The “psychoboxe”:
Therapeutic Mediation for those who know the acted or suffered violence
Conference: “Demonstrating”: welcoming and helping young people struggling with violence, 20/10/17
During this conference, Farid Gouri, a specialized educator and Stéphanie Gandil, a clinical psychologist in a family placement service in Le Mans, presented an innovative therapeutic mediation: the psychoboxe.
Both stakeholders worked in difficult neighborhoods where violence was regularly acted upon. The word (of the psychiatrist) did not always work. They then decided to go to these young people with other methods.
They were inspired and trained by Richard Helbrunn, a clinical psychologist, a psychoanalyst who developed thirty years ago: the psychoboxe. For him, “It’s about going through the body dimension to get to the floor. It is a psychoanalytical application in the same way as psychodrama, for example “. He specifies that it is “an English boxing match, in which the blows are mitigated. So it’s not an unlimited fight, and it’s not an outlet. The aim is to explore violence, with a partner in front of you and an outside observer “(2014).
Richard Helbrunn uses it for individual therapies with perpetrators or victims of violence.
In this activity, a motion of the body is searched. Psychoboxe is therefore a body oriented psychotherapy approach to violence. The idea is to look at the violent act as a symptom which asks to go beyond. The goal is not to do boxing psychotherapy but to allow access to psychotherapy. It is a question of “getting out of the body” to allow the verbalisation which it, will be able to give access to the ‘classic’ psychotherapy thereafter. It’s about going through sport to make the word emerge in a second time.
The framework is very specific:
The activity is carried out standing like boxing, the sport, and in sportswear. The two professionals chose to do the sessions on a ring in a real boxing gym. One of the two professionals practices and boxes with the person and the other professional observes and is present on the side out of the ring. It has a symbolic third role for the “player” dyad. As for boxing, only fists are used. The fighting lasts 1 minute 30. Each of the protagonists has the right to say “stop” at any time by explaining why. The observer can stop the round if he feels an overflow or an invasion by the act. This third party will have the role of containment. Most often, the person needs 5 to 10 sessions and each of them lasts 1 hour 30.
There is a time of preparation (getting dressed, warm up, mood …), a game time and recovery time at three, out of the ring in a room adjoining the boxing gym. At the end of the fight, the three people meet to talk about their experiences. Emotions and feelings can be expressed thanks to this analysis phase.
Trust and the link:
These two points are very present and professionals are vigilant throughout the process. It is also for these reasons of capacity and of a link that one of the professionals is on 24h / 24h call between the sessions to answer the player if necessary. They are based on the principle that the player needs to test the links and the strength of these before they start and trust. Being there during the entire program when needed is part of this process of showing that the link is there, constant and solid. In fact, very few players use this number but some sometimes feel the need to experiment, to check the strength of the link. The interest of the pair of professionals is important to be able to hold and support the attacks of the link often at stake in the problems of violence.
The psychoboxing professionals’ approach is to go towards the language of the violent people and not to “wait” for people with violent behavior at the psychologist.
When this tool was presented, the psychologist finished her speech by illustrating it with an anecdote that I find pretty telling. A youth told her: “It must be surprising for a psychologist to go boxing? And she said, “But for you, it must be just as surprising to go talk to a psychologist …”.
This innovative mediation is in full development. An institute of « psychoboxe » has also opened in Paris and a think tank is active in Le Mans and seek to make this activity more widely known.
If you would like to find out more, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EyACpq39e9g
HELBRUNN, R. (2014) A poings nommés, genèse de la psychoboxe. L’harmattan : Paris
