Working with sexuality through the body: a case study

Abstract

The majority of psychotherapeutic influences arise from the client's issues being articulated through words; thus, psychotherapy, in its entirety, is predominantly verbal and follows a "top-down" approach. The idea is that the client can understand his problem and, thanks to his own reflexivity, immerse himself in it, in his own experiences. As studies show, reflection is the most important factor in predicting the success of psychotherapy. The client's internal resources for self-change determine the level of the working alliance and, as is clear, are associated with a fairly high level of client functioning. In client-centered psychotherapy, there are two wings: one is associated with ensuring closeness, warmth, trust, and the other is aimed at exploring one's own experience (PCETS scale, Beth Freire, Robert Elliott). Deep psychopathology is associated with a decrease in reflective ability and the inability to create a therapeutic alliance, which reduces the effectiveness of self-exploration. From my point of view (this may cause objections), client-centered psychotherapy, first of all, works at the de-mentalization level, at the emotional level, restoring emotional attunement, reflection, closeness, and basic trust. The experiential direction of work is associated with self-exploration of internal experience, which is understood as a set of bodily, emotional, and cognitive impressions, beliefs, and predispositions. In such work, the client begins to emerge with impressions detached from him. The work presents a specific case of a complaint about insufficient softness, femininity, and work with him.