Communicative movement therapy

1. Introduction

Version followed: Anita Wilda-Kiesel, Anette Tögel and Uwe Wutzler (2011), Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie: Brücke zwischen Psychotherapie und Körpertherapie (Bern: Huber, now Hogrefe; 287 pp.). The publisher calls it a fully revised new edition of a standard work, which confirms an earlier edition. This guide follows the 2011 book's structure as its published table of contents shows it. Source status: the method's aims, the four-phase scheme, the three-part session, the therapist-behaviour headings and the exercise categories come from the 2011 table of contents with page numbers, the publisher's description, Ruth Haas's 2011 socialnet review, the full table of contents of an earlier German monograph on the method (UB Paderborn digital collection; its author, year and publisher are not shown [uncertain]) and the Universitätsklinikum Leipzig psychosomatics teaching handout (2025). According to the review, the 2011 book's practical part gives for each phase the therapeutic aims, the therapist's behaviour, exercise examples and suggestions for the reflection talk, adds modifications for different disorders and for child and adolescent psychiatry, and comes with a DVD of the practical work [source: Haas 2011 review]. None of these published sources gives group size, session length or count, criteria for moving between phases, or a touch or consent procedure; the books treat group size in sections whose content is not reproduced here, and neither table of contents has a section on touch or consent [uncertain]. The books' worked exercise examples are not reproduced, so every step-level instruction below stays [synthesis]. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC; publisher description; Haas 2011 review; Paderborn monograph TOC; Leipzig handout 2025]

What it is. Communicative movement therapy (Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie; this guide's shorthand: CMT) is a German body-oriented group psychotherapy method. Patients carry out movement and action tasks together, and then work through what happened between them in a group conversation. The publisher describes it as closing the gap between body-oriented therapies and psychodynamic group therapy: body movement and body language are used to support group interaction and to make group processes bodily experienceable. The method was originally used mainly by physiotherapists; the 2011 edition addresses all psychotherapeutic professions who want to add a body-based process to verbal group therapy, in psychosomatic and psychiatric settings. [source: publisher description] The book's reviewer called that transfer to other professions bold and held that a discipline-specific grounding and the therapist's own bodily self-experience are needed [source: Haas 2011 review]. The Leipzig university psychosomatics clinic describes it as action-oriented and interactive: it works through interpersonal encounter and shared tasks (gemeinsame Aufgaben), as a weekly group within the complementary-therapy programme. [source: Leipzig handout 2025] It grew up in the GDR between about 1970 and 1990. Its stated roots are the Erfurt group (Erfurter Gruppe), further training in Kurt Höck's intendierte dynamische Gruppenpsychotherapie (intended dynamic group psychotherapy), Hana Junová's psychogymnastics and a working group on the method (Arbeitsgruppe Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie). The history chapter also names earlier roots: Lucie Heyer-Grote's contribution to a handbook of neurosis theory, Elsa Gindler, and the qualification of physiotherapists for functional disorders and neuroses. After reunification it continued as a method in its own right. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC pp. 29–43; Paderborn monograph TOC] Note the name clash: Leipzig material abbreviates it "KBT", which is also the standard abbreviation for Konzentrative Bewegungstherapie (Gindler/Stolze tradition), a different method. When you refer patients or read reports, check which one is meant. [source: Leipzig handout 2025; Schreiber-Willnow 2000/2010 excerpt]

How change happens. Disturbances in how a person relates to others show up in the body and in movement while the group does a shared task. The aim is the conscious perception of those disturbances, "bewusste Wahrnehmen von Störungen im interpersonellen Bereich" (conscious noticing of disturbances in the interpersonal sphere), and of how they appear bodily. [source: Leipzig handout 2025] They are then worked through verbally in a group led along dynamic-group-psychotherapy lines, with transference, resistance and group phases in view. Reflection helps patients notice their own behaviour and try out new ways of acting; the exercises target perception, self-experience, decision-making, trust, emotionality and creativity. [source: publisher description] Demands rise step by step across the course, so patients practise new ways of relating in action before they talk about them. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC, chs. 4–6; Paderborn monograph TOC 7.2] The book's subtitle states the idea: a bridge between psychotherapy and body therapy. How exactly Höck's group model drives change in CMT is inferred from the chapter headings [uncertain]. CMT belongs with the clinical and physiotherapy traditions: physiotherapists were its main early users, and the history chapter has a section on physiotherapists' qualification for treating neuroses. Wilda-Kiesel's own professional training is not stated in these sources [uncertain]. [source: publisher description; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC p. 35]

2. Framework

Setting and format. CMT is run as a closed, semi-open or open group (2011 book §5.2, p. 122). Group forms, composition and size are treated in §5.1 (p. 121) of the 2011 book and §6.3 ("Gruppenzusammensetzung und Gruppengröße", p. 58) of the earlier monograph, and indication criteria in §1.3 (p. 27). The figures themselves are not reproduced here [uncertain]. In Leipzig it runs as a group that is a fixed part of every psychosomatic patient's weekly timetable. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC; Paderborn monograph TOC; Leipzig handout 2025] Working assumptions [synthesis]: 6–10 patients, a room with free floor space, 60–90 minutes per session, one therapist trained in the method plus, where possible, a co-therapist who observes. Leave about a third of the time for talk.

