Body practices in psychological rehabilitation for PTSD (review of foreign research)

Context and relevance. Psychotherapy for PTSD is a serious challenge, with a high rate of treatment failure. Despite the success of talk therapy, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), approximately half of patients exhibit partial or complete resistance to monotherapy. Objective. To identify the effectiveness of using body-oriented approaches to psychotherapy for PTSD in combination with classical psychotherapeutic methods. Methods and materials. The article presents a review and analysis of the results of modern foreign studies on the introduction of body practices in the psychological rehabilitation of patients with PTSD. Results. It has been shown that PTSD is characterized by various psychosomatic symptoms associated with hyperarousal, which are not addressed by verbal, cognitive-oriented psychotherapy methods. Breathing and movement exercises have been shown to reduce the severity of symptoms, particularly hyperarousal, in some forms of PTSD. Conclusions. A number of international authors believe that verbal and cognitive interventions insufficiently target the subcortical areas of the brain necessary for processing intense stress, and that adding body-based practices to traditional PTSD treatments may enhance their effectiveness. Research findings indicate that various types of psychomotor therapy based on body- and movement-oriented techniques may be a valuable addition to cognitive-behavioral rehabilitation programs for PTSD.

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