Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor

1. Introduction

Version followed: the late (c. 2000–2013) PBSP of Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso as defined by the PBSP Psychomotor Institute glossary (pbsp.com) and the UK training glossary, with microtracking as written up by Michael Bachg (2004), a German PBSP trainer. The early psychomotor exercise work of the 1960s–70s and the later "Holes in Roles" extension are noted but not drawn on in detail [uncertain].

Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP, also called Pesso therapy) was created in 1961 by Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso, both dancers and dance teachers. It started as a body therapy and grew into a group method that uses role-played scenes, called structures. [source: pbsp.com home; Noichl & Noichl 2019, p. 6; Bachg & Sulz 2022, pp. 11–12] Albert Pesso directed the dance division at Emerson College and supervised psychomotor therapy at McLean Hospital (Massachusetts). [source: Somatic Perspectives 2012] PBSP is a registered trademark of the PBSP Psychomotor Institute. Only graduates of an authorised training (about three years) may offer it under that name. [source: pbsp.com bibliography page; Bachg & Sulz 2022, p. 12]

Core idea of change. The model holds that every person is born with five basic needs:

• place
• nurturance
• support
• protection
• limits

These needs are first met literally and bodily by parents, and later symbolically. Each emotion or action the client shows is a shape, and it needs a fitting countershape (response) from the outside world. Where the countershapes were missing or wrong, the person stores a map (memory plus emotion) that shapes how they see and react to the present. [source: pbsp.com glossary; Noichl & Noichl 2019, pp. 9–15] In a structure, the client first externalises the present feeling and the historical scene behind it. Role-played ideal figures then give, at the right age, the countershape that was missing (the antidote). This creates a body-based "new memory" that competes with the old map. The glossary calls this remapping, and the editors of the German handbook call it a corrective emotional experience. [source: pbsp.com glossary; Bachg & Sulz 2022, p. 12; Bachg 2004, pp. 292–293]

2. Framework

PBSP is not delivered in numbered treatment phases. Its unit of work is the structure: one client (the "enactor") works for a single session, guided by the structure leader, while group members serve as role-players. [source: pbsp.com glossary] Inside each structure the sources describe a typical sequence, set out below. The session counts given are from a secondary source and are not institute norms [uncertain].

Format

• Group format (original). One client per structure, and role-players are drawn from the group. Afterwards comes "sharing time". [source: pbsp.com glossary]
• Individual format. Objects (for example cushions or chairs) stand in for figures, and the therapist may speak some roles. The core principles stay the same. [source: GoodTherapy 2026 (secondary); Bachg 2004, p. 292 mentions objects or role-players] Roth-Bilz (2003) wrote on individual PBSP, but it is not drawn on here [uncertain].
• Length. One structure usually takes one session. In group trainings, a structure commonly lasts about 45–60 minutes [uncertain: not stated in sources]. A secondary site gives 6–12 weeks overall, and 10–20+ sessions for developmental trauma [source: GoodTherapy, secondary; uncertain].

The developmental model behind each structure: the "cycle of becoming"

1. Energy – a bodily sensation (tension, heat, pain).
2. Action – the expression of that energy.
3. Interaction – contact with the right target figure, who gives the countershape.
4. Meaning – an expectation of how such situations will go in future.

The structure is designed to complete this cycle where it was broken. [source: pbsp.com glossary; UK glossary]

Typical course of a structure (sequence pieced together from the sources; Bachg 2004 says the steps are not given as a numbered protocol):

Holes in roles. In later work Pesso added a multigenerational, systemic view. The idea is that a child senses gaps in the family system, such as a parent who lacked their own parent, and tries to fill them at the cost of their own needs. In the structure, ideal figures are then also offered for those other family members. [source: Bachg & Sulz 2022, p. 12; SHS 2016 lists it as an element] Pesso's 2008 and 2013 texts on this are not drawn on here [uncertain].