Structure of each session (Aufbau einer Übungsstunde). There are three parts: opening (Einleitung), main part (Hauptteil) and closing (Abschluss). The earlier monograph gives the opening and the closing each their own aim (Zielstellung) and method (Methodik). [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC §5.3, pp. 123–130; Paderborn monograph TOC 7.1, pp. 63–73] The earlier monograph distinguishes a calming and an activating closing (beruhigender / aktivierender Stundenabschluss), with example exercises for opening, main part and both closings. It does so in its chapter on the related variant Bewegungstherapie unter kommunikativem Aspekt, movement therapy with a communicative focus. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 9, pp. 171–192] A 2025 Dresden workshop on the method ended with a relaxation exercise from Konzentrative Entspannung (concentrative relaxation). [source: Dresden workshop 2025]

Principle of increasing demands. Across a course of therapy, tasks move from low to high personal and interpersonal demand (Steigerung der Anforderungen). [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 5]

Phases of the group process. Both books frame the phases as a rise in demands over the course of therapy (Steigerung der Anforderungen im Therapieverlauf). The four phases are: getting to know, orientation and dependence; confrontation (Auseinandersetzung); work and emotional phase; and an ending phase, called "Abschluß der Therapie" in the earlier book and "Phase des Abschiedes" in 2011. The 2011 exercise chapters 7–10 are organised by them. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC §5.4–5.5, pp. 130–136; Paderborn monograph TOC 7.2, pp. 73–83]

Session count. Neither table of contents has a section on the number, length or frequency of sessions, and no other published source gives them [uncertain]. In Leipzig, frequency is weekly and the course length follows the inpatient or day-clinic stay. [source: Leipzig handout 2025] [synthesis]: in a 6–12-week stay, give orientation the first 1–3 sessions, confrontation the next 2–3, the work phase most of the rest, and farewell the last 1–2. Open groups recycle the phases as members come and go.

Criteria for moving between phases. The books describe the phases under the heading of rising demands, which suggests the group moves on as it copes with the current level. Neither table of contents shows explicit transition criteria, and the phase chapters' content is not reproduced here [uncertain]. Practical markers [synthesis]:

• Orientation → confrontation: members know each other's names and can carry out a task without step-by-step guidance. Differences and irritation start to appear in movement, for example who leads and who waits.
• Confrontation → work phase: disagreement can be shown and put into words without anyone leaving or the group splitting. Members can make and defend a choice in a task.
• Work phase → farewell: the ending date is near, or the patient is about to be discharged in an open group. Begin farewell work at least one session before the last.
• Step back a phase when the group composition changes sharply or a session overwhelms members.

3. Guiding principles

The sources for these principles are the 2011 book's chapters 4–6 (basic concepts, planning, therapist tasks) and the earlier monograph's chapter 5 on therapist behaviour (Therapeutenverhalten: prerequisites, characteristic features of the behaviour, observation, actions, reactions). Both are known only from their headings. The one-line practical meanings are therefore [synthesis]. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC pp. 113–145; Paderborn monograph TOC pp. 41–49]

• Group therapy as the frame: the group, not the single exercise, is the agent of change. Choose tasks for what they will stir between members, not for fitness.
• Indication criteria: assess who fits the group before admission (ch. 1). Do not place a patient who cannot yet tolerate being seen and talked about by peers.
• Transference and countertransference: patients relate to the therapist and to each other in old patterns during the tasks. Note your own pull (for example, to rescue or to push) and use it as information.
• Empathy, acceptance, genuineness (the book's stated therapeutic attitude): give feedback on movement in a warm, non-judging and honest way. Never mock or grade a movement.
• Abstinence: do not meet your own needs in the group, whether for closeness, admiration or control. Keep touch and self-disclosure in the service of the task.
• Resistance as material: refusing, clowning or over-performing a task is a way of relating. Explore it rather than override it.
• Therapist tasks: action, observation, reaction, reflection (ch. 6): set the task, then watch closely. Respond in the moment only as much as needed, and bring what you saw into the talk afterwards.
• Levels of communication (ch. 6): track nonverbal, verbal and group-level communication. Name the body-level event ("you stopped when she came closer") before any interpretation.
• Planned session structure: every session has an opening, main part and closing. Never end straight after an arousing task.
• Increasing demands: start each course and each session with low-demand tasks. Raise exposure (being seen, choosing, touching, risking) only when the group is ready.
• Phase-appropriate tasks: match tasks to the group phase. Trust or closeness tasks in a group that is still orienting will produce compliance or flooding, not trust.
• Body–word bridge: every movement task is followed by verbal processing (ch. 9 treats "language in therapy"). The talk links what happened in the body to everyday relationships.
• Closed vs. open groups: plan differently for closed groups (all members share one phase sequence) and open ones (newcomers re-run orientation).
• Disorder-specific adaptation: the book adapts the method for psychiatry, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, children and adolescents, and addiction (ch. 12). Adjust the demand level and body focus to the population. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC]

