Norwegian psychomotor physiotherapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Aadel Bülow-Hansen, Trygve Braatøy · 1946 · Oslo, Norway

What it is

NPMP is a specialist physiotherapy method, not a psychotherapy. Physiotherapist Aadel Bülow-Hansen (1906–2001) and psychiatrist Trygve Braatøy (1904–1953) developed it in the psychiatric department of Ullevål Hospital, Oslo, starting in the late 1940s. They first used it with psychiatric…

Format

• NPMP is individually tailored and is not sequenced as a fixed manual. Dragesund & Øien (2022) call it difficult to standardise. The phases below are the course the sources describe. Where the move between phases is inferred, it is marked.
• Phase 1: Examination as trial treatment (1 or more sessions).

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Goal: assess the body's flexibility (overall mobility, and the ability to let oneself be moved) and versatility (mainly how readily breathing adjusts, plus tension level, temperature regulation and the ability to yield).
• Phase 3: Tapering and consolidation. Sessions become fortnightly or three-weekly, then monthly or less often. Acute ergonomic or stress-related problems can improve quickly. Long-standing hard or slack musculature, fixed life situations, personality structure or emotional conflict make treatment longer. For traumatised patients treatment often lasted 1–2 years, and one published case ran for 10 years. No source…
• What it is. NPMP is a specialist physiotherapy method, not a psychotherapy. Physiotherapist Aadel Bülow-Hansen (1906–2001) and psychiatrist Trygve Braatøy (1904–1953) developed it in the psychiatric department of Ullevål Hospital, Oslo, starting in the late 1940s. They first used it with psychiatric inpatients, then extended it to ordinary physiotherapy patients. Accounts of the collaboration's dates differ: Store…

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 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?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• 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

• splitting between the two therapists, and overload.
• daily use and a sense of mastery mean it is working.
• improved sense of the area and of standing stability.
• NPMP has little effect if the maintaining cause is not identified.
• a score is not a substitute for the dialogue of the trial treatment.

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.