3. Guiding principles

• Basic needs at the right age. Diagnose each problem as an unmet need for place, nurturance, support, protection or limits, and supply it symbolically at the developmental age when it was missing. [source: glossaries; Noichl & Noichl 2019]
• Shape seeks countershape (form and fit). Watch for the action or emotion the client's body is starting, and design a response that fits it exactly. A near-miss response does not satisfy. [source: glossary; Noichl & Noichl 2019, pp. 9–10]
• Accommodation. Role-players do and say only what matches the client's impulses and requests. The client is the author, and the leader checks the fit. [source: glossary]
• The client is the pilot. The client's adult, present-day self-steering part stays in charge and aware throughout, which keeps the client from sliding into regression. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 290; Pesso 1990, "Center of Truth, True Scene and Pilot"]
• Work from the center of truth. Follow what the client actually feels (soul) and the rules they have learned (ego), not the therapist's theory. [source: glossary]
• Name before changing. Feelings are given words (witness) and beliefs are made external (voices) before any new experience is offered. Arguing with beliefs or reassuring the client does not work, because new positive thoughts need new positive experiences. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 291]
• Accuracy over intuition. Witness statements come from careful observation, not spontaneous intuition. A wrong label confuses the client rather than helping. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 290]
• The client's exact words. Repeat the client's context word for word, because paraphrasing can call up other memories. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 290]
• Use figures, not the therapist's "I". Offer validation through a figure ("a witness would…") rather than in the therapist's own first person, to avoid dependency on the therapist. [source: Bachg 2004, pp. 290–291]
• Ego-wrapping. When a hidden part of the self appears, a figure immediately names, accepts and gives it a place, so it becomes conscious and integrated. [source: glossary]
• Antidote by opposites. The new scene usually gives the opposite of what happened (the "law of opposites"), for example a sober parent in place of an alcoholic one. [source: glossary]
• Self-other, not self-self. Clients who soothe or hold themselves show that the need went unmet. The structure aims for the need to be met by another person (self/other interaction). [source: glossary]
• Limits as care. Omnipotent feelings (unlimited power) are read as signs of missing parental limits, and are met with limiting figures rather than being encouraged. [source: glossary; Perquin 2008]
• Do not re-enact the injury. Expression toward historical figures is allowed, but the early technique of role-players acting out pain (negative accommodation) was dropped because it reinforced the negative history. [source: UK glossary]
• Symbolic, consented touch. Touch in PBSP is symbolic, never massage or bodywork, and is used only with explicit consent and clear limits. [source: GoodTherapy (secondary); glossary on positive accommodation]
• Sharing protects the group. After a structure, observers share their own feelings only. They give no feedback, analysis or confrontation. [source: glossary]

4. Intervention inventory

Before you start (applies to every technique below).

• PBSP is a trademarked method, taught in a training of about three years with supervised structures. [source: Bachg & Sulz 2022, p. 12; pbsp.com] Reading this guide is not qualification to run full structures.
• Several techniques use touch, holding or pushing. These need specific training, supervision, and a check of what your licence, professional code and jurisdiction allow.
• Sexual or genital touch is never part of any technique.

Touch consent sequence (use before any contact). The sources require explicit consent and clear limits. [source: GoodTherapy (secondary); glossary: role-players respond to the client's "expressed needs"] The detailed steps below are [synthesis]:

1. Explain what the touch would be, where it would go and why.
2. Ask the client, and accept no or not-yet without any pressure.
3. Offer a no-touch version, such as an object, distance, or words only.
4. Agree a stop signal, for example "stop" or a raised hand.
5. Have the client place or guide the role-player's hand themselves.
6. Check in during the contact ("Is this right? Firmer, lighter, somewhere else?").
7. Check in after the contact.
8. Brief role-players beforehand that the client directs all contact, and that the leader can stop it.

4.1 Setting up the possibility sphere (and contract)

• Purpose / when. At the start of every structure or session. This creates a safe, open psychological space in which hidden parts of the self can come out and be named, known and taken in. [source: glossaries; SHS 2016]
• Steps [mostly synthesis; the glossary says only that the leader "sets up" the sphere]:
  1. Sit facing the client at a comfortable distance. In a group, the role-players and observers sit around the edge.
  2. Agree the frame: time, confidentiality, that the client directs what happens, that any contact needs the client's consent, and that sharing follows.
  3. Invite the client to say what is alive for them now or what they want to work on. This is a short contract; Pesso's chapter on contract and motivation is not drawn on here [uncertain].
  4. Slow the pace and keep your attention on the client's present experience rather than the story.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Take a moment. Whatever comes up here is welcome; we'll just notice it together."
  • "What would you like to be different by the end of this?"
• Watch for. Performing for the group, speaking about rather than from experience, or a gaze that seems to look at you as a childhood figure would (transference). [source: Bachg 2004, p. 287] Signs the sphere is working: the client slows down and comes into contact with feeling.