4. Intervention inventory

How to read this section. The categories below are the method's own. They come from the exercise chapters of the 2011 book (orientation, confrontation, work/emotional and farewell phases), from the nine exercise categories (therapeutische Aufgabenstellungen) of the earlier monograph's chapter 8, and from its session-frame elements. The publisher says the practical part gives instructions for a large number of exercises and explains how sessions and the overall course are built. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC chs. 7–12; Paderborn monograph TOC chs. 7–9; publisher description] The books' own worked examples (Übungsbeispiele, plus a section on therapist behaviour and reflection for each category, and the session examples in ch. 11) are not reproduced here [uncertain]. Each category therefore gets one generic task built for its stated aim, marked [synthesis]. These are standard group-movement formats offered as stand-ins, not Wilda-Kiesel's exercises. Before you use the method as published, get the book.

Training and touch. Running CMT requires training in the method and in group psychotherapy, plus supervision. Any task that uses touch requires specific training. Check what your licence and jurisdiction allow (for example, whether physical contact is within your profession's scope) before offering it. Sexual or genital touch is never part of any technique. [synthesis]

Standard touch-consent protocol. Neither book's table of contents has a section on touch, body contact or consent, so the whole protocol is [synthesis]. Use it in every partner-contact task marked "touch":

1. Explain in advance exactly what contact will happen: which body part, how firm, for how long, who touches whom.
2. Ask each person individually. Never assume consent in advance: "pass" is always accepted without a reason.
3. Offer the no-touch version named in each task as an equal option, not a fallback.
4. Agree a stop signal that works without words (for example, step back or raise a hand). Rehearse it once.
5. Pairs choose each other or agree to the pairing. Never pair in a way that recreates an abusive constellation the history is known to contain.
6. Check in during the task (a nod, a thumb) and ask afterwards how the contact was. Record any refusal or discomfort.
7. Therapist-to-patient touch is used only for safety (preventing a fall) unless your training and setting explicitly cover more.

Screening for higher-demand tasks (confrontation with pushing, eyes-closed and risk tasks, vigorous movement). The published sources give none, so all of this is [synthesis]. Ask about and adapt for:

• pregnancy
• cardiovascular or respiratory illness
• epilepsy
• balance or vision problems
• recent injury or surgery
• joint or back problems
• acute psychosis or mania
• severe dissociation
• active suicidality
• recent trauma without stabilisation
• a history of physical or sexual violence (touch, being led or being held back can trigger)
• severe underweight or medical instability in eating disorders (keep exertion low and follow the medical team)

Generic structure of every CMT task [synthesis, consistent with the Leipzig description of "shared tasks" and the book's opening / main part / closing scheme]:

1. Set the task in one or two sentences, including its boundaries (space, time, stop signal), but not its meaning.
2. Let the group do it, mostly without words.
3. Observe who does what, with whom, how near, at what tempo, who leads and who follows, who withdraws.
4. Stop clearly.
5. Ask first for bodily experience, then for feelings, then for links to relationships outside the room.

4.1 Opening (Einleitung)

• Purpose: arrive, notice one's state, and turn attention from talk to body and group. This is the first of the three session parts. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 5]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Group standing or sitting in a circle.
  2. A short round: one word or a gesture for "how I am arriving".
  3. 3–5 minutes of easy, self-paced movement through the room (walking, stretching, shaking out hands).
  4. The therapist names the session's task area without previewing the exercise.
• Example language (illustrative): "Before we start, show us with one movement how you're arriving today. You don't need to explain it."
• Watch for: who stays at the edge, who talks to avoid moving, and the overall energy. Use this to choose the demand level of the main part.

