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From Spiritfold, Australian Spiritual Alliance: https://spiritfold.com/Psychosomatic_therapy

Psychosomatic therapy

From Spiritfold

Psychosomatic therapy, as taught in Australia through the Psychosomatic Therapy College, is a practice that combines reading of the face, body and hands with emotional-release bodywork. Its name joins psyche (mind) and soma (body).[1] Its professional association says it was created by the late Hermann Müller, who founded the College on Queensland's Gold Coast.[2] Nationally recognised Australian courses in psychosomatic therapy were accredited at various times between 2004 and 2024.[3][4]

Description

How practitioners describe it

The International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT), the practitioners' association, describes psychosomatic therapy as working from the relationship between the mind (psyche) and the body (soma). Practitioners analyse the shape, size and structure of the body, which the association says reflect a person's genes, environment and emotional state. They assess how the body moves and functions, the quality of the muscles, the ratio of muscle to fat, weight distribution, symmetry and the features of the face, and the association says imbalances found this way indicate a client's repeated emotional and thinking patterns.[1]

According to INTAPT, a practitioner may then use counselling, breathing techniques, emotional-release bodywork and postural alignment, along with a detailed written analysis of body and mind, and give the client practical exercises to do.[1] INTAPT names focus, balance and structure as the three keys of the process.[2] All of this is the association's own account of how the practice works.[1]

Training

INTAPT's entry-level certificate course runs for ten days in two levels, followed by two days of supervised client sessions. Level 1 covers face reading, analysis of the whole body and hand reading. Level 2 covers what the course calls emotional analysis, a psychosomatic framework for consultations, a full-body emotional-release bodywork technique and a full body reading by each student. Students complete home study, including case studies, within 12 months to gain the certificate.[5] Further courses lead to master practitioner and teacher levels.[6]

The nationally accredited version of the Certificate III (10821NAT) listed among its aims analysing possible personality characteristics in the face, "bodymind", hands, "emotional anatomy" and feet, applying bodywork using psychosomatic therapy techniques, and, in the course's words, identifying and releasing "cellular memory" by techniques including trigger point release.[4]

What the evidence says

Spiritfold has found no published source reporting research on psychosomatic therapy as taught through the Psychosomatic Therapy College. The claims about what body shape and facial features reveal come from the practice's own association, not from independent study.[1]

Scope

What it includes

  • Reading of the face, body and hands[5][4]
  • Emotional-release bodywork, as well as counselling, postural alignment and breathing techniques[1]
  • Body-mind analysis and reporting, with practical exercises for the client[1]

What it is not

  • It is not psychosomatic medicine, a medical field with a similar name. Psychosomatic medicine has been defined in the medical literature as an interdisciplinary framework for assessing psychological factors that affect illness, for taking a biopsychosocial view of patient care, and for bringing psychological therapies into the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of medical disease.[7]
  • The same name is also used in the Netherlands, for a tailored program delivered by specialised exercise therapists and physiotherapists to people with persistent physical symptoms, based on the biopsychosocial model, in which conversations about psychological and social matters alternate with body-oriented exercises.[8] Its components include psycho-education, relaxation techniques, mindfulness, cognitive approaches and graded activity.[9]
  • Research on psychosomatic medicine, or on the Dutch treatment, is not research on the Australian practice described on this page, even though they share a name.[7][8]

Traditions and lineage

INTAPT credits Hermann Müller, now deceased, with creating psychosomatic therapy by developing the reading of faces and what it calls body-mind communication. It says the Psychosomatic Therapy College, on Queensland's Gold Coast, has been established since 2003, and that Marie Müller is now its sole director and teacher. Its courses are now taught by registered teachers around the world.[2] INTAPT says it has teachers in Canada, the United States and Costa Rica.[1]

The national training register shows courses accredited in Queensland in March 2004: a Certificate III and a Certificate IV in Psychosomatic Therapy and a Diploma of Teaching Psychosomatic Therapy, each current until March 2009.[3][10][11]

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking psychosomatic therapy with Spiritualism.

In Australian Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking psychosomatic therapy with Spiritualism in Australia.