4.2 Engaging the pilot (center of truth)

• Purpose / when. Throughout the structure. The pilot is the client's present-day, self-steering awareness. It keeps the client oriented while working with the past, so the client does not regress. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 290; Pesso 1990]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Keep the client as the decision-maker: they choose figures, placements, words and touch.
  2. Ask the client to observe as well as feel ("What happens in you as you see that?").
  3. If the client starts speaking as a small child, or loses awareness of the room, bring the adult observer back before going on.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "You're here with me, an adult, looking at that scene. What do you notice as you look at it?"
  • "You decide: should that figure stand closer or further away?"
• Watch for. Loss of eye contact with the room, a frozen stare, or speech that no longer answers your questions. These are signs that pilot functioning is lost (see 5.3).

4.3 Microtracking

• Purpose / when. The core verbal technique, especially in the early part of every structure, and also usable in ordinary verbal therapy. Bachg calls it the bridge between verbal and body-oriented work. It is a close, moment-by-moment dialogue that follows the client's present perception, action, emotion and thought, and makes the client's often unconscious states visible from outside. [source: Bachg 2004, pp. 283–289; SHS 2016]
• Steps (reconstructed from Bachg's descriptions; he gives no numbered protocol):
  1. Watch the eyes. Is the client looking out at the real room ("screen 1") or inward at an inner image ("inner eye", screen 2)? Sideways or upward gaze with gestures suggests an inner image. Upward gaze alone may mean the client is thinking in words. Also note any transference gaze. [p. 287, 289]
  2. Read the affect. Track micro-movements of the face (eyes, mouth), posture, voice and word choice. [p. 289]
  3. Separate feelings from thoughts. Answer feelings with witness statements (4.4) and thoughts or beliefs with voice figures (4.5). [p. 289–292]
  4. Offer each statement for approval. Get a clear confirmation, usually a nod, before going on. Bachg says that without confirmation it may look like microtracking but is not. [p. 290]
  5. Keep the pilot engaged (4.2).
  6. Notice when a historical scene appears, shown by a change in posture or gaze and the client describing earlier people. Then move the inner scene out into the room (4.6). [p. 292]
• Example language. See 4.4 and 4.5.
• Watch for. Working: vigorous nods, deeper breathing, tears after an accurate statement, spontaneous memories. [p. 290] Not working: polite agreement without a nod, frowns or confusion (a wrong label), or the client explaining instead of feeling.

4.4 Witness figure (witness statements)

• Purpose / when. Whenever an emotion shows in the face or body. The witness is a compassionate, imagined figure (sometimes role-played) who sees the client's emotional state and gives it a name, dimensions, licence and blessing. This both validates the feeling and brings it into awareness (ego-wrapping). [source: glossaries; Bachg 2004]
• Steps:
  1. Observe the affect closely. Bachg says witness statements are not spontaneous intuition. [p. 290]
  2. Introduce the figure: Bachg gives the frame "Wenn ein Zeuge hier wäre, würde er sagen", meaning "if a witness were here, he would say". [p. 291]
  3. Build the statement from four parts [p. 289–290]:
     • "I see", which presents the feeling as an observable fact
     • a precise feeling word describing how the client feels from inside
     • optionally, an intensifier ("how deeply")
     • the context in the client's exact words
  4. Wait for confirmation. If there is none, revise the feeling word or the intensity.
  5. In a group, a role-player can speak the statement as the witness, with the leader giving the body information.
• Example language.
  • Bachg's example: "Ich sehe, wie enttäuscht du bist", meaning "I see how disappointed you are", followed by the client's words. [Bachg 2004, p. 289]
  • English (illustrative): "A witness would say: I see how hurt you are that, as you put it, 'nobody even asked.'"
• Watch for.
  • Mislabelling irritates the client. [p. 290]
  • Paraphrasing can trigger unrelated memories. [p. 290]
  • Saying "I see" as yourself, with no figure, can build dependency on you. [p. 290–291]
  • Working: the client nods, the affect deepens, and new material comes.