4.2 Body sensing and experiencing (Körpererspüren und -erleben)

• Purpose: build basic perception of one's own body as the ground for every later task. It belongs to the orientation phase. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Patients stand with feet hip-width apart, or sit if standing is hard.
  2. Eyes open or closed, as each prefers.
  3. Guide attention in sequence for about 5–10 minutes: contact of the feet with the floor, weight shifting slowly forward/back and side to side, knees, pelvis, breath moving without being changed, shoulders, head.
  4. Then ask everyone to walk a few steps and notice what is different.
  5. Close with a short round.
  6. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Notice where your weight is right now, without correcting it… Let it travel slowly to your heels, and back."
• Watch for: reports of numbness, "nothing", or dizziness. Keep eyes open and use more external anchors (the floor, the wall). It is working when patients can name concrete sensations and differences rather than judgments ("I'm bad at this").

4.3 Bodily expression (körperlicher Ausdruck)

• Purpose: let inner states become visible in posture and movement, the first step in making them shareable. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Each person finds a posture or a small repeated movement for how they feel right now. Allow 1–2 minutes to find it.
  2. One by one, each shows it while the group watches.
  3. Optionally the group copies it once.
  4. The person says how it was to be seen and to see it copied.
  5. A low-demand variant: everyone shows at the same time.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let your body find a shape for how today feels. Make it bigger or smaller until it fits."
• Watch for: performing or joking instead of expressing, and freezing when watched. Offer the simultaneous variant if being seen is too much. It is working when the shape and the person's words match, and when others recognise something.

4.4 Observation skills (Beobachtungsfähigkeit)

• Purpose: train patients to perceive others accurately and to separate observation from interpretation. This is the precondition for useful feedback in the group. It is part of the orientation phase: observing the group and getting to know it. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 7]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Patients work in pairs. A walks through the room in their usual way for about one minute while B watches.
  2. B describes only what can be seen: tempo, step length, arm swing, use of space, direction changes.
  3. Then B says what it made them think or feel, clearly labelled as their own reaction.
  4. A says how it felt to be watched and described.
  5. Swap roles.
  6. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "First only what a camera would record. Then, separately, what it did to you."
• Watch for: observers jumping to verdicts ("you're insecure"), and the observed person feeling judged. Correct gently and re-run. It is working when descriptions become specific and feedback is received without collapse or counter-attack.

4.5 Getting acquainted (Bekanntheitsgrad)

• Purpose: raise how well members know each other, and reduce anonymity and dependency on the therapist in the orientation phase. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8, 7.2.1]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Everyone walks freely through the room.
  2. On a signal, each greets whoever is nearest with eye contact and their name, then moves on. Repeat several rounds.
  3. Vary the greeting: from a distance with a nod, then closer with a word.
  4. A handshake round is optional and only with the touch-consent protocol; the no-touch version is a wave or a bow.
  5. Close with a round in which each says one name they now remember and something they noticed about that person.
• Example language (illustrative): "Greet whoever you meet in a way that feels right for you today. Distance is your choice."
• Watch for: members who avoid certain others or stay in pairs. Note this for later, without confronting it yet. It is working when members address each other directly rather than through the therapist.

4.6 Ego development (orientation phase)

• Purpose: strengthen the sense of one's own place, boundaries and tempo within a group. This is one of the three task aims of the 2011 orientation chapter. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 7]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Each person chooses a spot in the room and marks a personal area with a rope, mat or cushions. Allow 1–2 minutes to adjust its size and shape.
  2. Each moves within the area and notices how it feels.
  3. Then ask: "Is the area right? Bigger, smaller, nearer or further from others?" Patients change it.
  4. Optionally visitors may approach the edge only with the owner's nonverbal permission.
  5. In the talk, compare the space taken with how space is taken in life.
  6. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Make this space yours. You decide how big it is and who comes near."
• Watch for: very small or edge-of-room areas (self-effacement) and areas that crowd others. Look out for distress when a visitor approaches; practise the stop gesture. It is working when patients adjust their space deliberately and can say no to a visitor.

4.7 Group development (orientation phase)

• Purpose: help the collection of individuals start to act as a group and reveal early roles. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 7]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Without talking, the group forms a given figure together: a circle, then a line ordered by some neutral criterion such as shoe size or birthday month, then a shape of their own choice.
  2. Allow 2–5 minutes per figure.
  3. In the talk, ask who started, who adjusted, who waited, and how decisions were made without words.
  4. No touch is required.
• Example language (illustrative): "Form a single line from the shortest journey to the longest journey here today. No words."
• Watch for: one member running the task while others comply. That is material for the confrontation phase. It is working when more members take initiative over successive sessions.

