March 13, 2007
Dr. Michael Sieck is a core faculty member at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute and a psychologist in private practice. He is Director of Redlands Therapy Group, a certified Bioenergetic Analyst and a Supervisor for the Southern California Bioenergetic Institute.
EG: You’ve just completed a book about one of the pioneers in Bioenergetic Therapy. When did you first meet Dr. Robert Hilton?
Dr. Sieck: Dr. Hilton, has been a teacher, therapist and supervisor to me over the years. I was working with a personal therapist in the mid-eighties, who encouraged me to do a four year training in Bioenergetics. At the time, the field of Bioenergetics was shifting towards becoming more relationally focused. Hence, it was an interesting time to be in the field as I witnessed this pivotal transition. To my great fortune, Dr. Hilton was one of my teachers in the training. This past weekend, we just completed our annual Southern California Bioenergetics conference in which we honored Dr. Hilton for his contributions to the field of Bioenergetics and more broadly Somatic Relational Psychotherapy. Dr. Hilton read “My Body of Work”, in which he presents the evolution of his last fifty years, also featured as the first two chapters in my book, The Collected Works of Robert Hilton, PhD. A live version of Dr. Robert Hilton’s presentation will be available on DVD to be purchased in conjunction with the book or separately.
EG: What inspired you to gather The Collected Works of Robert Hilton, PhD?
Dr. Sieck: Dr. Hilton has inspired so many people all over the world as well as being a founder of Lowenian Bioenergetics, a major Somatic Psychotherapy. Proverbial wisdom had previously recommended that the body heals itself. All you have to do is find ways to work through the blocks. Although this is partially true, there was no mention or inference that the relationship between therapist and client influenced the process one way or another. Dr. Hilton advocated that this thinking was not enough. He publicized that the relationship between therapist and client was, in fact, a critical component for the healing to not only occur, but to last.
I had three primary reasons for gathering Dr. Hilton’s writings. I wanted to create a tribute to Dr. Robert Hilton, who is in his seventy-fifth year, as a way of expressing my gratitude for a man who has given and shared so much of himself over the years. This book traces Bioenergetic’s history through the lens of Dr. Hilton’s saga of what he and his clients’ experienced. The book is designed to take the reader on a journey.
Secondly, I wanted to get the word out about the real Bioenergetics. Bioenergetics is still known by some from its previous incarnation as a therapy for ‘pounding it out’. Bioenergetics has long since left that mode, and is currently based in much more relational psychotherapies, such as object relations and ego psychology. Also, the work of Donald Winnicott plays an important role in its current formulations.
Thirdly, whether you are a Somatic Therapist or a Hypnotherapist, this collection of Dr. Hillton’s writings illustrates the powerful interplay between therapist and client. Dr. Hilton’s writings deeply explore both how and why these dynamics need to be monitored in the therapeutic process. Not to mention, Dr. Hilton does a magnificent job of helping therapists explore this domain as well as simultaneously heal themselves.
EG: Can you tell us about the research project that you are working on and how it involves SBGI students?
Dr. Sieck: I have always been intrigued by the psycho-physiological correlates of a lot of things. We now have equipment, which is Biofeedback in origin, that is able to measure the physiological response of the body while people are engaged in relational activity, such as a couple talking or a mother and her daughter interacting. One example of a phenomenon that we are exploring is the impact of different religious orientations on physiological regulation in terms of the capacity to self-soothe and modulate one’s level of arousal. Another study of interest is what is going on with the body during a marital dispute, which will inevitably help couples to learn how to achieve states of calm by picking up on each other’s bodily cues more quickly in order to feel more harmonious together. These measures are an exploration of how the many different forms of attachment can effect and/or change our neuropsychobiology.
Currently, I am setting up a forum for SBGI students to engage in an ongoing, monthly open discussion with a topical focus of different research papers, including literature reviews, along the above-mentioned themes.
EG: What are some other things that you have cookin’?
Dr. Sieck: I have begun to form an integration study group that ties all the material of neurobiology, trauma, attachment, character and development together. We will look at the current research as well as bring psychotherapy up-to-date with the focal points that SBGI emphasizes. This will be an ongoing forum discussion, whose participants will meet in person 2-3 times over the course of two years to explore experientially in our bodies what we have been thinking so much about.
EG: Lastly, what has been your experience with Santa Barbara Graduate Institute and its students and what makes them so special and/or unique?
Dr. Sieck: I have been affiliated with SBGI for four years now. It is a marriage made in heaven for me that combines all of my interests in one place. It is like someone invented the slot that is the perfect fit for me, a hand in glove. Santa Barbara Graduate Institute’s students are motivated, fascinated, mature and serious students, who really want to do this. I used to teach in settings where students came to school because they had to. What a refreshing and exhilarating experience to work with students who are personally invested in their learning. SBGI provides a welcoming, warm, family-oriented atmosphere to all who walk through their doors. I look forward to coming in!
I have also had incredible experiences working with the PSP program. [The Professional Specialty Program that meets on campus twice per year with the balance of the program being on line and in approved programs. ed] Initially, I was worried, being so somatically oriented, about how I was going to do this over the internet, yet it has worked so well. My successes with the PSP program has inspired me to combine the advantages of the internet, such as getting people from all over the world together on a monthly discussion forum, with its perfect complement of meeting together in person.
Ellen Goldstein received her MA at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology
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