Escola de Terapia d´Integració Psico-Corporal (ETIP)
c/S. Elias 31-33 esc.B 4º, 3ª
E- 08006 Barcelona
Tel: 34 93 2095540
Fax: 34 93 4144804
 etip@psico-corporal.com
 www.psico-corporal.com

Contact person: Ulrike Kaese ulrikekaese@telefonica.net

 

School history

The school’s origins go back to the first group of Integració Psico-Corporal in 1987. It was the intense work on both psychotherapeutic and training levels, which in 1990 led to the foundation of the Association (ACTIP), as a professional and legal body to organise training and research activities for the general public. Up until 1994 Josette Amirault, Jack Painter and Patrick Schwarz collaborated as guest trainers within Marc Costa’s structure. Since then professionals, who have been qualified by the school have covered the therapeutical and pedagogical needs. As a result of the intensive work which the school has done on pre and perinatal themes, ETIP founded the Asociación Española de Psicología y Medicina Pre y Perinatal y de la Primera Infancia (AEPMePI) in 2002 as a branch of the International Society of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (ISPPM).

 

Basic theory and concepts

This is a psychotherapeutic synthesis system created and structured in 1987 by Marc Costa. This clinical psychologist/psychotherapist has devoted himself to continuous practical work in individual and group therapy for 28 years and to training psychotherapists for 18 years. The historical background is rooted in Sigmund Freud’s dynamic approaches and, above all, in Wilhelm Reich’s structural and energetic vision which is an indispensable reference for deep psycho-corporal therapies.        

Psycho-corporal integration is characterised by progressive work on the building of the therapeutic relationship and the elaboration of defense systems in order to reach the instinctive-emotional levels, which reside in the body’s deeper layers. It also focuses on gradual work on the integration of the mental-cognitive, instinctive-emotional, physiological-vegetative and skeletal-muscular levels in order to approach psychosomatic totality. All this facilitates a natural, spontaneous regressive process towards the recovery of pre and perinatal experiences, which help to integrate the fundamental subjects of human maturing and evolution from their origin.                                                                   

The five theoretical constructs, which build the basis for the study of personality in Psycho-Corporal Integration, are:

1. Organisation pattern: Develops the code and underlying organising systems on a biological, instinctive, emotional and human cognitive level.
2. Structure: Explains how, through the different phases of human development, character structures, which build the personality’s final organisation, are materialised.
3. Integration: Shows how the final adjustments of the different character structures amongst each other convert to final organisations of the personality or levels of psychopathology.
4. Processes: Analyses how organisational pattern, structure and final integration manifest themselves intelligently due to instinct, emotion and cognition.
5. Object relationship: Allows an understanding of the kind of bonding due to the specific type of affective relationship between subject and object(s). The concepts (IMAGOS) and knowledge on which our instinctive, emotional and cognitive abilities are built are based on this relationship.

The ethical and deontological guidelines for the psychotherapeutical work in Integració Psico-Corporal are based on five fundamental principles:

1. Principle of psychosomatic spontaneous expression
2. Principle of psychosomatic non-violence
3. Principle of patient-centered therapy
4. Principle of communicative following of the patient
5. Principle of communicative authenticity of the therapist

 

Training description

In addition to the training requirements, to become a Psycho-corporal Integrator the following references have to be relied on:

-          The future therapist commits him (her) self to a long and committed psychotherapeutic process in Psycho-corporal Integration (it is the therapist who gives the ´pass´ to be able to exercise the profession) and after that whenever he/she periodically chooses to do so.

-           The specialised training (1300 elective hours).

-           Third reference: the supervision within the school’s structure for five years and after that   whenever he/she periodically chooses to do so.

-           The theoretical, methodological and technical principals and the school’s ethical and deontological rules.

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PROCESS. This is the backbone of training. In a progressive, orderly fashion one learns the art and trade of the psychotherapist, whose complex and delicate knowledge and experiences call for a closed group from beginning to end that guarantees educational progression and experiential continuity.

PERSONALITY. An approach to knowledge of the person based on dynamic, systemic, ecological and quantum-holographic theories. The objective consists of establishing, from the beginning, a private diagnosis and prognosis, which helps establish effective work strategies. One also learns to evaluate the psychopathology level in order to determine the possibility of therapeutic work in each particular case.

ANATOMY AND PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGY. This is an indispensable topic for any psychotherapist who includes the body in his or her work. It guarantees knowledge of anatomical and physiological positioning, mechanisms and functions in order to intervene in the body in a precise and experienced way.
SCIENTIFIC PARADIGM. The 20^th century’s progressive paradigmatic revolution is summed up and analysed. It expresses the need for a new paradigm, based on avant-garde science, which allows for providing new therapies and, particularly, psycho-corporal integration, with a sound scientific base. The recent investigations into the human genome and its impact on psychological theories will be reviewed. 
RELATIONAL DYNAMICS. The building of the interpersonal relationship is one of the bases of therapeutic work in psycho-corporal integration. To connect with oneself, and from there perceive another with objectivity, allows one to develop a really dynamic relationship. To build and experience it directly through its progressive sequences teaches us how to carry out this work. This topic’s contents are basically experiential.
SEXUALITY. This is a basic theme in all deep psychotherapeutic processes and, particularly, in all Reichian-oriented psychotherapeutic therapies. One will experientially learn how sexual material tends to reflect instinctive-emotional processes as well as their most fundamental conflicts. This topic’s contents are basically practical.

DREAMS. While we sleep we remain connected to our intra-psychic world through dreams. They bring us closer to our most unconscious and unfathomable truths. To recover and expand them means to make use of a usually unproductive part of our life. The work systems, which best adapt to the therapeutic process of psycho-corporal integration, with special emphasis on dream work through the body are explained and experienced. This topic’s contents are basically experiential.

 

State of recognition

The ´Associació Catalana de Teràpia d´Integració Psico-corporal´ (ACTIP) is in the process of applying for accreditation by the EABP FORUM. It was founded in 1990 and legally recognized by the ´Generalitat de Catalunya´ to organize the training in Psycho-corporal Integration. At the same time the name of ´Integració Psico-Corporal´ has been patented so that only the ETIP could issue certifications with that denomination. 

 

Trainers

• Marc Costa, founder/director, trainer and supervisor
• Llúcia Arilla, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, co-trainer and supervisor.
• Jorge Cozodoy, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, co-trainer and supervisor.
• Montserrat Crehuet, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, co-trainer and supervisor.
• Isabel Mauricio, clinical psychologist, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, co-trainer and supervisor.
• Carmen Gil, clinical psychologist, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, assistant.
• Ulrike Kaese, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, assistant.
• Elisabeth Schaupp, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, assistant.
• Imma Ventosa, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, assistant.
• Joana Fernandez, clinical psychologist, Psycho-corporal Integration therapist, secretary.

 

Literature – publication - research

COSTA, Marc (1995): “The Prenatal Period as the Origin of Character Structures”. The International Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine, vol.7, num. 3, pp.309-322, Mattes Verlag (Heidelberg).

Literature by Marc Costa about character structures (1993), Theory of personality (1996), Human development (1998), Systemical, ecological and quantic-holographic paradigm (2000), Dreams in Psycho-corporal Integration (2002) are available in the school’s library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marc Costa