Psychotherapy: Stripping Body & Mind

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Self-Evaluation. Bindrim and his colleagues have since conducted eight more nude marathons, some of which have been videotaped. Five-minute tapes were made of each member walking, standing and sitting. Watching themselves, most participants concentrated at first on what they considered their undesirable features, such as overweight, poor proportions or aging. But after they had seen the video tapes, most were able to see themselves less critically. The consensus: "Each body seems to fit nicely with each face." While none of the group reported an instant cure of an old, severe neurosis, many found that soon after they shed their clothes they also shed inferiority feelings about their own bodies. As a result, they were less tense and embarrassed about some aspects of sex.

All the professionals who have participated agree that nude marathons are worth further trials, provided they are conducted by a trained leader. Nude psychotherapy has achieved enough respectability to be the subject of a two-hour program at a recent meeting of the California State Psychological Association. Last weekend Bindrim started a new series of 16 sessions at a desert motel near Palm Springs.