4.8 Taking and holding a position (confrontation phase)

• Purpose: practise standing for a view in front of others. The 2011 confrontation chapter names the ability to assert a position. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 8]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Mark an imaginary line across the room as a scale: one end "fully agree", the other "not at all".
  2. Read a statement relevant to the group, starting neutral ("I like mornings") and moving to group-relevant ones ("I say what I think here").
  3. Each walks to their point. Ask a few people to say one sentence from where they stand.
  4. Anyone may move after hearing others. Discuss who moved and why.
  5. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Stand where you really are, not where you think you should be."
• Watch for: clustering in the middle, following one person, or hiding behind others. It is working when members stay at a minority position and explain it without apologising.

4.9 Decision-making (Entscheidungsfähigkeit)

• Purpose: practise choosing and owning a choice, alone and with others. This appears in both books' exercise lists. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 8]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Individual round: each chooses one of several marked corners, each standing for a different way of moving (slow, fast, on the floor, in contact with the wall), and moves there for one minute.
  2. Group round: the group must agree without words on one shared rhythm, or one movement everyone then performs together. Allow up to 5 minutes, then stop.
  3. Talk about how the choice was made, who gave up their idea, and how that felt.
  4. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "You have five minutes to arrive at one movement you all do together. You can't use words."
• Watch for: paralysis, asking the therapist to decide, and chronic deferring. It is working when choices become quicker and members can name what they gave up.

4.10 Confrontation (Auseinandersetzungsfähigkeit)

• Purpose: practise meeting opposition, holding ground and yielding by choice. This is the core aim of the confrontation phase (Auseinandersetzung). [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8, 7.2.1; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 8]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Work in pairs, facing each other, feet in a stable stride, knees soft.
  2. No-touch version (default): partners push against a large cushion or gym ball held between them, at an agreed low-to-moderate force, for 20–30 seconds. Rest, then repeat 2–3 times. Try one round of pushing, one of holding, one of yielding on purpose.
  3. Touch version: palm-to-palm pushing, only with the touch-consent protocol.
  4. Agree beforehand that either partner may stop at any moment by stepping back. Forbid sudden release (fall risk).
  5. Close with shaking out, then talk: how was it to push, to be pushed, to give way?
  6. Screen first (see the screening list): exclude or modify for pregnancy, heart or respiratory disease, back or joint injury, recent surgery, and recent assault.
  7. This is not a cathartic discharge exercise. Keep the intensity graded and talk-centred.
• Example language (illustrative): "Find how much force you want to use, not how much you can. Either of you can stop at any time by stepping back."
• Watch for: immediate collapse ("I let them win"), escalation beyond the agreed force, laughter covering tension, and flashbacks. Stop the task and ground the person (4.21). It is working when patients can both hold and give way deliberately and link this to a real conflict.

4.11 Courage and risk-taking (Mut und Risikobereitschaft)

• Purpose: risk something new in front of others, such as being visible, leading or trying an unfamiliar movement, in the safety of the group. This is part of the work and emotional phase. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. The group stands in a circle.
  2. One volunteer at a time steps into the centre and shows a movement they would not usually make: big, loud with the feet, very slow or playful. The group copies it.
  3. The volunteer chooses the next person, or the next person volunteers.
  4. Anyone may pass; passing is discussed, not pressured.
  5. Keep physical risk low: no falls, lifts or jumps from height.
  6. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Pick a movement that's a little outside your comfort zone, not a long way outside. The group will do it with you."
• Watch for: shame after the turn. Ask the group for what they saw that was courageous. Watch also for group pressure on someone who passes. It is working when the person reports surprise or pride rather than only relief.

4.12 Trust (Vertrauensfähigkeit)

• Purpose: experience being guided and guiding, and notice how trust is given, withheld and earned. This is part of the work and emotional phase. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task; touch version only with the touch-consent protocol]:
  1. Work in pairs, in a room cleared of obstacles.
  2. A walks with eyes closed, or eyes open and lowered if closing is too much. B guides for 2–3 minutes.
  3. No-touch version (default): B guides by voice or by a sound such as clapping or a drum, walking alongside.
  4. Touch version: B guides with a hand lightly under A's forearm or at the shoulder blade.
  5. A may open their eyes at any time; that is the stop signal.
  6. The therapist watches for collisions.
  7. Swap roles, then talk: what made trust possible, and what did you need from your partner?
  8. Screen for balance or vision problems, dissociation and assault history.
• Example language (illustrative): "If you open your eyes, that's fine. It just tells us something. Guides, your job is to keep your partner safe, not to test them."
• Watch for: guides who test or tease, and walkers who peek constantly or freeze. Watch for dissociative signs (blank face, slowed responses) and stop at once. It is working when the walker relaxes their gait and both can name what helped.

