Embodiment Research Network - EmbodiNet

• Applicant: Prisca Bauer, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549128501

Embodiment is a promising concept that can further develop the biopsychosocial paradigm. The term "embodiment" is used in various fields and contexts. It has become an umbrella term that has different meanings in different contexts. For our network, "embodiment" refers to the circular connections between mind (cognition, emotion), body (motor behavior, nonverbal expression, physiological processes), and environment (interaction with others, ecological niches). Embodiment is highly complex and has far-reaching implications for health and disease. In Germany and Western Europe, chronic conditions such as low back pain, headaches, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders are among the top 10 causes of disability-related loss of life years. Subjective body experience plays a major role in these disorders. Psychosomatic relationships are also evident in comorbid conditions. For example, depression is one of the most common comorbidities of chronic somatic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, and neurologic diseases. These associations are well known but still poorly understood. Psychotherapeutic and body- and arttherapy approaches are efficacious (additional) treatment options in such conditions. Evidence has shown that the therapeutic relationship is an important therapeutic factor, and that embodiment processes and intersubjectivity play a major role in a good therapeutic alliance. However, exactly how this happens is still majorly unknown. Transdisciplinary research and collaborative approaches between cognitive neuroscience, natural sciences and humanities are needed to better understand these processes. Our Embodiment Research Network (EmbodiNet) aims to establish such a transdisciplinary dialogue and synergy by bringing together academic experts with backgrounds in psychology, (body)psychotherapy, art therapies, psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry, neurology, neuroscience, motology, sociology and philosophy. This ensures the necessary expertise and dynamic systems perspective to develop a solid understanding of the concept of embodiment needed to design and plan joint transdisciplinary research projects. Importantly, we will go beyond individual embodiment and focus in particular on methodological and conceptual aspects of embodiment in interaction (intercorporeality) and its application in healthcare. Our planned network will pave the way to investigate these processes by enabling a multidisciplinary understanding of the mind-body relationship on the basis of which methodological innovations and rigorous collaborative research projects can be developed.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Thomas Fuchs