Mind-body approach tackles worker ills
April 1, 2002
Mind-body approach tackles worker ills
Body-centered therapy about gentle touching, talking
As the general public turns with increasing frequency to alternative medicine, occupational health professionals will no doubt see employees reflecting this trend. In some cases, alternative therapies may prove particularly efficacious when it comes to common work force maladies. Take, for example, body-centered therapy, a practice grounded in a belief in the mind-body continuum. Its practitioners claim their work can be effective in relieving and/or curing such complaints as:
- anxiety and depression;
- carpal tunnel syndrome;
- digestive disorders;
- headaches;
- lower back pain;
- neck pain;
- uncontrolled stress.
"Body-centered therapy grew from two different directions," explains Adam T. Pancake, EdS, LPC, NCTMB, a practitioner in Atlanta. "It grew from a psychotherapy background, or more specifically, from Wilhelm Reich, the first Westerner to get into making direct contact with the body as part of alleviating pain and symptoms, whether physical or emotional." The other source, notes Pancake, is the whole stream of bodywork, from massage therapy to Rolfing.
At the core is the concept of a mind-body continuum. "I do not see the mind and body as separate, compartmentalized units, but rather like two sides of the same coin," Pancake explains. For example, he notes, he can work on some of the emotional pieces of a patient’s problem without the patient being conscious he is doing it. "In fact, you can work on emotional problems through the body, as well as through talking," he says. Pain, Pancake continues, is the body’s way of getting your attention. "Part of your pain is like the waving arms one might see above the surface when a ship is sinking," he says. "But the real trouble lies under the water."
How it works
When a patient arrives for treatment, his or her personal goals will be discussed as part of the healing process. "The paperwork includes a health history form," Pancake says. "We sit and talk, get an idea of what brought the patient to me. If they have a specific pain they want to work to get rid of, I want to keep that in mind. But I will look at their whole body. In other words, they may have neck pain, but I may still look at their feet or their hips."
A gentle, hands-on assessment, with the patient fully clothed, is conducted, and questions are encouraged. The assessment includes a full-body evaluation. The therapeutic touching, described as "noninvasive," is very gentle. It is not what the general public would call manipulation," Pancake stresses. The emotional therapy can be quite similar to that provided by a psychotherapist, "but it depends on what I am looking for and how the patient presents," he adds.
A worker in pain
Pancake has helped many workers deal with pain and return to a higher level of health and productivity. "I have had clients come in with varying levels of back pain, much of it in the lower back, and sometimes accompanied by an ongoing series of headaches," he relates. "One particular patient had been on a lot of medication over a long period of time, but they were not getting better. It was affecting their work and their happiness. They were worn out, and did not even feel inclined to do the things they enjoyed. It limited their ability to exercise, which was one of their goals."
Pancake began with a full-body assessment, and did some very gentle work with the spine as well as with the soft tissue around it. "I even did some gentle cranial work," he recalls. Within a period of six months, the patient was able to decrease the amount of medicine, and the headaches had become much less frequent. "It would have been much faster, but I only saw the patient for one hour every two weeks or so," notes Pancake. "After a couple of years, the client reported only rare headaches, and virtually no back pain; he was not taking any major medications."
Treating the body alone in this case would not have been nearly as effective, adds Pancake. "There were some emotional components to this treatment, some of which were spiritually related," he says. "The patient’s relationship with God was changing and this had an impact on his health. He had become estranged from God for a time, but was finding that he wanted to get back into a relationship with God but more on his own terms. We talked through this in a manner similar to traditional counseling, but we worked through the body as well."
Practitioners still rare
Although body-centered therapy began to come into prominence in the 1970s, there are only a handful of practitioners in the U.S. today, says Pancake. "The bulk of them are in Colorado or California. I’d be surprised if there were 100 in the whole Southeast," he says. Even more rare are practitioners such as himself who are equally schooled in both therapy and body work. "Few people have studied both sides," he notes. "Most are body-centered psychotherapists." While there is no central organization interested occupational health professionals can contact, Pancake knows of colleagues in many other states and often provides referrals. In addition, local psychotherapists may be of assistance.
For more information, contact: Adam T. Pancake, EdS, LPC, NCTMB, 2300 Henderson Mill Road, Suite 411, Atlanta, GA 30345. Telephone: (770) 414-5957.
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