By Lise Mahaud and Agathe Charpentier
We chose to talk about dealing with violent teenagers in psychotherapy. This follows the course on adolescence and violence that we had this semester. We will focus more specifically on one form of therapy : psychoboxing.
It is sometimes difficult to engage in talking cure with adolescents. It is complicated for them to express their emotions and feelings. Psychoboxing allows young people to express their violence but also to learn to contain it in an appropriate environment. . We will explain the main concepts to you. Psychoboxing is a psycho-corporal approach of violence, created in the 1970s by Richard Hellbrunn, psychologist, psychoanalyst and English boxing teacher. This discipline has appeared in sensitive neighbourhoods and allows adolescents to put their violence into action and then into words. The method consists in receiving the young person in a room, composed of a large square space, without obstacles, and a space composed of three chairs. The session is divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to fighting. The framework and the rules are set, and the fight can begin. A chair is reserved for the observer, who will analyze the fight, the gestures, the facial expressions, the breath, the posture… The second stage is dedicated to the verbalization. The psychoboxer and the teenager sit down and talk about the fight. The young person expresses what he or she has experienced and felt.
Psychoboxing is not to be confused with the practice of boxing. It is a clinical approach, which must have a well-defined framework and rules. Violence is contained, and the body can express itself in this transitional space. The teenager feels protected. The blows can’t be heavy, they are minimized. Instead, we observe the frequency and speed of punches. We are attentive to the affected parts of the body and their meaning (the face for example). The activation of the body will allow the emotions to emerge and the words to unbind. Through punches, the subject may relive previous potential traumatic scenes from his or her past life, and may feel the emotions associated with these events (fear, anger, shame…). The session is an opportunity to put into words the teen’s personal story and to talk about his own violence (Hellbrunn, 2003).
Body language is an essential part of the psychologist’s work during a psychoboxing session. He analyses it with the help of the observer. He focuses on the body movements, the distance between the teenager and the other fighter, the defence strategy and the affects felt during the fight.
This therapy, which focuses on movement but also speech, is therefore an interesting mediation for young people who use violence and with whom speech therapy can be complicated.
Words we have learned :
– sensitive neighbourhoods : quartiers sensibles
– framework : cadre
– blows : coups
– unbind : délier/libérer
– to put into words : mettre en mots
Bibliography :
Hellbrunn, R. (2003). A poings nommés, la violence à bras-le-corps. Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France : Erès.