Integrating Reperceptive Body Psychotherapy Within Multiple Code Theory

Abstract: Background: Reperceptive body psychotherapy (RBP) is a body-oriented cognitive-behavioral modality. Aim: This study explores an integrative approach to psychotherapy by applying multiple code theory (MCT) to RBP. Method: We examined a single clinical case longitudinally from April 2018 to December 2020. We assessed the therapeutic outcomes using psychopathological questionnaires by conducting process evaluation using linguistic measures based on MCT. Results: The results suggest that the treatment, including RBP group-based sessions, may be useful in enhancing psychological functioning. The intervention was associated with activation of the referential process (RP), reflected in changes in emotional processing and symbolization over the course of therapy. Comparisons between in-person and online therapy seem to reveal no significant differences in process indicators. Qualitative analyses seem to support a temporary shift during the initial transition to online sessions: increased emotional and sensory engagement alongside reduced reflectiveness, which normalized after a few sessions. Conclusions: These findings suggest that therapeutic continuity, rather than the treatment setting, is a key factor in supporting therapeutic change. Across modalities, RP seems to remain active with fluctuations consistent with psychotherapeutic engagement. Therefore, linguistic measures may usefully capture aspects of symbolization in body psychotherapy, which are underexplored within the framework of MCT.