An investigation into the application and processes of manualised group body psychotherapy for depressive disorder in a clinical trial Nina L.R. Papadopoulos a * and Frank Ro ¨hricht b a East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT), London, UK; b Centre for Psychoanalytical Studies, University of Essex, Colchester, UK (Received 3 May 2013; final version received 7 September 2013) Background: Body-oriented psychological therapy (BOPT) has been described as effective in addressing depressive symptoms. There is, however, a paucity of research into the processes leading to change and the actual experience of the patients and the therapist in delivering BOPT interventions. Method: Secondary qualitative analysis of data obtained within an exploratory randomised controlled trial of manualised body psychotherapy (BPT) for patients with chronic depression, analysing qualitative aspects of change processes during therapy, was conducted. Results: At the beginning of therapy, most patients presented with a restricted, emotionally dissociated and inwardly directed range of expressive behaviours, associated with isolation of emotions from self- awareness. Clinically relevant changes in body postures and gestures were associated with feelings of empowerment; connecting repressed anger with feelings of sadness appears to have resulted in enhanced levels of self- confidence and improvements of depressed mood. Body satisfaction scores improved slightly. Conclusion: Patients with chronic depression may benefit from specific BPT interventions. These interventions appear to be particularly effective in assisting patients to identify and express a wide range of feelings. Keywords: body psychotherapy; depression; embodiment Introduction Depression is one of the highest prevalent mental disorders and is experienced by one in six people in the UK (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence [NICE], 2009), i.e. 16% of the population. Symptoms of depression are often associated with a corresponding set of bodily symptoms/somatic complaints including severe fatigue, motor weakness, back and chest pain, headaches and gastrointestinal problems. Phenomenological research identified specific patterns of body image aberration in depressive disorder (DD) and anxiety disorder, i.e. patients displayed significantly higher body dissatisfaction scores, negative body images with boundary loss and somatic depersonalisation and a higher number of physical complaints than other groups of patients (e.g. Marsella, Shizuru, Brennan, & Kameoka, 1981; Ro ¨hricht, q 2013 Taylor & Francis *Corresponding author. Email: ninadmt@yahoo.com Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 2014 Vol. 9, No. 3, 167–180, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2013.847499