Haptonomy has developed from the recognition of the importance of the role of affectivity in human relationships, in particular in the psychic and emotional development of the child. This quality of relationships and interactions between father, mother and child is expressed through respectful and tender tactile contact. This allows the maturation and development of the being in the making, which is confirmed by current developments in neuroscience and behavioral sciences.

Haptopsychotherapy takes into account the whole being of a person, in mental suffering or living with existential discomfort. It is an affective-psycho-bodily approach.

The therapist uses this affective dimension, which is essential in human relationships:

• ? by an approach full of benevolence and respect,
• in an unconditional welcome of the person as he is,
• in the confirmation that every being is fundamentally “lovable”,
• by supporting the potential, gifts and talents (exploited or not) that everyone has had in them since their origin.
• by a quality of presence expressed in a reassuring and confirming tactile contact, full of tenderness, in all transparency and security.

What forms the basis of psychotherapeutic support is an affective-confirming relationship which establishes in the person a climate of confidence and an experience of internal security.

It allows you to establish balanced and fluid interpersonal relationships where you can fearlessly express yourself in an authentic way, express your emotional needs, the most essential of which is to feel unconditionally recognized for who you are.

From the first sessions, the person discovers the other side, namely what, in her personal history, has led her to be wary, to be afraid of the other and to say what she really feels.

The therapy is carried out in the discovery, the recognition and the comprehension of all that prevents in him the fluidity of the relation. The process of change is linked to the evolution of its representation of the world (there are other types of relations than those which marked it). This is verified in the here-and-now of the therapeutic relationship and in its fluidity.

Therapy appeals to the desire and pleasure of living that give meaning to life. Reconnected to their deep needs, the person progressively reaches a state of psycho-emotional health and the possibility of fulfilling all of their potential. By developing her basic security, she attains the feeling of fullness of her being, her “ipseity” (which makes a person unique and absolutely distinct from another).

The main principles

The unconditional welcome which recognizes and confirms the intrinsic value of a person is an essential condition for his development.

The respectful and reassuring tactile contact makes it possible to reveal the tensions which are manifested in the body and to become aware of its fears and its defense systems.

The therapist ensures the conditions for a good relationship. Therapeutic work and the healing of problems are developed in the experience and awareness of everything that the person implements, in the here-and-now of the session.

The confidence and sense of security that are established gradually develop self-confidence and internal security.

This approach favors listening to the emotions and feelings written down to cellular memories. When a theme appears during the work, the body informs by its tensions or its relaxations of the emotional load which it carries. Listening to him unfolds the process of the unwinding of tensions, of relaxation, which signals a state of confidence and well-being.

What is central is listening to the avsys: this intelligence at the base of the living of every being (unicellular or much more complex like the human being), pre-rational and pre-logical intelligence that guides us towards the essential. In the state of psychic health, the soul radiates reason, and not the other way around.

A little history of haptonomy:

The quality of the emotional bonds manifested by the tactile contact, the presence to the other and to oneself allow the good development of the human being. From this observation, the Dutchman Frans Veldman (1921-2010). has developed the haptonomy which he calls “science of affectivity” (he liked to quote Paracelsus: “the art of care is love”).

Haptonomy is best known for supporting pregnancy and parenthood which promotes the maturation of emotional ties between father, mother and child.

However, its applications are much wider: they concern the different areas of care and all ages of life: pre and postnatal support, hapto-obstetrics, haptopedagogy, haptosynesis, haptopsychotherapy and support for people at the end of life.

It was in Oms (Pyrénées Orientales) that Frans Veldman created the CIRDH (International Center for Research and Development of Haptonomy), that he continued his research and transmitted his teaching to France in the 80s. (See more far “training”)

• restores the person to a state of psycho-emotional health.
• modifies the quality of presence.
• develops a feeling of internal security, self-confidence and self-confidence.
• mobilizes resources related to the desire and pleasure of living.
• develops discernment which allows progressive access to autonomy in emotional relationships.
• “Develops a fully human art of living and dying” (F. Veldman)

After making contact on the motivations of the process, when the approach to haptonomy proposed by the therapist is accepted by the person who consults, there is a protocol of 3 discovery sessions.

They allow an experience of what the haptonomic approach is, a meeting of the other in the relationship. They also make it possible to identify all the limitations, mistrust and fears preventing the fluidity of a good relationship.

All these restrictions most often result from the psychic construction put in place from childhood – with the means specific to this age or later in the event of subsequent trauma – in order to best respond to fears, frustrations or more emotional deficiencies. or less important, even to trauma, mistreatment, abuse suffered during his life. The origin of the troubles or discomforts of the person who consults is to be found in his psychic construction of survival, which has led to a certain internal representation of the world and to beliefs about oneself and about others. In the therapeutic relationship, this limiting construction evolves thanks to the experience of another state of being.

Course of a session

After the discovery sessions, each session begins with this question: what, at the moment, would be good for you, what is your need, your desire? From this starting point the session takes place, in tactile contact – or not -, in the need to speak or to feel, in the consciousness of new emotions or understandings. It is built in this human encounter, in the experience that the presence of the other can be lived in complete safety.

Training in haptonomy

Regarding training in haptopsychotherapy, it is aimed at therapists who are already trained and have regular practice. It lasts three years (including one year of core curriculum with the other specializations), a thesis is required 6 months after the end of the training.

Not all therapists regularly trained in haptopsychotherapy are listed in the CIRDH directory. Only those who continue to contribute and attend the CIRDH-Frans Veldman are included.

Contraindication of? therapy

These are the ones a psychotherapist untrained in haptonomy would mention. There aren’t any specific to haptonomy.

For almost 20 years I practiced psychoanalysis or psychotherapies of analytical orientation. I will soon have so much experience in haptopsychotherapy.

It is obvious to me that this last approach is:

• much more efficient: for an equivalent problem, the time required is significantly shorter. In addition, the intellectual understanding which results from the analytical work is not necessarily “embodied”, the cellular memories continuing to react (for example if there has been mistreatment or abuse).
• much more satisfying on the level of the human relation which can be deployed in a security and an authenticity, parallel to the development of the discernment necessary to face the world as it is.