Definition
In 1986 I began working with people on an individual basis as a somatic psychotherapist. What is psychotherapy or ‘therapy’ as some people call it? This is the much asked question.
My answer to this question has changed over the years. It has changed as I myself have changed and I know it will continue to do so. These changes have occurred in both the way in which I work and in the essence of the work.
We can observe what The New Oxford Dictionary has to say. First take a look at the two parts which form the word: psycho, as pertaining to the ‘mind or psyche’ and therapy, ‘a discovery and application of methods towards alleviation of a condition.’ Interestingly, when we look up the full word ‘psychotherapy’ the Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘the treatment of disorders of emotion or personality by psychological methods.’ The terms emotion and personality are used in place of the words mind and psyche. This tends to suggest psychotherapy itself deals with people in terms of just their personality and emotions. The more precise truth is that psychotherapists help a person explore their mind and psyche, which, of course, involves the emotions and personality, their mental and physical state and for somatic psychotherapists, the state of the body that contains all of the mind.
In actual fact, psychotherapy has many dimensions and is practiced by many different kinds of therapists. When asked the question ‘What is therapy?’ each of these different types of therapists will answer according to their own individual view and distinctive approach which has its own ethos and methods of application. As for myself, I trained essentially as a somatic psychotherapist. I had become very interested in how the mind affected the body, both in its development and its constantly changing condition. Together this combination makes who we are, just that: a mind within a body. From helping people over many years, I would say that psychotherapy practiced by me follows a very broad and truly flexible path. I have found out in life that the obtaining of knowledge, understanding and hopefully a bit of wisdom never ceases and I continue to change day by day. It follows that the way I help people as a psychotherapist remains fluid, not set although many of my discoveries have a commonality about them applying to us all.
