Physical (corporal) activity and therapy of psychosis
P. SAKELLAROPOULOS, Ar. MIHALAINAS, Ir. SEGREDOU

Serious mental disorders, such as the psychosis, have important repercussions on the patient` s mobility. In the psychoses, the experience of the self and body image are disturbed. One can speak of disturbance in the experience of body ego. The combination of physical education and physical activities with the basic treatment of psychoses (medication and psychological support) has yielded very good results in the treatment of individuals with psychosocial problems. A more functional mobility adapted to the external reality, combined with the improvement of social dexterities, and later with work and the desire for production, modify, over time, the low self-esteem of the psychotic patient, strengthen the function of the his weak ego, act upon his oppressive superego, and decrease withdrawal into hallucination; withdrawal that includes abandonment, exclusion, instant disintegration of defences, including retirement of the psyche into the preserved islets, the pockets of autism. Moreover, movement helps the psychotic patient to interact with the concept of space and time, to acquire resistance, patience, flexibility, strength, to experiment with his abilities and to explore his limits. Consequently, he manages to get in touch with the reality of his own body, to discover his own identity, facilitating, in this way, the awakening of his body conscience. When in fact the physical activities take place in a group setting, the psychotic patient can find themselves on the opposite end of autism. In this paper we present some clinical examples and show some aspects of the mode of operation of the Society of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health and we will try to support the aforemmention views by proving that the incorporation of physical activity is important in the therapeutic setting.

Key words: Psychomobility, body image, body ego, work, Ego, Superego.