Meeting the body in psychotherapy: A therapist's experience.

This article examines the integration of drama and movement practices within psychoanalytic and analytical psychology frameworks, focusing on their therapeutic value for clients and their impact on enhancing therapists' therapeutic presence. It highlights how creative arts, including dramatherapy and movement therapy informed by Jungian analytical psychology, provide embodied access to symbolic and unconscious material, facilitating deeper exploration and healing. The author emphasizes that therapeutic presence involves full, embodied engagement and receptivity, which can be cultivated and enriched through creative embodied relational practices alongside traditional psychoanalytic approaches. The paper advocates for therapists’ personal engagement with the arts to support their self-development and improve empathic connection within the therapeutic relationship.