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“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”
– Rumi
What is bioenergetic analysis?
Bioenergetic Analysis is a type of depth psychotherapy that works directly with the body as an additional way of accessing unconscious material.
The mind and body are interrelated – thoughts and emotions affect the body, while tension patterns within the body affect our thoughts and mental functioning. Along these lines, the story of our unprocessed emotions and experiences, the things that we may have no conscious awareness of, is written in our bodies. This story is written in the way we breathe, in bodily sensations, posture, patterns of muscular tension, and in the physical symptoms we develop when under stress (for example, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, palpitations, etc). Our bodies memorialize the impact of traumatic emotional experiences that could not be cognitively processed.
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How does this happen?
We all know that we react physically when we are exposed to stressful situations. Our hearts race, our stomachs tighten, our muscles tense, and breathing becomes shallow – our bodies prepare us to fight or to flee the perceived threat. When the stress is severe enough to feel life-threatening, we might physically freeze, stop breathing, and lose the capacity to think. These physical changes reverse once the threat passes, and once again we can breathe more fully, relax, and settle down.
But what if the stress is chronic and without possibility of relief? What if you grew up in a home where there was violence, or where you lived with threat of rejection from caregivers on whom you were totally dependent? Or what if no one really talked about feelings in your home, so that experiences of loneliness, anger, unmet needs and sadness could not be given voice to?
Mental processing of experiences (stressful and otherwise) requires an environment in which emotional responses to experience can be shared and validated. If this type of environment is absent, these experiences will not get mentally processed, and instead will be memorialized in the body where they will live on as physical sensations (anxiety, pain, fatigue, among others) rather than verbally encoded memories. They will not be accessible to the conscious mind, but can be more easily accessed in the body.
Our bodies also participate, as we develop through childhood, in preventing the expression of emotions, such as sadness, fear, and anger, that are threatening to out attachment to important others.
Our bodies do this by decreasing the depth of our breathing and creating patterns of muscular tension. Think back to a situation where you felt angry but couldn’t express it. Did you notice that you held your breath, tightened the muscles of your jaw, or contracted your shoulders? When the holding back of feeling, especially during childhood, is frequently necessary, the inhibition of deep breathing and the contraction of certain muscles become chronic. Eventually even the awareness of that feeling is removed from consciousness (and enters the unconscious).
about me
Marina Rozenberg, MD.
Clinical psychiatrist and therapist
I’ve been a practicing internal medicine physician since 2004. In the process of going through my own healing journey, I realized that I wanted to learn to use the tools that were most valuable to me in order to help others in their pursuit of more meaningful and genuine lives. To that end, I completed a 4-year postgraduate training program in Bioenergetic Analysis, and additional postgraduate programs in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. I am currently enrolled as a psychoanalytic candidate at the Object Relations Institute in NYC.
How does Bioenergetic Therapy Work?
In Bioenergetic Analysis we work directly with the body, by enhancing breathing, focusing on body sensations, and using expressive movement to gain awareness of and access to emotional and physical states.
We may explore what happens in your body as you make eye contact, as you move closer or farther away from the therapist, as you express anger or set a limit, as you reach out for contact. You may notice that you hold your breath, that certain muscles tighten up, or that you dissociate (ie disconnect emotionally from what is happening). You will be able to sense which emotions are too threatening to experience and how your body adjusts itself to prevent you from experiencing those emotions. Often, memories will come through that relate to how these patterns developed, creating that mind/body link that is required for the processing of traumatic material, enhanced emotional awareness and mind/body integration, and leading to healing and personal growth.
The work with the body is just one aspect of Bioenergetic Analysis, and complements the tools used in all psychodynamic psychotherapies to access unconscious material, including the exploration of thought patterns, emotional reactions, unconscious conflicts, dreams, important relationships, and the feelings that arise within the psychotherapeutic setting.
To get started with bioenergetic analysis, please submit this form or call me to schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation.
conditions
I work with adults of all ages who are seeking help for the following conditions
Trauma
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Personality Disorders
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Loss or Grief
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Chronic Pain or Illness
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Questions to ask the doctor
- been trying to manage on your own, reading self-help books and learning all you can about why you feel this way, or maybe you’ve
- tried other forms of therapies that work with your rational mind or recommend behavioral techniques…
- feeling distressed
- finding yourself engaging in behaviors that are self-sabotaging or harmful
- repeating relationship patterns that leave you feeling hurt or dissatisfied, or are
- unable to feel a meaningful connection with yourself or others
Bioenergetic Analysis may be right for you if:
- you have had verbal-only therapy and felt there was something deeper that remained locked away and inaccessible
- if your emotional stress is expressed mainly through somatic symptoms
- if you feel quite disconnected from your body and would like to enhance the mind-body connection
- if the idea of working with the body resonates with you
The answer will vary based on your goals for therapy and the degree of distress you are experiencing related to your symptoms. This is something we will discuss as you start treatment, and session frequency may change over the course of treatment.
In general, greater session frequency allows for deeper process because:
– less time is spent catching up on what happened between sessions, leaving more time available to engage with internal experience
– there is less time between sessions for defenses to kick in, so that material that came up in a previous session is more available for continued working through
– there is an intensification of the psychotherapeutic relationship, allowing for greater opportunity to explore issues with intimacy, relationship dynamics, and relational patterns of defense
I typically recommend a minimum of once-weekly sessions so that the process can take hold and allow for sufficient depth to allow for meaningful change.
For those that would like to work more intensively, or during periods of crisis or emotional instability, a greater session frequency is recommended.
Each session is 45 minutes. Some people benefit from longer sessions, in which case the fee would be pro-rated.
The length of therapy varies from individual to individual, depending on your goals for therapy and your needs for healing related to past traumas or early childhood/adolescent experiences characterized by abuse, neglect, or traumatic experiences in the family such as illness, death, or divorce. Sometimes deeper issues are uncovered during therapy for what was initially a more straight-forward concern (for example, difficulty managing a stressful work environment), which may prolong the course of therapy. For this reason, it can be difficult to estimate how long treatment will last at the outset of therapy.
Instead, we are guided by improvements in wellbeing that suggest that therapy can be brought to a close. These can include:
- improvement in the symptoms that brought you to therapy, such as anxiety, depression, or uncontrolled anger
- enhanced awareness of personal needs and desires
- enhanced ability to communicate your needs to loved ones and navigate conflict
- enhanced ability to process stressful life events yourself or with the help of your support system
- improved capacity for emotional regulation
- development of healthy coping strategies that replace the need for substances or compulsive behaviors
- enhanced sense of meaning, purpose, and satisfaction with life choices and relationships
As therapy progresses and the issues for which you started therapy improve, we will discuss bringing therapy to a close (also known as termination).
Please contact me to set up a free 20-minute phone consultation! If the fit feels right, we will set up the initial visit and go from there.
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Tuesday: 1PM-8PM
Wednesday: 10AM-8PM
Thursday: 9AM-8PM
Friday: 10AM-4PM
Weekend: Closed
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Marina Rozenberg, MD
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