4.5 Voice figures

• Purpose / when. When the client states a belief, rule, warning, prediction or strategy, or describes numbness or feeling out of body. The thought is externalised as a "voice" coming from outside, so the client can examine it rather than live inside it. Bachg compares such beliefs to hypnotic suggestions. [source: Bachg 2004, pp. 291–292; glossaries]
• Types named in the sources:
  • voice of truth (a basic belief the client lives by, often at odds with what they feel)
  • voice of negative prediction
  • voice of dissociation (turns numbness or out-of-body feeling into an outside command)
  • voices of control, warning, strategy, reason and resignation
  • [source: glossary; Bachg 2004, p. 292]
• Steps:
  1. Notice a belief statement.
  2. Name it as a voice. Bachg's frame is "Das klingt wie eine Stimme der Kontrolle", meaning "that sounds like a voice of control". [p. 291]
  3. Change only the pronouns and repeat the thought word for word, often in a commanding tone.
  4. Place the voice in the room: at a spot, on an object, or spoken by a role-player from where the client points.
  5. Ask what happens in the client when they hear it, and witness that reaction.
  6. Do not argue with the belief or reassure the client. [p. 291]
• Example language (illustrative).
  • Client: "I shouldn't make a fuss."
  • Leader: "That sounds like a voice of truth. Shall we have it said from over there? 'You shouldn't make a fuss.'"
  • Leader: "What happens in you as you hear that?"
• Watch for. Once the voice is outside, it often loosens the client's identification with it, and the original source sometimes becomes clear, such as a parent's voice leading to a family scene. [p. 291–292]
• Voice of dissociation. Turning numbness into an outside command can make the dissociation easier to notice and talk about. If the client stays absent, see 5.3.

4.6 Externalising the history scene (moving to the structure stage)

• Purpose / when. When microtracking has brought up a historical scene: the client's posture or gaze changes and they are seeing earlier figures, such as parents or siblings. The inner scene is moved out onto the real-world stage, which Bachg calls "stage 3", so it can be looked at, felt and later answered. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 292; GoodTherapy (secondary)]
• Steps:
  1. Ask who is in the scene. [synthesis]
  2. Have the client choose a role-player or an object for each figure and place them in the room: distance, height and direction they face. Bachg notes that figures may be objects or role-players. [Bachg 2004, p. 292]
  3. If a role-player is used for a hurtful figure, enrol them only as the negative aspect, for example "the father who hit you". Keep them still and silent, or have them say only the words the client gives. [synthesis]
  4. Check that the client is projecting the inner image onto the symbol, which shows the switch has worked. [Bachg 2004, p. 292]
  5. Keep witnessing what the client feels on seeing the scene, and keep the pilot present.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Would you like someone, or this cushion, to stand for your father as he was then? Where should he be?"
  • "A witness would see how frightened you are, seeing him over there."
• Watch for.
  • Working: the client reacts to the figure as if to the remembered person, while staying aware.
  • Too much: flooding or freezing. Increase distance, use an object instead of a person, or turn the figure away (see 5.3).

4.7 Expressing toward historical figures (and why "negative accommodation" is no longer used)

• Purpose / when. When the history scene brings up held-back impulses, such as anger or a wish to push away. In the cycle of becoming, the energy needs action and interaction. [source: glossary]
• Discontinued technique. In early PBSP, a role-player played the hated figure and made believable pain sounds and movements in response to the client's blows or kicks, with no actual contact ("negative accommodation"). The UK glossary says Pesso later found that it "tended to reinforce negative history" and it is no longer used. [source: UK glossary; pbsp.com glossary] Do not use it.
• Current practice. Safe expression is usually contained by a limiting figure (4.9) or a resistance figure (4.10), rather than acted out against the figure [inferred from the glossaries; uncertain].
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Witness the impulse first.
  2. Ask what the body wants to do.
  3. Offer a contained form: words spoken toward the figure, pushing against a limiting or resistance figure, or a movement directed at an object.
  4. Close the exchange by witnessing what the client feels once it is expressed.
• Screening before any physical discharge [synthesis; not listed in sources]. Avoid or adapt for clients with:
  • pregnancy
  • cardiovascular or respiratory illness
  • epilepsy
  • recent injury or surgery
  • joint or back problems
  • psychosis
  • severe dissociation
  • active suicidality
  • recent trauma without stabilisation
  • a history of violence where rehearsing aggression may disinhibit
• Example language (illustrative). "Your hands are making fists. A witness would see how angry you are at him. Would you like someone to give you something firm to push against, so you can feel that strength safely?"
• Watch for. Escalation without awareness, or the client becoming the aggressor in a dysregulated way: stop and ground (5.3). Working: the client feels strength, then relief, then often grief or a need.

