About PBSP

WHAT IS PBSP?   

Created in 1961 by Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) is the most advanced therapeutic system available for emotional re-education or reprogramming. PBSP heals past emotional deficits using unique processes called ‘Structures’ and ‘Microtracking™’ that help clients to identify emotional deficits and create ‘new memories’. These ‘new memories’ provide symbolic fulfillment of the basic developmental needs of place, nurture, support, protection and limits. With the inclusion of ‘Holes and Roles,’ the latest innovation in PBSP theory and technique, therapists learn how to provide a highly effective and streamlined approach to reducing resistance, negative transference, and physical overload.  Many aspects of PBSP theories and techniques have close parallels in recent neuroscience findings about mirror neurons, empathy, morality, and the impact of language on the theory of mind.  

To learn more about PBSP theory and techniques click here.

In her book, ‘Secrets, Lies, & Betrayals: The Body/Mind Connection,’ Maggie Scarf devotes three chapters to PBSP characterizing it as ‘one of the most remarkably compelling of the alternative (power) therapies.’

 

WHAT CAN PBSP BE USED FOR?  

PBSP has been found to be highly effective in the treatment of anxiety, depression, sexual, drug, and alcohol abuse, and many other traumas. It has been employed in family therapy, couples therapy, pastoral counseling, and executive coaching. In 2009, the international humanitarian organization, GTZ, began a program with Al Pesso’s guidance to adapt PBSP to address the traumas of rape and violence in the DRC.  Therapists utilizing PBSP techniques can help clients to create happier, healthier, more productive, and hope-filled lives. Widely known as “the therapists’ therapy,” many therapists turn to PBSP for their own personal work.

To learn more about the PBSP therapy experience from the client perspective, click here.  To find certified PBSP therapists click here.

“If you want to really learn how to work on family of origin issues, and how to use body information in your therapy, go straight to PBSP and the foremost therapist in that field, Al Pesso.” Gus Napier, Ph.D., author of ‘The Family Crucible’ & ‘The Fragile Bond.’

 

WHERE HAS PBSP BEEN PRACTICED & TAUGHT? 

Thousands of therapists have trained in PBSP and it is now practiced by certified PBSP therapists in the US and 11 countries worldwide.  Harvard Univ., McLean Hospital, Tufts, B.U., Univ. of Groningen, Univ. of Frieburg, Univ. of Osnabruck, and the Free University of Amsterdam are among the many institutions where lectures and programs have been offered in PBSP theories and techniques.

See how PBSP therapy techniques were adapted in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help victims of the ravages of the war recover from years of traumatic stress disorder.

Training is available in workshops, modular programs, and full certification.

“Over the past 40 years, Al Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso have perfected an extraordinarily effective technique, PBSP, providing people with experiences that were missing during their growth and development. The artistry of [the PBSP] ‘structure’ can be a unique and profoundly life-altering experience.”  Bessel van der Kolk, Best-selling author of “The Body Keeps the Score” in which he writes about PBSP.