Management of Distressing Bodily Symptoms in Health

The BodyMind Approach using a Biopsychosocial Model

Susan Brooks author Helen Payne author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Publishing:24th Jun '25

£140.00

This title is due to be published on 24th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Management of Distressing Bodily Symptoms in Health cover

Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are distressing bodily symptoms for which tests and scans return normal. They can be incredibly debilitating conditions and people seek health care frequently due to their distress. They are common worldwide – yet there are few interventions available to help those suffering with the physical and emotional pain they cause. This book presents a solution to this problem by providing a comprehensive introduction to The BodyMind Approach (TBMA), developed by Helen Payne, and outlines guidance on applying TBMA principles to facilitated groupwork with patients/clients.

Readers will learn how TBMA’s biopsychosocial learning model can be used to support patients in their self-management of anxiety associated with body distress disorder, as well as their accompanying bodily felt experience. Chapters explore:

  • Adult learning theories and The BodyMind Approach
  • An overview of medically unexplained symptoms/body distress disorder
  • The BodyMind Approach
  • The BodyMind Approach Programme
  • Training of The BodyMind Approach facilitators
  • Qualitative research on The BodyMind Approach
  • Somatisation and adult attachment theory
  • The BodyMind Approach to support students in Higher Education
  • Somatisation, The BodyMind Approach and chronic stress

This unique book is essential reading for healthcare professionals and mental health practitioners as well as those who are, or wish to train, as a TBMA facilitator. It will also be a compelling read for a variety of other professions, including, but not limited to, dance movement psychotherapists, art psychotherapists, counsellors, health coaches, clinical psychologists, GPs, pain clinic staff and nurses.

‘In their book, Management of Distressing Bodily Symptoms in Health: The BodyMind Approach using a Biopsychosocial Model, authors Helen Payne and Susan Brooks have given us a theoretically sophisticated approach for those who suffer from Medically Undiagnosed or Organically Diagnosed Symptoms, also known as Bodily Distress Disorder. The book provides a substantial piece of much needed research into this arena, a guide for those who treat individuals suffering from the dilemma, as well as a program for those individuals who must endure these chronic symptoms. The authors clearly understand how those afflicted feel out of control in relation to their symptoms, which leads to further somatizations of depression, anxiety, and obsession. The BodyMind Approach (TBMA), unique and holistic, encourages program participants to attend to their movements and accompanying sensations, emotions, and perceptions that retain long held and concealed meanings. Learning to trust their bodily knowing, participants develop a newly born curiosity in reflecting upon themselves. In doing so, enduring habitual convictions are dismantled, and pathways for creating novel narratives emerge.

I strongly recommend this book for a wide audience including researchers, holistic practitioners, those interested in transformative learning methods, those who are afflicted with debilitating symptoms, and their family members.’

Ruella Frank Ph.D author, Body of Awareness: A Somatic and Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy, The First Year and the Rest of Your Life, The Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy

'This book makes an important contribution to the literature through in-depth descriptions of distressing somatic symptoms and significant propositions of how to manage them. As the book unfolds, it becomes clear that The BodyMind Approach needs to be considered as an important addition to current offers in healthcare addressing the self-management of embodied and emotional aspects current provision does not offer. Strong evidence and abundance of clinical experience is married with insights from people struggling with their own symptoms, making this book a must for professionals, trainees and the general public alike.'

Professor Vicky Karkou, Director of the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, Edge Hill University

ISBN: 9781032608457

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

248 pages