4.13 Emotional closeness

• Purpose: explore and regulate closeness and distance with another person. This is a work-phase aim in the 2011 book. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Pairs stand facing each other at the width of the room.
  2. A walks slowly towards B. B raises a hand, the agreed stop signal, at the distance that feels right, and A stops at once.
  3. Both stay there for 30 seconds and notice. Then B may invite A a step closer, or send them a step back.
  4. Swap roles.
  5. A variant uses side-by-side walking at a chosen distance.
  6. No touch is needed, and the task should not be extended into touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "You decide the distance. Raising your hand is enough; your partner stops."
• Watch for: people who never raise a hand (poor boundary sensing) and people who stop the partner at the far wall. Both are material, not failure. It is working when the stop comes earlier and more clearly, and when the person can tolerate being approached a little more than before.

4.14 Emotional experience (emotionales Erleben)

• Purpose: let emotions arise and be held in movement and in the group, and explore emotional relationships between members. The earlier monograph's category is "Emotionales Erleben und emotionale Beziehungen" (emotional experience and emotional relationships); in the 2011 book it falls in the work and emotional phase. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 8, p. 148; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. The group moves freely to 2–3 contrasting short pieces of music (calm, lively, heavy), 2–3 minutes each, or to a theme the therapist names, such as "carrying something heavy" or "letting go".
  2. After each piece, everyone pauses and notices their feeling.
  3. In the talk, link feelings to situations in life.
  4. Choose music that will not overwhelm; avoid pieces with personal trauma links if these are known.
  5. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let the music move you as much or as little as it does. Afterwards we'll look at what came up."
• Watch for: flooding (crying that escalates, panic) and numbness. For flooding, slow down, open the eyes, ground (4.21) and give individual follow-up. It is working when feelings are named and stay tolerable.

4.15 Creativity

• Purpose: experience playful, self-generated movement and joint creation. This is a work-phase aim in the 2011 book. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Small groups of 3–4 invent a short movement sequence of 3–4 movements on a theme, such as "waking up" or "a bridge", in about 10 minutes.
  2. They show it; the others say what they saw.
  3. Materials (scarves, balls, ropes) are optional.
  4. Contact is optional and only with the touch-consent protocol.
• Example language (illustrative): "There's no right version. Find something your group enjoys showing."
• Watch for: one person designing everything, and "I'm not creative" withdrawal. Give that person a small, defined contribution. It is working when ideas come from several members.

4.16 Language in therapy (linking movement and words)

• Purpose: bridge bodily experience and verbal expression. This is a work-phase topic in the 2011 book. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Each person says a short sentence relevant to them ("No", "I want that", "Leave me alone") in different postures: sitting curled, standing tall, walking forward.
  2. They notice which posture makes the sentence believable.
  3. Alternatively, a partner describes a movement in words while the other enacts it exactly, then they swap.
  4. No touch.
• Example language (illustrative): "Say it again, standing the way you stood a minute ago. What changes in your voice?"
• Watch for: sentences that are too loaded too early; keep them low-stakes at first. It is working when voice and body begin to match.

4.17 Socio-dynamic exercises

• Purpose: make the group's relationship structure visible in space and work with it. This is a work-phase topic in the 2011 book. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 9]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. Spatial sociogram: each member in turn places themselves in the room relative to the others, showing "where I feel I stand in this group". The others hold their places.
  2. Then each person may move once to where they would like to be.
  3. Talk about the changes and what it would take to achieve them.
  4. Alternatively, one volunteer arranges the group as a still image of how they experience it, then of how they wish it to be. Do this without touch: the volunteer directs by words and gestures.
• Example language (illustrative): "Don't place yourself where you think you should be. Stand where it feels you are right now."
• Watch for: scapegoating (one person always placed outside), alliances, and the therapist's own position. Protect the isolated member and make the pattern a group topic. It is working when the group can discuss its structure and someone's position shifts over sessions.

4.18 Farewell (Abschied)

• Purpose: end the therapy consciously, take stock and leave the group without breaking contact abruptly. Ch. 10 of the 2011 book is devoted to it. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 10]
• Steps [synthesis — generic task]:
  1. In the last 1–2 sessions (in open groups, the patient's last session), the leaver walks around the circle.
  2. They take leave of each member with a gesture of their choosing: eye contact, a nod, or a handshake under the touch-consent protocol. They say one sentence about what they take with them.
  3. Others answer with one sentence.
  4. Optionally the leaver repeats a task from early in therapy, such as the ego-development space (4.6), and compares then and now.
  5. End with a whole-group closing circle.
• Example language (illustrative): "Look back to how you stood in this room at the start. What is different in how you stand now?"
• Watch for: devaluing the ending ("it was nothing"), sudden absence before the last session, and grief in members who stay. It is working when the leaver can name concrete changes and others can let them go.

