De-Armoring versus Body Psychotherapy | What’s the Difference?

The term Body De-Armoring is often used in conjunction with Body Psychotherapy (or Body-Oriented Psychotherapy). But what exactly are the differences and similarities, and how do these two healing modalities relate to each other?

Body De-Armoring and Body Psychotherapy are both holistic mind-body therapies, that is, the core premise of these types of therapies is that the mind and body are intimately connected and reflect or influence each other’s “state” or function.

Nevertheless, Body Psychotherapy — often synonymized with Somatic Psychology — is foremost a type of Psychotherapy, in contrast to Body De-Armoring which by itself is not Psychotherapy but rather a somatic technique.

In fact, we could say that Body De-Armoring — also referred to as Somatic De-Armoring, Emotional De-Armoring, or sometimes Sexual De-Armoring — may be part of Body Psychotherapy sessions, in which it’s used as a hands-on, practical tool to induce Catharsis and subsequent emotional and trauma release and healing.

Modern Body De-Armoring as currently known in the West was developed by the psychotherapist Wilhelm Reich as an important technique within Psychotherapy (in particular within Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy) to dissolve the client’s so-called Body (Muscular) and Character Armor. The somatic focus within Psychotherapy that Reich proposed and intensively worked with became known as Body Psychotherapy.

Yet, Body De-Armoring can also be carried out as a stand-alone session, outside the context of Body Psychotherapy, that is, it may, for instance, be used in a range of mind-body or somatic therapies by sex educators, sex coaches and counselors, trauma therapists, or massage and bodywork therapists, who are not necessarily (licensed) psychotherapists.

Both Body De-Armoring and Body Psychotherapy can make use of a variety of somatic techniques, such as breathwork, massage, pressure, acupressure, consensual touch, evocative music, dance, and physical and movement exercises, the use of which depends on the training and background of the De-Armoring practitioner or psychotherapist.

However, Body Psychotherapy sessions will always be accompanied with Talk Therapy (the classical form of Psychotherapy), while Body De-Armoring may include Talk Therapy — which is a common practice — but certainly not always the case.

---