Presence: a facilitating condition, therapeutic intervention, and modifiable factor in Haptotherapy

This article examines presence in Haptotherapy through the lens of a three-day continuing education course. Presence is presented as a facilitating condition, a therapeutic intervention, and a modifiable element within Haptotherapy. Presence, in all its facets, plays an essential role in Haptotherapy. Haptotherapy distinguishes itself from other forms of therapy through the use of affective, contact-oriented therapeutic touch, which both invites the patient into presence and helps guide the way toward it. A shared foundational concept across all three haptotherapy training programs in the Netherlands is ‘feeling one’s way toward meaningful contact’. In this context, feeling is understood as an affective reaching out toward the other through the sense of touch, in which one simultaneously allows their enlivened presence to be felt, thereby inviting the other into affective contact. Further empirical research is needed to evaluate and refine the theoretical models underlying this process.