellular memory, unconscious content, somatisation, types of emotional regulation, somatic work, power neurosis, holistic approach.