Management of Distressing Bodily Symptoms in Health

Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are distressing bodily symptoms for which tests and scans return normal. They can be incredibly debilitating conditions and people seek health care frequently due to their distress. They are common worldwide – yet there are few interventions available to help those suffering with the physical and emotional pain they cause. This book presents a solution to this problem by providing a comprehensive introduction to The BodyMind Approach (TBMA), developed by Helen Payne, and outlines guidance on applying TBMA principles to facilitated groupwork with patients/clients.

Readers will learn how TBMA’s biopsychosocial learning model can be used to support patients in their self-management of anxiety associated with body distress disorder, as well as their accompanying bodily felt experience. Chapters explore:

• Adult learning theories and The BodyMind Approach
• An overview of medically unexplained symptoms/body distress disorder
• The BodyMind Approach
• The BodyMind Approach Programme
• Training of The BodyMind Approach facilitators
• Qualitative research on The BodyMind Approach
• Somatisation and adult attachment theory
• The BodyMind Approach to support students in Higher Education
• Somatisation, The BodyMind Approach and chronic stress

This unique book is essential reading for healthcare professionals and mental health practitioners as well as those who are, or wish to train, as a TBMA facilitator. It will also be a compelling read for a variety of other professions, including, but not limited to, dance movement psychotherapists, art psychotherapists, counsellors, health coaches, clinical psychologists, GPs, pain clinic staff and nurses.