Contemporary Reichian Analysis: Evolutive Stage, Epigenetics, and the Neuromediator Dynamic Written by Genovino Ferri and Edited by Nancy Eichhorn I recently had the pleasure of editing a fascinating article by Genovino Ferri for Somatic Psychotherapy Today. His work stretches my perspectives in new directions, inviting me to learn new advances in the field of body psychotherapy. I’m pleased to share his article here and on SPT Magazine’s website, LinkedIn and Facebook. “Increasing awareness and understanding of epigenetics and neuroplasticity in current research has resulted in a new perspective of psychotherapy that is integrated with neurobiological information. This information is at the root of an emerging paradigm shift in body psychotherapy that I call Evolutive Stage Neuromediator Vegetotherapy. I am proposing a route for descending into the depths of Analytical Time and for re-emerging at the surface without getting lost during the analytical-therapeutic journey. This process allows greater appropriacy and permits therapists and their clients to delve into Analytical Time and re-emerge without getting lost during the analytical-therapeutic journey. Epigenetics and Psychotherapy Conrad Waddington coined the term epigenetics in the 1940s when discussing environmental factors modifying gene expression that resulted in phenotypes– observable traits determined by our genes and the environmental influences on these genes. Psychology’s interest in epigenetics arises from studies that have demonstrated that epigenetic mechanisms influence patterns of neurological development and brain function. While neurogenesis and neuroplasticity play a role in rewiring the brain, epigenetics highlights the role thoughts, behaviors, and experiences play in our gene expression, which in turn, impact our brain and body. Moving neuroscience further into the world of psychoanalysis, geneticist Eric R. Kandel demonstrated that memories can be modified by learning processes, which are translated into new neuronal circuits (Siracusano & Rubinoo, 2006). From a neurobiological (and bodily) perspective, psychotherapy may cause changes in patterns of behavior utilizing a learning process that can influence gene expression and modify synaptic connections. Thanks to developments from Kandel’s studies words have acquired the dignity of being therapeutic, by making modifications to the central nervous system’s plasticity–our words, spoken and thought, can rewire our brain and impact our genetic expression resulting in new psychodynamic behavioral patterns. Epigenetics and Human Patterning: Starting with the Arrow of Evolutive Time The perinatal period may represent a critical window of opportunity during which environmental experiences can produce long-term effects on the nervous system and behavior. In particular, the process of learning goes as far back along our arrow of evolutive time as the embryo-fetus-newborn’s earliest sensory experiences in the primary object relationship, which is to say as far back as our inter-corporeal, intrauterine pre-subjectivity. For example, insecure attachment styles favor imbalance on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the creation of an allostatic load, which is to say a condition of exhaustion of internal resources caused by prolonged stress or because of an organism’s poor adaptive capability (McEwen, 2004). In particular, stress acts not only on the prefrontal cortex but also on the hippocampus and the amygdala – central nervous system structures