Touch in psychotherapy has been a controversial topic. This is a very complex discussion as there are many considerations to balance.

First though, let’s discuss a basic misconception still prevalent within vast swaths of psychotherapists and medical professionals, as well as society at large, for that matter. Namely, the mind/body dichotomy and it is still alive and well within psychotherapy since Freud. Wilhelm Reich bridged the scientific and theoretical gap between mind and body elegantly. Reich, through years of clinical experience with patients, and a legacy of scientifically validated laboratory experiments, documented how patients’ psychic conditions were reflected in medical conditions and how physical conditions were mirrored in the psyche.