Autogenic therapy: Techniques, foundations, health and clinical applications, and empirical support

• Published in: Clínica y salud 2016-11, Vol.27 (3), p.133-145
• Main Author: Manuel R. Abuín
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• ISSN: 1130-5274; 2174-0550
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clysa.2016.09.004

Autogenic therapy emerges from the "autogenic training" method created by Schultz, and its development incorporates different therapeutic methods based on a psychophysiological approach. All these methods promote homeostatic self-regulatory brain processes. The aims of this paper are to describe and analyse the autogenic methods, the psychophysiological and neurophysiological processes involved, and their effective applications in both health and clinical fields. For these purposes, beside reviewing the earlier work by Schultz and Luthe, an electronic search of literature was conducted in order to find relevant contributions on these topics. Results show a big development of autogenic methods until the 80s, with an enormous amount of applications and studies on the psychophysiological and neurophysiological changes related to the practice of autogenic training. However, their expansion during the last 25 years has been much lower in comparison with other methods such as mindfulness and hypnosis. Possible causes are discussed and new challenges are suggested