Following the “decade of the brain” and a predominant paradigm of cognitive therapies, the last 10 years witnessed a radical shift of the theoretical underpinning and corresponding clinical practice in psychological therapies towards a notion of the “embodied and extended mind”.

This was in part a result of emerging findings from affective neuroscience, emphasising the importance of feeling states and the closely intertwined nature of e-motions and movement behaviour. Other significant impulses that contributed to a paradigm shift include the revision of the ‘bio-psycho-social’ model from a perspective of embodied cognition (psychology) and enactivism (philosophy), both emphasising the relational nature of experience. Here arts therapies bring different levels of physicality, but also scope for imagination and representation of embodied and extended mind.

Body psychotherapy (also referred to with an overarching umbrella term of “Body Oriented Psychological Therapy” /BOPT to include Dance Movement Psychotherapy and Psychomotricity) developed accordingly from a predominantly psychoanalytically informed (neo-reichian) approach into a modern, relational and experiential set of psychotherapeutic interventions. Within NHS settings in the UK and particularly for the treatment of severe mental illness, BOPT and creative arts therapies share some common intervention strategies.

Frank Röhricht will talk about his own journey – clinically, academically and artistically (poetry) whilst integrating diverse roots into his own practice. The paper will introduce theories as drivers for integrative body-oriented psychological therapies, present a corresponding phenomenological model of functional psychopathology and discuss examples of disorder specific clinical practice (Bodily Distress Disorder, Schizophrenia, Chronic Depression) in the context of findings from corresponding research.

Presenters & topics will include:

Megan Tjasink & Dr Giampaolo Martinelli: The he(art) of medicine - Using art and art therapy to foster compassion and relationship in a highly pressured medical setting

Gary Nash, Vanessa Jones & Lydia Boon: The ecology of attachment: Awakening and embodying our sense of self and belonging within Nature

Mary Rose Brady: Heads, shoulders, knees and toes... and eyes and ears and mouth and nose - Joining the sensory, motor, proprioceptive and vestibular dots - a new child development model of art therapy

V. G. Armstrong: Maximising positive attachment behaviours through dyadic art therapy with parents and infants

You can attend the conference:

• ‘In-person’ attendance with numbers allowing to respect social distancing government guidelines (people already booked have their place assured)
• ‘Online attendance’ live via zoom for people who may prefer not to travel.
• If we are subject to a local lockdown, we will do the whole conference on zoom on the day.

Bookings for ‘online attendance’ will soon go live soon: https://www.baat.org/Courses-Conferences/407/Attachment-and-the-Arts-conference