4.19 Verbal processing (after every task)

• Purpose: turn bodily experience into understanding. This carries out the therapist tasks of observation, reaction and reflection, and works across communication levels. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC chs. 6, 9; Leipzig handout 2025]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Sit in a circle straight after the task.
  2. Order the questions: (a) what did you notice in your body; (b) what did you feel; (c) what happened between you and others ("who did you go towards or avoid?"); (d) where do you know this from in life?
  3. The therapist adds observed facts ("I saw you stop twice") and invites feedback from members who observed (rules as in 4.4).
  4. Bring the talk back to the here-and-now of the group when it drifts into stories.
  5. Allow at least a third of the session.
• Example language (illustrative): "Before we talk about why, tell us what happened in your body when the group came closer."
• Watch for: intellectualising and lengthy narratives. Gently return to the body. Watch also for silent members; invite each with one question, and allow a pass. It is working when patients spontaneously link task behaviour to their relationships.

4.20 Calming closing (beruhigender Stundenabschluss)

• Purpose: bring arousal down before patients leave. The earlier monograph names it as a closing variant. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC 9.5.3]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. 3–5 minutes, lying or sitting.
  2. Slow breathing without effort, attention to the body's weight on the floor or chair, then gentle stretching.
  3. Eyes open at the end.
  4. One-word closing round.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let the floor carry you. Nothing needs to be done now."
• Watch for: lying down with eyes closed can be unsafe for trauma-exposed patients; offer sitting with eyes open. Patients should leave calm and oriented.

4.21 Activating closing (aktivierender Stundenabschluss) and grounding

• Purpose: re-orient patients who are drowsy, withdrawn or dissociated, or after a heavy session, before they return to the ward or daily life. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC 9.5.3]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Standing, brisk walking through the room.
  2. Stamp the feet lightly, rub the hands, name three things in the room, make eye contact with two people.
  3. 2–3 minutes.
  4. The same steps serve as grounding at any point when someone is overwhelmed.
• Example language (illustrative): "Feel your feet. Look around and tell me three things you can see."
• Watch for: whether each patient is oriented and in contact before leaving. Keep anyone who is not back for a short individual check.

4.22 Concentrative relaxation as a closing (Konzentrative Entspannung)

• Purpose: a relaxation exercise used as a session closing in current CMT teaching. [source: Dresden workshop 2025]
• Steps: the exercise itself is not described in the published sources [uncertain]. Konzentrative Entspannung is a separate German relaxation method. Use it only if you are trained in it; otherwise use 4.20.
• Watch for: the same cautions as 4.20.

4.23 Variant and population adaptations

• Movement therapy with a communicative focus (Bewegungstherapie unter kommunikativem Aspekt): a related variant with its own aims and session closings. It is covered in both books, and was perhaps intended for movement or physiotherapy settings rather than full psychotherapy groups [uncertain]. [source: Paderborn monograph TOC ch. 9; Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC ch. 12]
• Population adaptations named in the 2011 book: psychiatry, eating disorders (with a worked session example in ch. 11), borderline personality disorder, children and adolescents, and addiction. Their content is not reproduced here [uncertain]. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC chs. 11–12] Practical adjustments [synthesis]:
  • Psychiatry: shorter tasks, concrete instructions, eyes open, no blind or high-closeness tasks during acute psychosis.
  • Eating disorders: avoid tasks centred on body shape or mirrors early on. Prefer function and contact over appearance. Follow medical limits on exertion. Set no exercise or weight targets.
  • Borderline personality disorder: highly predictable structure, explicit rules on closeness, frequent grounding, and attention to splitting in socio-dynamic tasks.
  • Children and adolescents: more play and game structure, shorter talk phases, and parental consent for any contact.
  • Addiction: tasks on refusal and holding a position (4.8, 4.10), and attention to impulsive or high-arousal seeking.

5. Handling problems

The 2011 book treats resistance as a basic concept (ch. 4) and gives therapist behaviour and reflection notes for each exercise category (chs. 7–10). Their content is not reproduced here, so all responses below are [synthesis] unless tagged otherwise. [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC]

