Dutch psychomotor therapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Netherlands and Flanders

What it is

PMT is not a single manualised therapy. It is a Dutch and Flemish professional discipline (one of the vaktherapieën, the Dutch "arts and psychomotor therapies"), with its own bachelor training and professional association (NVPMT). Under one heading it covers a family of movement- and body-oriented…

Format

• Phase C. Goal setting and treatment plan. Goals are concrete, agreed with the client, and cover both physical and psychological targets. The plan also sets individual versus group format and frequency. In depression work, goals are kept realistic and individual so that they produce success…
• Phase D. Treatment. Format and dose found in the sources:

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Psychosocial / psychophysiological: skills in and through the moving body, such as attention, cooperation, stress and arousal regulation, relaxation, breathing, endurance and strength training, and mindfulness-derived exercises.
• complaints that show in movement and body experience;
• Probst describes observation across psychomotor, cognitive, affective, behavioural and symbolic dimensions, with guiding questions such as who takes the lead and who follows. It can be structured with the Louvain observation scales (LOFOPT). These rate nine goal areas: emotional relationship, self-confidence, activity, relaxation, movement control, focus on the situation, movement expressivity, verbal communication…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Supervised aerobic activation in the depression evidence: on average 3 sessions of about 45 minutes a week for about 9 weeks. Relaxation helped only in programmes longer than 8 weeks.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• As for 4.4.
• Re-enactment of power struggles or trauma. Keep a clear stop rule.
• Over-arousal while re-enacting. Use a lower-intensity version first.
• Intense negative self-evaluation. Ask about the strengths part first.
• Embarrassment. Start in parallel rather than watched, and allow small movements.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.