Ditte Marcher is the main speaker at the upcoming Body Psychotherapy Conference in Amsterdam, late may 2010.

Here is her introduction to the topic:

“YOU NEED A STRONG EGO TO COPE WITH SHOCK TRAUMA”

As we are speaking, more and more people “go down” with stress or PTSD related symptoms. In Western Europe we have experienced that the fear level has increased the last 15 years.
We disconnect more and more from our body ego, we are taking it to the gym to try to keep it physically fit, so it is able to transport our head around. We spend more and more time sitting, working on computers, having meetings, watching television, playing games for the mind (sudoku). At the same time we are losing vital somatic skills to keep a healthy balance in life, integrating new knowledge, standing our ground, keeping the strength of our self worth and being able to manage our energy, both emotionally and instinctively. All those skills are deeply rooted within our body ego.
Losing the connection with these body ego skills will much easier throw us out in fear and shock states and disconnect us not only from ourselves but also from others. Therefore we lose the dignified capacity of free choice and make choices out of fear instead of out of joy for life and respect for others.

I will speak about shock event situations that we not normally refer to as shock ex.amples Being bullied at work, divorce, being fired, loss of network etc. I will use those examples to show how by strengthening our body ego we make ourselves more able to cope with high stress situations in our daily life. In the speech I will show examples and use the Bodynamic’s theory of the 11 ego functions and part of the developmental model, the character structure.
By doing so, we can target a precise theme in a persons body ego. By working with different muscles belonging to specific ego functions, we can support a person to change the way they deal with a certain issue or get more strength to deal with it. Therefore give the option to a choice with less fear and more joy.

I will mainly focus and give examples from 6 of the 11 ego functions. Grounding, Boundaries, Centering, Connectedness, Balance and Energy Management. By training those functions you will create new automatic skills to handle high stress (shock event) in your life, with less risk of creating PTSD.
All these functions can only happen in connection with other people.

Bodynamic has developed a specific way of working and healing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. To do so, we are using a certain structure as presented in the following elements:

1. Present Symptoms – How does it affect daily life
2. Exploring the Crisis part of the Shock
3. Exploring the Power in the Shock Defense
4. Working with the Peak in the Shock
5. Working through the Core Part of the Shock Trauma
6. Strategies of Solution of Shock

In this workshop, I will present and work with the 4th element, the peak experience, that we believe occur in any shock traumatic event.
I will make an introduction to how it is possible to find the peak moments in a shock event and how, in the present time, to integrate them in you body ego. That gives you the option of empowering yourself to see your trauma with new understanding.






Ditte Marcher –

Member of the Bodynamic International, 1993, Director 2006.
Senior Teacher in Foundation, Practitioner and Shock Training

Has used a lot of her life to work with humans that have been exposed to different forms of shock and trauma. (Young criminals, security prisoners, soldiers, US police, x-Vietnam Vet, refugees in Lebanon and the Palestinian areas). Has been part of the worldwide Peace Guard Organization, worked with Israeli and Palestinian people, ex-Yugoslavians, People in Peru, in North-East Africa – and today with First-responder team in Greece.

Has always studied PTSD from a curiosity that why someone attracts PTSD while others do not. How can you get through a traumatic experience without getting PTSD? What is it that people know, so they do not attract PTSD.