Psychology Congress 2027

Interest in breathwork is growing across mental health practice, supported by emerging evidence that structured breathing practices can influence autonomic functioning and physiological arousal and may reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety. However, breathwork encompasses diverse practices with differing physiological effects, and the evidence base remains heterogeneous. As breathing practices increasingly enter therapeutic settings, an important clinical challenge is translating this developing evidence into psychologically informed practice that considers not only what a breathing practice may do, but when, why and for whom it may be therapeutically appropriate. An evidence-informed approach to clinical integration brings together respiratory physiology and psychophysiology with psychological formulation and established models of psychotherapy. Understanding interactions between breathing, autonomic arousal, interoception and emotional experience can provide an additional dimension to formulation, informing how clinicians understand patterns of threat responding, avoidance, dysregulation and engagement with internal experience. Different breathing practices may consequently serve different therapeutic functions, including modulating physiological arousal, developing interoceptive awareness and distress tolerance, facilitating mindful attention, and supporting engagement with emotional and somatic experience. Rather than positioning breathwork as a standalone treatment or universal regulation strategy, this approach considers its purposeful integration within established psychotherapeutic frameworks, including cognitive behavioural, acceptance-based, mindfulness-based, schema and parts-informed, and trauma-informed approaches. Drawing together current evidence and clinical practice, a structured framework

for integration considers therapeutic intention, client suitability and readiness, contraindications, informed consent and agency, practice selection, monitoring and adaptation, and subsequent therapeutic processing supporting clinicians to determine when, why and how breathwork may be incorporated safely, ethically and meaningfully within psychotherapy.

Shanae O’Leary is an AHPRA-registered psychologist and clinical psychology registrar with postgraduate qualifications in clinical psychology. She works in clinical practice providing psychological assessment and psychotherapy, with experience across trauma and complex trauma, anxiety, mood, emotion regulation, relational and neurodevelopmental presentations. She holds additional training and qualifications in breathwork facilitation and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Shanae is the founder of Breath & Mind, which provides professional education and clinical resources focused on the evidenceinformed integration of breathwork within psychotherapy. She is also a Founding Member and Company Secretary of End Wise Australia, advocating for evidence-informed access to psilocybin-assisted therapy in end-of-life care.