Psychotherapy practice and research are supposed to complement each other; however, links between them are usually only weakly developed. This study was designed and conducted with the aim of collecting information about body psychotherapy (BP) practice, and about research resources among body psychotherapists (BPs). A total of 404 body psychotherapists from 36 countries participated in an online survey.

The findings revealed a great diversity of BP modalities currently practiced within and across different countries, especially diversity in respect to body psychotherapists’ socio-demographic characteristics: 66.4% of participants were over 50 years old, suggesting a shortage of young people involved in both BP practice and research. Most therapists provide BP for adults in the format of individual sessions in private practice. Only a few BP practitioners work in mainstream healthcare settings. The results also suggest significant research knowledge, experience, and interest in research among BP practitioners; however, a lack of application of these research resources in body psychotherapy is noticeable. Results are discussed with an emphasis on the practical implications: ie, the possible role for BP training schools to strengthen the research culture among practitioners, the importance of sharing BP experiences and research among different countries (and languages), and the need to develop collaborations between practitioners and academic groups in order to strengthen research capacities and accumulate knowledge about the intriguing construct of applied embodiment in BP.