A Spiritualist perspective

Because psychosomatic therapy involves reading the face, body and hands, people sometimes assume it has something in common with a psychic or mediumistic reading. A Spiritualist teacher would want to keep that distinction sharp. Psychosomatic therapy is a practice in its own right, with its own training and associations, and its readings are drawn from the body in front of the practitioner. It is not mediumship and has no part in Spiritualist teaching.

The same is true in reverse. A medium's task is to give evidence from the spirit world, not to read a sitter's character or emotional history from their appearance. Where anyone offers to read emotional patterns, great care is needed: consent, gentle words, no labels the person cannot put down, and a ready referral to a counsellor or doctor for emotional or health concerns.

Psychosomatic therapy in Australia

Accredited training

The National Training Register lists these accredited courses, each now non-current:[12]

  • 30432QLD Certificate III, 30433QLD Certificate IV and 30434QLD Diploma of Teaching Psychosomatic Therapy, accredited in Queensland from 23 March 2004 to 22 March 2009[3][10][11]
  • 30788QLD Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy, from 18 February 2009 to 30 July 2014, and 30790QLD Diploma of Teaching Psychosomatic Therapy, from 18 February 2009 to 17 February 2014[13][14]
  • 10484NAT Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy, from 31 July 2014 to 30 July 2019, replaced by 10821NAT[15]
  • 10821NAT Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy, from 31 July 2019 to 30 July 2024, when its accreditation period expired[4]

The two national courses were regulated by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and classified under complementary therapies.[15][4] INTAPT describes its entry-level certificate as designed by the College's registered training organisation and as the government-accredited Certificate III 10484NAT.[6]

Professional association

INTAPT describes itself as a non-profit professional association set up in 2003, operating independently of the College, and as the only professional association for psychosomatic therapists. It keeps a register of qualified practitioners who agree to its code of ethics.[16][1] Its code of ethics gives its address as South Yarra, Victoria.[17]

Safety and good practice

Psychosomatic therapy involves both touch and conversation about a person's emotional life, so consent, confidentiality and honesty matter in two ways at once. INTAPT says its registered practitioners and teachers must meet yearly professional development requirements and all hold insurance and first aid qualifications.[2] Under its code of ethics, members agree to have proper regard for clients' rights, safety and welfare, represent their qualifications honestly, keep information confidential and get informed consent before sharing it, avoid any behaviour that would exploit or harm clients, provide a safe and healthy environment, and display the code where clients can see it.[17]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Why Visit a Psychosomatic Therapist?". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT) (accessed 12 October 2026).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "The Psychosomatic Therapy College". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT) (accessed 12 October 2026).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "30432QLD Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "10821NAT Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Certificate in Psychosomatic Therapy". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT) (accessed 12 October 2026).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "About Our Registered Training". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT) (accessed 12 October 2026).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fava, Giovanni A.; Sonino, Nicoletta. "Psychosomatic medicine". International Journal of Clinical Practice, vol. 64, no. 8, July 2010, pp. 1155–1161. doi:10.1111/j.1742-1241.2009.02266.x (abstract accessed 12 October 2026 via Europe PMC).
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wortman, Margreet S.H.; Olde Hartman, Tim C.; van der Wouden, Johannes C. et al. "Perceived working mechanisms of psychosomatic therapy in patients with persistent somatic symptoms in primary care: a qualitative study". BMJ Open, 2022. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057145 (abstract accessed 12 October 2026 via Europe PMC).
  9. ↑ Wortman, Margreet S.H. et al. "Psychosomatic therapy for patients frequently attending primary care with medically unexplained symptoms, the CORPUS trial: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial". Trials, 2019. doi:10.1186/s13063-019-3913-3 (abstract accessed 12 October 2026 via Europe PMC).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "30433QLD Certificate IV in Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "30434QLD Diploma of Teaching Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  12. ↑ Search results for "psychosomatic". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  13. ↑ "30788QLD Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  14. ↑ "30790QLD Diploma of Teaching Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "10484NAT Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy". National Training Register, training.gov.au, Australian Government (accessed 12 October 2026).
  16. ↑ "About the International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT) (accessed 12 October 2026).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Code of Ethics". International Association of Psychosomatic Therapy (INTAPT), undated PDF (accessed 12 October 2026).

Further reading

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