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F r e e m u s i c d o w n l o a d s f o r C e r t i f i e d m e m b e r s : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 37 CL ASSROOM TO CLIENT and anxiety. Your body may not yet be ready to release this tension. We will just keep working with this tension until your body is ready to let it go." Armoring Armoring is the use of physical tension to support psychological defenses such as suppression and denial. Wilhelm Reich, considered by many to be the founder of psychotherapeutic body therapies, introduced the idea of armoring in his classic text Character Analysis published in 1933. 3 Reich believed that in an effort to protect ourselves from physical and emotional stress, we disconnect from tender, vulnerable feelings. He called this phenomenon "body armoring," and defined it as the body tightening muscle groups in an effort to control or minimize feelings, thereby creating physical, emotional, and mental tension patterns. People learn how to express emotion properly for the society in which they live. For example, in our society, males are not supposed to express emotions like sorrow by crying, but are allowed to show a certain amount of anger. Sorrow and crying by females, on the other hand, is generally accepted while anger is frowned upon. The suppression of emotion shows up in physical tension because muscular contractions can be used to block the display of emotion or suppress emotion so that it can be ignored. 4 People can develop patterns of muscular tension in relationship to repeated emotional triggers. 5 Tension in the chest and arm muscles is likely to remain as a chronic and unconscious expression of the repressed emotions for years or even for life. 6 Massage reduces the muscular tension used to suppress emotion and so can lead to emotional release. THE THERAPIST'S ROLE DURING MASSAGE An increased comprehension of client defenses can help you better understand the dynamics at play in a massage session. The most important thing you can do for clients is provide a safe and nonjudgmental environment and encourage clients to develop their awareness of body sensations and be open to what they feel. If clients share with you that they are experiencing the surfacing of repressed items, if an emotional release occurs during a session, or if they express the desire to explore surfacing feelings, memories, and thoughts, refer the client to a mental health- care professional who has the training necessary for processing the client's experience appropriately. Notes 1. Susan C. Whiston and Thomas L. Sexton, "An Overview of Psychotherapy Outcome Research: Implications for Practice," Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 24, no. 1 (February 1993): 43–51; William West, "Clients' Experience of Bodywork Psychotherapy," Counselling Psychology Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1994): 287–303. 2. Steven A. Forman and Charles R. Marmar, "Therapist Actions that Address Initially Poor Therapeutic Alliances in Psychotherapy," American Journal of Psychiatry 142, no. 8 (August, 1985): 922–6. 3. Wilhelm Reich, Character Analysis, 3rd ed. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980). 4. L. A. Gottschalk, H. M. Serota, and L. B. Shapiro, "Psychologic Conflict and Neuromuscular Tension: I. Preliminary Report on a Method, as Applied to Rheumatoid Arthritis," Psychosomatic Medicine 12, no. 5 (1950): 315–19. 5. Wilhelm Reich, Character Analysis, 3rd ed. 6. D. A. Weinberger, "The Construct Validity of the Repressive Coping Style," in Repression and Dissociation, ed. Jerome L. Singer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990). Anne Williams is the director of education for Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals and author of Massage Mastery: from Student to Professional (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012), from which this article was adapted, and Spa Bodywork: A Guide for Massage Therapists (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006). She can be reached at anne@abmp.com. Massage reduces the muscular tension used to suppress emotion and so can lead to emotional release.