E. Paul Bindrim (14 August 1920 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
– 17 December 1997 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
) was an American
psychotherapist who is known as the founder of
nude psychotherapy which he believed allowed people to access and express
repressed feelings more easily.
Early career
Born in New York City, Bindrim earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a master's degree at Duke University, where he did research in
parapsychology
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...
under
J.B. Rhine who coined the term
ESP
ESP most commonly refers to:
* Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability
ESP may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment Music
* ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars
* E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...
.
He was ordained in the
Church of Divine Metaphysics in 1958 and served as a minister of the
Church of Religious Science in Glendale.
He obtained his psychologist license in California in 1967, and later served as president of the Group Psychotherapy Association of Southern California in 1978–79.
In his early work, Bindrim created a group psychotherapy strategy in which participants were encouraged to recall
peak experience
A peak experience is an altered state of consciousness characterized by euphoria, often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, who describes peak experiences as "rare, exciting, oc ...
s, which he called "peak oriented psychotherapy". This was based in part on ideas about peak experiences described by
Abraham Maslow, considered the father of
Humanistic Psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...
. The encounter group movement was also an inspiration. After observing that towards the end of a long encounter group its participants would be easy about nakedness in front of each other Bindrim reasoned that introducing nudity early in the group might accelerate the transition to emotional openness.
Nude psychotherapy
Bindrim corresponded with Abraham Maslow on the subject of nude psychotherapy groups which Maslow, who was then-president of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
, supported. In 1967, Bindrim conducted his first nude workshop in
Deer Park, California. There were typically 15 to 25 participants.
Bindrim developed his nude encounter marathons into a weekend workshop using nudity and swimming pools, which was recorded in the 1971 documentary film entitled "Out of Touch" by the
Canadian Film Board and produced by Bindrim .
The American Psychological Association's Ethics Committee decided to investigate him prompted by conservative politicians, but, due to the cultural climate of the late 1960s and the fact that the nudity was consensual, this was dropped.
Lawsuit
In 1971 he sued the novelist
Gwen Davis Mitchel and her publisher,
Doubleday, alleging that a depiction of a fictional psychotherapist in her novel ''Touching'' was a veiled depiction of him and defamed him and his profession. In 1969 Mitchel had attended one of his nude psychotherapy marathons and signed a contract never to write about the experience. Bindrim was very concerned about confidentiality, and had produced a lengthy contract that every participant was required to sign. Bindrim won a landmark court decision that now gives all psychotherapists more confidentiality protection and received $75,000 in damages. The court's decision left many novelists fearful of being sued by people who inspired their books.
Later career
By the late 1970s, Bindrim replaced nude psychotherapy with "aqua-energetics" based on
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...
's theories, specifically the idea of "
orgone energy
Orgone () is a pseudoscientific concept variously described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force. Originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich, and developed by Reich's student Charles Kelley after Reich's death in ...
." Interest in radical forms of psychotherapy declined in the 1980s and Bindrim continued to practice with a more conventional model.
Bindrim died on Dec. 17 1997 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 77.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bindrim, E. Paul
1920 births
1997 deaths
American psychotherapists
Social nudity advocates
Duke University alumni
Columbia University alumni
20th-century American psychologists