4.8 Contact figure

• Purpose / when. A "fragment figure" who places hands or body parts against the surface of the client's body where bodily feelings are stronger than the client can comfortably contain, for example a pressure in the chest or shaking in the shoulders. [source: glossaries]
• Steps:
  1. Notice the location of the strong sensation.
  2. Offer a contact figure and explain what it is.
  3. Follow the touch consent sequence, including a no-touch alternative such as the client's own hand or a cushion held to the area [synthesis].
  4. The client picks the role-player and shows where to place the hands, and how firm the pressure should be: usually still, flat-handed and steady [synthesis].
  5. Check in. Keep witnessing what changes.
  6. Remove the contact when the client says so, or once the sensation settles.
• Example language (illustrative). "That feeling in your chest looks very strong. Some people find it easier when someone puts a steady hand there, just to help hold it. Would that be okay, or would you rather hold a cushion there yourself?"
• Watch for.
  • Working: breathing slows, the feeling becomes bearable and gets words.
  • Contra-signs: flinching, freezing, or touch triggering abuse memories. Stop and switch to no-touch. [synthesis]

4.9 Limiting figure

• Purpose / when. Holds the client so that strong impulses, usually anger (the glossary also names sexual impulses), can be fully felt and pushed against without harming the taboo or wished-for figure, and without the client feeling the impulse is dangerous. It also answers the basic need for limits, and is the recommended response to omnipotent feelings. [source: glossaries]
• Steps:
  1. Explain the purpose.
  2. Follow the touch consent sequence, offering as a no-touch alternative pushing against a wall or a large cushion held by the figure [synthesis].
  3. Usually one or two role-players hold the client's arms or shoulders, or brace against the client's push, firmly enough to contain but not to pin [synthesis; where the hold goes is not specified in the sources].
  4. Let the client push with full strength while you witness.
  5. Stop on the agreed signal.
  6. Close by witnessing the client's strength as safe and contained.
• Screening. As for 4.7. Use particular caution, or avoid holding altogether, with histories of restraint, assault or sexual abuse [synthesis].
• Sexual impulses. These are named in the glossary only as feelings that a limiting figure contains. Nothing sexual is ever enacted or touched.
• Example language (illustrative). "Your anger is strong and it's allowed. If you like, two people can hold you firmly so you can push with all your strength and nobody gets hurt. Tell us 'stop' anytime."
• Watch for.
  • Working: full effort, then letting go and relief, and the sense that "my power can be held".
  • Concerning: panic at being held, or a real fight. Stop at once.

4.10 Resistance figure

• Purpose / when. When an action is about to emerge but is held back by fear or doubt, such as reaching out, pushing away or standing up. The figure gives a little resistance. It does not stop the action, but gives it a preparatory shape of control and awareness. [source: glossaries]
• Steps:
  1. Notice the incipient movement.
  2. Offer a resistance figure (follow the consent sequence).
  3. The figure meets the client's hand, forearm or shoulder and gives light, adjustable counter-pressure, which the client can overcome [synthesis for these details].
  4. Let the movement complete.
  5. Witness what happens.
• Example language (illustrative). "Your arm seems to want to push. Would it help to have something to push against, so you can feel that movement slowly and on purpose?"
• Watch for. Working: the movement becomes fuller and more deliberate, and the client feels agency. If resistance overpowers the client, ease it: the client must be able to win.

4.11 Ideal figures and the antidote scene (positive accommodation)

• Purpose / when. This is the heart of a structure. Once the deficit is clear (which need, from whom, at what age), role-players take the part of ideal figures built to fit the client's needs: most often an ideal mother or ideal father, but also other ideal figures. They give the missing countershape in words, movement and agreed touch. The new scene usually offers the opposite of what happened, for example sober parents instead of alcoholic ones. This creates a symbolic "new memory" (remapping). [source: glossaries; Bachg 2004, pp. 292–293; SHS 2016]
• Steps [order and wording partly synthesis]:
  1. Name the need from the history scene. Ask the client what they would have needed, and at what age: place, nurturance, support, protection or limits.
  2. Enrol the ideal figure as a different person from the real parent. Have the role-player explicitly take on the role, saying it in the conditional ("who would have…").
     • Keep the real (negative) figure separate and distinct, or move it out of the way.
     • The client chooses the role-player and their position, for example beside or behind the client, or at eye level.
  3. Build the antidote words with the client, then have the figure say them.
     • They are framed in the past and at the right age, for example "if I had been your ideal father back then, I would have…".
     • Check every line with the client and adjust until it fits exactly. The criterion is shape and countershape fit.
  4. Add agreed touch or position if wanted, using the touch consent sequence. The touch follows the need:
     • Support: a hand at the back or shoulders.
     • Protection: the figure stands between the client and the threat.
     • Nurturance or place: sitting close, or an arm around the shoulders.
     • Limits: firm hands (see 4.9).
     • Always offer no-touch versions: proximity, eye contact, or words only.
  5. Let the client take it in: slow down, invite the client to notice breathing and body, and witness the reaction.
  6. Repeat, intensify or modify until the client's face and body show taking in and satisfaction.
• Example language (illustrative):
  • Enrolment: "Would you be willing to role-play the ideal father who would have kept you safe when you were seven?"
  • Figure: "If I had been your ideal father then, I would have stood between you and the shouting, and you would not have needed to look after everyone."
• Watch for:
  • Working: softening, deeper breath, tears of relief, smiling, leaning into support, a spontaneous "yes". Typically the client also has new thoughts about the present.
  • Rejecting the figure ("That isn't real", "I don't deserve this"): name it as a voice (4.5) or witness the grief. Do not push. See 5.1.
  • Self/self contact, such as holding their own arms or soothing themselves: this shows that the need is not yet being met by another person.
  • Caring for the ideal figure: this may point to holes in roles (4.12).

