This book tries to bridge a gap in the range between the standard, formal, medically-accepted, 'scientific' knowledge & practice that is fairly 'mainstream', and some of the more alternative and complementary perspectives that are emerging as a very valid and increasingly accepted ways of pragmatically looking and working with clients: - empirically-based knowledge. These fields are expanding and growing exponentially. We also try to describe what happens when we, as clients, are touched by a therapist (in more senses than one) as well as what happens when we, as therapists, touch. We go into some detail about the multitude of affects and effects and on all the many different levels of what it actually is that we touch and what happens when we touch.

The main text is written in 10 chapters with frequent, detailed illustrations which cover topics like muscle functioning and firing patterns; energy usage; nerve system connections and feed-back; the autonomic nervous system; the brain stem and mid-brain connections; the three embryological layers; the skin; the digestive system; basic body chemistry; peptides - the molecules of emotion; immunology; the new science of neuropsychology; stress and trauma; various theories of consciousness; emotional intelligence; gender differences; holistic perspectives; the ethics of touch; and the inner life of the toucher. There is a comprehensive reading list; footnotes; history; authors' biographies; and an index. Throughout references are made to and examples given for the practical application of this information to professional therapeutic work with clients, either as a body therapist or body psychotherapist.

The book should be of great interest to professionals from all the different modalities of body psychotherapy, which in total, form a surprisingly large 'mainstream' division of psychotherapy; other professionals and therapists working in the field of body therapy, or body-oriented therapies, and also of interest to any clients in therapy as well. We could imagine that many of these perspective could also be of interest to other psychotherapists, and any psychotherapeutic implications may also be of interest to medical practitioners.

Whilst these body psychotherapy modalities and body therapies exist mostly in USA & Europe, there are also quite large contingents of practitioners in Australia and also in Brazil and Japan. Many (60+%) of the practitioners in all non-English speaking countries have a working knowledge command of English.

Top

The various body-oriented psychotherapy modalities include: Alexander Lowen's 'Bioenergetic Analysis'; Gerda Boyesen's 'Biodynamic Psychology & Psychotherapy'; Reichian (Wilhelm Reich's) 'Character-Analytical Vegetotherapy'; Nick Totton & William West's 'Neo-Reichian Psychotherapy'; Chuck Kelley's 'Radix' work; John Pierrakos's 'Core Energetics'; Ron Kurtz's 'Hakomi'; Jay Stattman's 'Unitive Psychotherapy'; Lisbeth Marcher's 'Bodynamic Analysis'; Ajuriaguerra's psychoanalytically-oriented 'Psychomotor Therapy'; David Boadella's 'Biosynthesis'; Ilana Rubenfeld's 'Rubenfeld Synergy'; Malcolm Brown's 'Organismic Psychotherapy'; Al Pesso's 'Pesso-Boyden Psycho-Motor System'; and many others. There is no particular order to this list. There are currently about 40 body psychotherapy training programmes in Europe and many more in the USA, including at least four university Masters and Ph.D. courses in somatic psychology, body psychotherapy or body-oriented psychotherapy, all relatively well-known to the authors.

In the field of bodywork or body therapy, we would expect interest from the field of traditional physiotherapy; various types of massage (Swedish, medical, sports, energy, aromatherapy, etc.); structural, functional and movement therapies like Ida Rolf's 'Rolfing', Joseph Heller's 'Hellerwork', Alexander Technique, Postural Integration, Moshe Feldenkrais' Feldenkrais Method or 'Awareness Through Movement'; the therapies more gear to emotional release like; SHEN Physio-Emotional Release Therapy, Myofacial Release, the Trager Approach, the Rosen Method, etc.; Asian bodywork techniques like Acupunture, Shiastu, Moxibustion, Acu-yoga, etc.; bodywork therapies from the Indian sub-continent, like Aurudevic Medicine, Prana- and Hatha-Yoga; energy-based body therapies like, Therapeutic Touch, Kinesiology, CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, Polarity Therapy, Reflexology, Metamorphic Technique, etc.

There are also psychologically-oriented body therapies like Rebirthing, Holotropic Breathwork, etc. and purely physiological therapies like: Relaxation Therapy, Autogenic Technique, and so forth. We would also expect considerable interest from other branches of psychotherapy, and art and movement therapies, and from the whole new interest in popular psychology and psychotherapy as well as the explosion of interest in health and general well-being and the body-mind connection.

The book is written primarily by Courtenay Young, a psychotherapist & counsellor, currently working in the NHS. He was assisted in the writing of this book by Laura Hope Steckler PhD, an American Psychology Association and Texas state-registered Clinical Psychologist, who has also trained extensively with Ilana Rubenfeld in her form of body psychotherapy (Rubenfeld Synergy) and is also an accredited Somatic Movement therapist along with valuable inputs from Andrea Battermann, an Edinburgh-based Shiatsu teacher and N.H.S.-registered physiotherapist and lecturer. All three are experienced workshop and course leaders.

As regards marketing, through various national & international associations, we have many contacts in the field, both in Europe and the USA, and there is already considerable interest from a wide variety of colleagues just from casual discussions. The EABP has about 500 members and the USABP has about 600 members and both have contacts with many many more (conference mailings are about 20,000). We also have direct contacts with about 40 teaching institutes and colleges which cover about 7,500 body psychotherapists in Europe. There are probably also at least 15,000 body therapists in the UK and possibly 10 times that number in the USA and we have reasonable connections with these through Complementary Health groups and the Institute of Complementary Medicine. The book would be an ideal supplement to any professional training course to a Master's degree level or NVQ Level 5/6 in any of these disciplines and could probably sell for about £20-30 or $40.

The diagrams in the book are not finalised. They are all line-drawings, no photographs. They are illustrative only and are currently drawn with aid of a simplistic computer programme and fitted into to create a context. They would all need to be re-worked for publication with a professional graphic artist. The index has not been prepared yet.

Two translations are being considered for publication in Greece & in German, and there is a strong likelihood of a Portugeuse edition for Brazil as well. Thus at this time, we want only to offer worldwide English-language rights (UK, USA, Canada, Australia etc.) and would probably like to retain foreign language & translation rights.