A Traumatic Event

Bioenergetic Therapy Applied in a Company Environment

Abstract

The article describes a work of Bioenergetic Analysis performed in the business sector. The therapists provided group therapy in a company context in a situation of serious grief (an employee had been killed in an occupational accident while several of his colleagues were present). Good results were achieved. Initially, the client requested individual psychological therapy for the thirty colleagues of the deceased man. This request was redefined to cover two approaches: immediate individual therapy (for those employees most affected) and group therapy. This paper describes the group therapy performed in the company environment. The paper also discusses some of the techniques used; the theoretical basis (Lowen’s Bioenergetic Analysis); incorporation of neurological advances on trauma (Porges’ Polyvagal Theory), trauma treatment (Berceli, Levine, Ogden, Rothschild and Van der Kolk); and the concepts that might be most helpful for anyone replicating this work in similar contexts.