4.12 Holes-in-roles work

• Purpose / when. The client keeps trying to fill gaps in the family system, for example by caring for a needy parent or taking an adult role. These are signs that someone in the earlier generation lacked a figure. The extension adds a multigenerational, systemic view: a child fills such gaps at the cost of their own needs. [source: Bachg & Sulz 2022, p. 12; SHS 2016]
• Steps: these are not verified against Pesso (2008, 2013) [uncertain]. The outline below follows the stated principle [synthesis]:
  1. Witness the client's caretaking or role-filling.
  2. Identify whose missing figure the client is filling, for example the mother's absent mother.
  3. Enrol an ideal figure for that person, at the right time in their life, so the gap is symbolically filled by "the right person".
  4. Witness the client's release from the role.
  5. Then go on to the client's own ideal figures (4.11).
• Example language (illustrative): "It looks as if your mother needed a mother herself. Would you like someone to role-play her ideal mother, who would have been there for her as a girl, so you don't have to be?"
• Watch for: relief or lightness as the client watches the gap being filled; the client then becomes able to receive for themselves. [synthesis]

4.13 Polarization

• Purpose / when. For ambivalence about one person. Two role-players represent the positive and the negative sides of the same figure, so that the client can feel each side clearly. [source: GoodTherapy (secondary only; not confirmed in primary sources) – uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Name the two sides.
  2. Place two figures, for example "the father who played with you" and "the father who drank".
  3. Witness the feelings toward each.
  4. Use the clarity gained to decide which need the antidote must meet.
• Example language (illustrative): "Shall we have one person stand for the dad who taught you to fish, and another for the dad who disappeared on weekends?"
• Watch for: the client stops collapsing the two sides into confusion or self-blame.

4.14 Closing the structure: new memory, return to the present, de-roling

• Purpose / when. At the end of every structure. This fixes the new memory, brings the client back to the present, and releases the role-players. The sources do not give a closing procedure. The steps below are [synthesis], consistent with the cycle-of-becoming emphasis on meaning.
• Steps:
  1. Ask the client to take one more moment with the ideal scene, noticing body, breath and image.
  2. Ask what this new experience might mean for their life now. This is the meaning step.
  3. Have the ideal figures say goodbye in role, then leave their roles.
  4. Have any figures for negative parts leave their roles explicitly.
  5. Return objects to ordinary use.
  6. Check that the client is oriented and grounded before sharing.
• Example language (illustrative):
  • Leader: "Take that in once more. What do you notice in your body?"
  • Role-player: "I'm leaving the role of your ideal father now. I'm [own name] again."
• Watch for: a client who is spaced out or still in the past (ground first); role-players still carrying the role (offer them a brief de-roling statement).

4.15 Sharing time

• Purpose / when. After each group structure. Group members share their own feelings from watching. This is not for feedback, analysis or confrontation. [source: glossaries]
• Steps:
  1. Invite brief personal shares.
  2. Interrupt advice, interpretation or questions to the client gently [synthesis].
  3. Let the client just listen.
• Example language (illustrative): "Please share what moved in you while watching, rather than comments about Anna's work."
• Watch for: observers who have been activated themselves (offer them their own time later), and analysis creeping in.

