The role of breathing in body-oriented psychotherapy
Date
1987
Authors
Beck, Jacqueline
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Abstract
This thesis presents a discussion and analysis of the role of breathing in body-oriented psychotherapy. This discussion addresses the theoretical conceptualization of the relationship between breathing and healthy and unhealthy psychophysical states and the use of breathing techniques in the therapeutic process.
The basic theoretical premises upon which body-oriented psychotherapy is based are put forward, followed by brief descriptions of eight therapeutic approaches: Reichian Therapy, Bioenergetics, Primal Therapy, Rosenberg's Integrative Body Psychotherapy, Painter's Postural Integration, and the Body Work of Wong and McKeen.
It was found that the main similarity among the eight approaches is the use of breathing techniques, primarily of deepened and accelerated breathing to aid the process of increasing emotional activation (usually to the point of catharsis) and of integrating the released emotional material. There are many differences in the therapeutic approaches, including differences in method, theoretical foundations of therapy, and in approach regarding how much analysis is done. A final section includes discussions of four propositions put forward by body-oriented psychotherapists. In each of these discussions an analysis and synthesis is presented which addresses the internal consistency of the proposition and introduces both supporting and challenging information from empirical and experimental literature. It was found that some of these propositions are supported by empirical evidence while other areas are unsupported and that all areas need further research. For example, there is considerable empirical evidence that people who are anxious tend t o have heightened sympathetic nervous system activation and also tend to breathe shallowly, as Reich (1973) and others have stated. There is little evidence to support (and in fact some to refute) Reich's (1973) proposition that a decrease in emotion, which has been clinically reported to occur when an individual decreases his or her respiratory volume, is due to a decrease in blood levels of oxygen or a decrease in metabolism.
A comparison between hyperventilation and breathing techniques used in body- oriented psychotherapy has shown evidence of similarities . For example, hyperventilation has been shown to lead to emotional activation and catharsis. This supports the body-oriented psychotherapy position that high volume breathing in therapy, which leads to psychophysical responses similar to those of hyperventilation, can be a potentially valuable therapeutic tool for increasing emotional activation and catharsis. No evidence was found that hyperventilation is medically dangerous except, for example, in cases where an individual may have an existing heart condition. Finally, very little outcome research has been done in this field. It is suggested that this be done.