Let ’s Get Personal, Let’s Get Physical: Approaching the Bodily Self in Clinical Interactions

Medicine usually looks at the body as a biochemical and physicalapparatus– from a distant third-person perspective, with fragmented, reductionist positions, unidirectional causal models, and highly selective foci. Even psychiatrists and psychotherapists focus more and more on the brain as an organ, look at genes and colourful pictures. And just as biomedical medicine stares at physical and chemical facts and ignores the person, one could say that psychotherapy stares at personality, cognition, and behaviour and ignores the body. But the lowlands where being-a-person and having-a-bodymeetmatter a lot for becoming ill, staying, and getting well. What attitudes and what approaches can help us understand thebodily self? After very briefly summarizing current understandings of embodiment and enactivism, we will suggest some practical consequences for everyday clinical diagnostics.Psychopathology

Source: Psychopathology - January 17, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research