4.16 Structured exercises (including the ideal-parents exercise) and other named elements

• What the sources show:
  • The institute has evaluation criteria for leading PBSP exercises.
  • Perquin's "Strukturierte Übungen als Werkzeuge im PBSP" (2008) covers structured exercises in general.
  • Perquin & Howe's "Die Übung der Idealen Eltern" (2008) covers the ideal-parents exercise.
  • Noichl & Noichl (2019) devote a chapter to structured exercises.
  • [source: pbsp.com bibliography and home-page link list; Noichl & Noichl 2019, table of contents] The individual exercises (including the early psychomotor movement exercises from the dance origins) are not described here [uncertain]. Get them from training or from those texts.
• Other elements listed as PBSP interventions but not described in the sources [uncertain]:
  • placeholders
  • fragmented figures
  • reversals or "bookmarks"
  • extrastructural dialogue
  • corrective symbolic interaction
  • [source: SHS 2016]
• Further applications that exist but are not drawn on here:
  • "Feeling-Seen", Bachg's family-therapy adaptation
  • couples work
  • work with clients after sexual abuse (Perquin & Pesso)
  • work with trauma (Schrenker)
  • work with suicidal clients (Pesso)
  • [source: Bachg & Sulz 2022, table of contents; pbsp.com bibliography]

5. Handling problems

The sources say little about problem management. Pesso wrote a chapter on resistance, and Fischer-Bartelmann wrote one too, but neither is drawn on here. Items below are marked [source] where a source supports them and [synthesis] otherwise.

5.1 Stuck client, or client who cannot take in the ideal figure

• Find the cause through microtracking. Treat "it doesn't feel real", "I don't deserve it" or "he'd leave anyway" as voices to externalise (voice of truth or of negative prediction), not as views to argue with. Arguing and reassurance are ineffective. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 291]
• Check the countershape fit. It may be the wrong need, the wrong age, the wrong wording, or the wrong distance. Ask what would make it exactly right. [synthesis from the principle of form and fit]
• Look for unfinished history or a hole in the role. If the client keeps attending to a parent or to the ideal figure's needs, consider holes-in-roles work (4.12). [synthesis]
• Slow down. Offer a smaller dose: one sentence, distance instead of touch, or simply the figure's presence. [synthesis]

5.2 Resistance and defences

• Treat resistance as information. A protective rule shows up as a voice (control, warning, strategy). Name it and place it outside, then witness the client's reaction to it. [source: Bachg 2004, pp. 291–292]
• For a held-back movement, use a resistance figure (4.10), so that the action can come out in a controlled way. [source: glossaries]
• Respect a no to a figure, to touch or to a structure. The client's pilot decides. [synthesis]

5.3 Overwhelm, flooding, dissociation

• Signs. Loss of eye contact with the room, a fixed stare, talking as a young child, shaking that escalates, a numb or "out of body" report.
• Responses, in order [synthesis except where cited]:
  1. Re-engage the pilot. Ask the client to look at you and the room and name where they are. [Bachg 2004 on keeping the pilot present, p. 290]
  2. Make the stimulus smaller. Turn the historical figure away, move it further off, replace a role-player with an object, or take the figure out.
  3. Offer a contact figure, or the client's own hand, for overwhelming sensation. [source: glossary]
  4. Use a voice of dissociation to make the numbness explicit. [source: glossary]
  5. If the client remains dysregulated, pause the structure: ground them (feet on the floor, orienting, slow breathing) and go back to an ordinary conversation. Do not move on to ideal figures until the pilot is back.
• Screen before structures with charged history [synthesis]. Be cautious with:
  • acute psychosis or mania
  • severe dissociative disorder
  • active suicidality or recent self-harm
  • active substance intoxication
  • acute crisis
  • recent trauma that has not yet been stabilised For these clients, stabilise first, work mostly with ideal figures (place, support, protection) rather than detailed negative history, and use individual rather than group format. Schrenker's chapter on trauma is not drawn on here [uncertain].

