Arts and Social Sciences Journal

Meeting in the Ring Strength versus Weakness, Balance of Power and Control: Supervision in Body Psychotherapy

Abstract

Klapisch-Cohen O and Bartuv Y

The body acts as a source of and resource for clues about the emotional state of the patient, as well as the supervisor, as a seismograph for the mind. The developmental stage characterizing the patient, as expressed by their bodies, shapes the therapeutic relationship and affects it through the changes that the figures in the therapeutic field undergo. This article describes body psychotherapy supervision which deals with corresponding relationships between therapy and supervision and their resonance through the body. The article addresses the changing power balance in therapy and supervision while using projective tools such as psychodrama, work with metaphors and movement elements, in order to raise awareness and deal with intra and inter-personal processes. The supervision discourse refers to the transference relationships in supervision and therapy, including erotic transference, parallel relationships and body resonance, all shaping the relationships between the three participants. Conceptualization is given through the Psycho-Sexual theory and passage of the pre-Oedipal stage. Demo videos are added to the text for demonstration.