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Background: Functional somatic symptoms (FFS) and bodily distress disorders are highly prevalent across all medical settings. Services for these patients are dispersed across the health care system with minimal conceptual and operational integration, and patients do not currently access therapeutic offers in significant numbers due to a mismatch between their and professionals’ understanding of the nature of the symptoms. New service models are urgently needed to address patients’ needs and to align with advances in aetiological evidence and diagnostic classification systems to overcome the body–mind dichotomy. Method: A panel of clinical experts from different clinical services involved in providing aspects of health care for patients with functional symptoms reviewed the current care provision. This review and the results from a focus group exploration of patients with lived experience of functional symptoms were explored by the multidisciplinary expert group, and the conclusions are summarised as recommendations for best practice. Results: The mapping exercise and multidisciplinary expert consultation revealed five themes for service improvement and pathway development: time/access, communication, barrier-free care, choice and governance. Service users identified four meta-themes for best practice recommendations: focus on healthcare professional communication and listening skills as well as professional attributes and knowledge base to help patients being both believed and understood in order to accept their condition; systemic and care pathway issues such as stronger emphasis on primary care as the first point of contact for patients, resources to reduce the length of the patient journey from initial assessment to diagnosis and treatment. Conclusion: We propose a novel, integrated care pathway for patients with ‘functional somatic disorder’, which delivers care according to and working with patients’ explanatory beliefs. The therapeutic model should operate based upon an understanding of the embodied nature of patient’s complaints and provide flexible access points to the care pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working therapeutically with and through embodiment is a topical issue in the psychoanalytic literature. Vice versa, body psychotherapy is deeply rooted in psychoanalytic theory and practice. This paper will explore corresponding themes, historic developments, and recent literature with reference to their actual and potential mutual influences, aiming to demonstrate: (1) that contemporary body psychotherapy practice continues to be informed and influenced by psychoanalytic theory, in particular the relational emphasis in psychoanalysis; and (2) that psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in turn, can be enriched and furthered while utilizing the theoretical paradigm of embodiment and body-oriented, experiential intervention strategies developed in body psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Body-oriented psychological therapy (BOPT) has been described as effective in addressing depressive symptoms. There is, however, a paucity of research into the processes leading to change and the actual experience of the patients and the therapist in delivering BOPT interventions.Method: Secondary qualitative analysis of data obtained within an exploratory randomised controlled trial of manualised body psychotherapy (BPT) for patients with chronic depression, analysing qualitative aspects of change processes during therapy, was conducted.Results: At the beginning of therapy, most patients presented with a restricted, emotionally dissociated and inwardly directed range of expressive behaviours, associated with isolation of emotions from self-awareness. Clinically relevant changes in body postures and gestures were associated with feelings of empowerment; connecting repressed anger with feelings of sadness appears to have resulted in enhanced levels of self-confidence and improvements of depressed mood. Body satisfaction scores improved slightly.Conclusion: Patients with chronic depression may benefit from specific BPT interventions. These interventions appear to be particularly effective in assisting patients to identify and express a wide range of feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New approaches in the philosophy of mind defend the idea that basic forms of cognition and human intersubjectivity are deeply and inextricably embodied and embedded. In its more extreme forms this approach to mind and cognition opposes the idea that cognition is always or primarily a matter of forming mental representations of that environment (Gallagher & Hutto, 2008; Hutto & Myin, 2013). Taking these ideas seriously in the context of therapy directs us to the way therapy can be enhanced by modifying environmental and social affordances and the way clients interact with them as opposed to how they represent them. These conceptual and methodological paradigms encourage a rethinking of existing applications, inspired by reformulating the theoretical foundation that underpins practice in body psychotherapy (BPT; e.g. Geuter, in press). Given the emerging evidence base for BPT in the treatment of severe mental health problems (e.g. Röhricht, 2009) it is timely to question whether its intervention strategies can be better understood as a kind of applied embodied cognition. In this paper we only explore BPT practice from a framework of its more radical variants. We explore new ways that effective therapeutic embodied engagements might be realised, while casting fresh light on how therapists can successfully venture into the everyday life of their patients and their interactions with significant others. This includes discussing a revised version of encounter groups and "marathon" workshops as well as experimental solutions such as "Virtual Reality" clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]