5.4 Suicidality

• The method's own guidance is not drawn on here. Pesso wrote a chapter on work with suicidal clients, but it was not available [uncertain].
• Assess risk with your service's standard procedure before any structure, and again if suicidal ideation comes up during one. This means current thoughts, intent, plans, preparation and access to means, history, protective factors, and a collaborative safety plan. Lethal-means counselling covers safe storage or removal only. [synthesis]
• Within PBSP terms, a suicidal statement can be witnessed and placed as a voice, which may help the client see it from outside. [synthesis]
• Clinical safety comes first. Do not use structure work to manage acute risk. [synthesis]

5.5 Touch-related problems

• Withdrawing consent. A client who agrees and then stiffens or freezes has, in effect, withdrawn consent. Stop the touch and say why. [synthesis]
• Abuse history. With these clients, start with no-touch or object versions, and let the client place every touch. Sexual impulses are only ever contained through limits (4.9), never enacted. [source: glossary for limiting; rest synthesis]
• Role-players. Role-players who over-touch, improvise or bring in their own needs need clear briefing, and the leader stops them. [synthesis]
• Legal and ethical frame. Document the consent given. Check what your licence, jurisdiction and professional code allow, and get supervision. [synthesis]

5.6 Non-adherence and drop-out

• No homework. The sources describe no PBSP homework. [synthesis]
• Missed structures or opting out. If a client skips or opts out of structures, review the contract and motivation (Pesso's chapter on this is not drawn on here) [uncertain]. Also check whether the group format feels exposing, and offer individual sessions with objects. [synthesis]

5.7 Ruptures with the therapist or the group

• Transference gaze. A client looking at you as if at a childhood figure can be noticed and named. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 287]
• Witnessing the rupture. A wrongly labelled feeling irritates the client. Acknowledge the miss and try again. [source: Bachg 2004, p. 290]
• Ruptures in sharing time. If an observer analyses or confronts the client, re-state the rule that people share only their own feelings. [source: glossaries]
• Ruptures that persist. Address persistent ruptures outside the structure, in an ordinary dialogue that repairs the relationship. [synthesis]

5.8 Modality-specific difficulties

• Omnipotence. This shows up as unlimited, grandiose or uncontainable power. Read it as missing limits, and respond with limiting figures rather than encouragement. [source: glossary; Perquin 2008]
• Re-traumatising discharge. Do not have role-players act out pain or injury in response to the client's aggression. That technique was dropped because it reinforced the negative history. [source: UK glossary]
• Over-reliance on the therapist. Keep validation in the witness and ideal figures rather than in your own "I". [source: Bachg 2004, pp. 290–291]
• Ideal figures confused with real people. Keep ideal figures clearly separate from the real parents, and say explicitly that they are "ideal" and "back then". [synthesis]
• Role-players' own reactions. Use de-roling and sharing, and offer follow-up. [synthesis]
• Not for physical illness. PBSP is a psychotherapy and should not be offered as a treatment for physical disease. [synthesis]

Sources

Sources

• Glossary of PBSP Terms (PBSP Psychomotor Institute)
• Glossary of Pesso Boyden Terms (Pesso Boyden Training UK)
• Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor, home page
• PBSP bibliography and articles list
• Bachg, M. (2004). Microtracking in der Pesso-Therapie. Psychotherapie 9(2), 283–293
• Bachg & Sulz (Hg.), Bühnen des Bewusstseins – Die Pesso-Therapie, publisher's reading sample (front matter and table of contents)
• Noichl & Noichl (2019), Pesso für alle!, publisher's reading sample
• Slaninová & Vokalová (2016), SHS Web of Conferences 26, 01013, on PBSP and holes in roles
• Somatic Perspectives (2012), Albert Pesso: PBSP, introduction
• GoodTherapy, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (secondary)

Further reading (not drawn on) [uncertain where relied on]

• Pesso, A. (1969). Movement in Psychotherapy: Psychomotor Techniques and Training. New York University Press.
• Pesso, A. (1973). Experience in Action: A Psychomotor Psychology. New York University Press.
• Pesso, A. (1990). Center of truth, true scene and pilot. Pesso Bulletin 2.
• Pesso, A., & Crandell, J. (Eds.) (1991). Moving Psychotherapy: Theory and Application of Pesso System/Psychomotor Therapy. Brookline Books.
• Bachg, M., & Sulz, S. K. D. (Hg.) (2022, reprint of the 2008 edition). Bühnen des Bewusstseins – Die Pesso-Therapie. Psychosozial-Verlag. The chapters by Pesso on contract and motivation, holes in roles and suicidal clients, by Perquin on omnipotence, and by Schrenker on trauma are not drawn on here.
• Perquin, L., & Howe, ? (2008). Die Übung der Idealen Eltern. Co-author's first name not found [uncertain].
• Perquin, L. (2008). Strukturierte Übungen als Werkzeuge im PBSP.
• Pesso, A. (2013). Filling the holes-in-roles of the past with the right people at the right time (USABP).
• Noichl, U., & Noichl, M. (2019). Pesso für alle! Psychosozial-Verlag.