• Resistance: refusing, clowning or over-performing a task. The book frames resistance psychodynamically (ch. 4) [source: Wilda-Kiesel et al. 2011 TOC]. Do not force the task. Let the person join in a smaller role (observer, time-keeper) and explore the refusal in the talk: "What would have happened if you'd joined?" Repeated refusal of one task type points to the person's theme. Plan a lower-demand version of it.
• Stuck group: tasks done mechanically, nothing said afterwards. Check the phase: demands may be too low (boredom) or too high (defensive compliance). Return to observation tasks (4.4) and ask for observations, not feelings. Name the group process directly ("Today everyone did it perfectly and nobody seems to want to talk about it"). Use a socio-dynamic task (4.17) to surface hidden tensions.
• Talking instead of moving, or moving instead of talking. Keep the frame: a short task, then talk. With intellectualisers, ask only body-level questions first. With patients who act but cannot speak, offer sentence starters, or let them show rather than say.
• Overwhelm, flooding, panic or dissociation during a task.
  1. Stop that person's task (not necessarily the group's) and have them open their eyes.
  2. Ground them: feet, three things seen, orientation to time and place (4.21).
  3. A co-therapist stays with them.
  4. Afterwards, re-check screening and lower the demand level, for example by moving from eyes-closed to eyes-open, or from touch to no-touch.
  5. Debrief individually before they leave.
• Touch-related distress or boundary violations. Stop the contact at once. Thank the person who stopped it, and never ask them to justify it. Reinforce the stop signal for the whole group. If a member touched beyond agreement, address it privately and then as a group rule. Repeated violation excludes that person from contact tasks. Document it.
• Scapegoating and splitting, which are likely in the confrontation and socio-dynamic tasks. Protect the targeted member: change pairings, and name the pattern as a group phenomenon rather than the individual's fault. With borderline personality disorder patients, keep rules and structure explicit and predictable.
• Non-attendance and non-adherence. CMT is part of a programme. Clarify the indication with the referring team. Ask what the patient anticipates in the group, often shame about the body or being seen. Offer a graded start: attend, observe one session, then take part in low-demand tasks.
• Ruptures with the therapist ("this is childish", "you made me do it"). Take the criticism seriously and acknowledge your part, for example a task set too early. Hear it as transference material too, and explore it once the immediate repair is done. Keep abstinence: do not defend the method at length.
• Physical limitations, pain or medical risk. Every task should have a seated or reduced variant. When in doubt, ask the medical team. Never turn a task into fitness training. Set no exercise or weight targets.
• Open groups: newcomers and leavers. Newcomers re-start orientation; give them an orientation-level role within the current task. Mark every departure with a farewell ritual (4.18), so that leaving is not repeated as an unnoticed loss.
• Name confusion with Konzentrative Bewegungstherapie. Both are abbreviated "KBT" in German clinics. When reading a report or writing a referral, state the full name. [source: Leipzig handout 2025; Schreiber-Willnow 2000/2010 excerpt]
• Therapist over-involvement. Join tasks only when needed, for example to make up an even number. You cannot observe while fully participating. Use supervision for countertransference reactions, such as liking the "good movers" or irritation with a refuser.
• Suicidality or self-harm disclosed in the talk phase. Follow your service's standard risk-assessment procedure the same day. Do not continue high-demand tasks with that patient until their risk has been reviewed.
• Not given in the published sources used here [uncertain]: group size figures (treated in 2011 §5.1 and the earlier monograph §6.3); precise indication and contraindication criteria (2011 §1.3); how the founders handle touch and consent (no section on it in either table of contents); session duration and count; explicit criteria for moving between phases; and the earlier monograph's author, year and publisher. Consult Wilda-Kiesel et al. (2011), chs. 1, 5 and 7–12, before adopting the method formally.

Sources

Web sources:

• Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie (Huber 2011): table of contents with page numbers and foreword credits, retailer preview (Lehmanns).
• Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie (Huber 2011): the publisher's description, as reproduced in a retailer catalogue listing (eBay).
• Haas, R. (17 Oct 2011). Review of A. Wilda-Kiesel, A. Tögel & U. Wutzler, Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie (Huber 2011). socialnet Rezensionen, cited as "Haas 2011 review".
• Earlier monograph on Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie, full table of contents with page numbers (UB Paderborn digital collection). Title page not included; author, year and publisher not visible. A GDR origin is inferred from a section on psychotherapy in the GDR [uncertain].
• Universitätsklinikum Leipzig, Reha in der Psychosomatik: Einführung in die Komplementärtherapien, handout SS 2025
• Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Workshop S3 (Sandy Marx), 2025
• Schreiber-Willnow, Körper-, Selbst- und Gruppenerleben in der stationären Konzentrativen Bewegungstherapie (reading sample). Used only to distinguish Konzentrative Bewegungstherapie.

Books cited:

• Wilda-Kiesel, A., Tögel, A., & Wutzler, U. (2011). Kommunikative Bewegungstherapie: Brücke zwischen Psychotherapie und Körpertherapie. Bern: Huber. 287 pp., ISBN 978-3-456-84865-5.
• Schreiber-Willnow, K. (2000; 3rd ed. 2010). Körper-, Selbst- und Gruppenerleben in der stationären Konzentrativen Bewegungstherapie. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag.

The spelling "Kurt Höck" is used throughout; the Lehmanns table of contents renders the name as "Hück", apparently an OCR error [uncertain].