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INTEGRATED BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY (IBP)

Story of three blind men
From: Body, Self, and Soul: Sustaining Integration (1985)

“Each one of them approached the elephant from a different direction: one came upon the trunk, the second explored the feet and the sides, and the third examined the tail. Each one was certain he knew what an elephant was. One swore up and down that an elephant was a long, thick undulating animal with two moist orifices at the lower end through which air, food, and water were taken in and often snorted out. The second adamantly disagreed. He said that an elephant was a huge tree-like structure, firmly planted in the ground, which widened to the size of a building. It was very rough to the touch. The third man laughed at the lunacy of the first two. He, in his wisdom, described his experience of the elephant as finding a snake-like creature with a tuft of coarse hair at one end. All three men were right in their observations, but limited in their explanations” (Rosenberg, Rand, & Asay, 1985, p.13).”

The purpose of the following excerpt is to help describe the nature of Integrated Body Psychotherapy (IBP). With all the current psychotherapies available at the present time, it is often difficult for clients to choose the best form of counselling for themselves. However, IBP allows clients to have elements of several theories and the combination of mind and body in order to help them deal with the concerns that bring them in.

Many clients who seek out the assistance of psychologists are often given treatment plans that consist of the use of “talk therapy”. Similar to the stereotype of Freud with his client on the couch, individuals often come in to describe their experiences while the therapist takes notes and offers some insights. However, “talk therapy” ignores a large part of the human existence: the human body. Our bodies are very important in our experiences as they are used to make sense of events on several different levels. Thus, integrative body psychotherapy (IBP) uses the mind, body, emotions, and spirit to work through the psychological pain that the client is experiencing. IBP includes the use of verbal and cognitive methods with body and breath work in order to get a sense of the “whole elephant.”