Working with Traumatic Memories to Heal Adults with Unresolved Childhood Trauma: Neuroscience, Attachment Theory and Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Psychotherapy

305 Pages·2016·2.95 MB·English

by  Jonathan Baylin

WORKING WITH TRAUMATIC
MEMORIES TO HEAL ADULTS WITH
UNRESOLVED CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
of related interest
Theory and Practice of Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy
Beyond the Talking Cure
Edited by Greg Madison
Foreword by Eugene Gendlin
ISBN 978 1 84905 324 2
eISBN 978 0 85700 782 7
Emerging Practice in Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy
Innovative Theory and Applications
Edited by Greg Madison
Foreword by Mary Hendricks-Gendlin
ISBN 978 1 84905 371 6
eISBN 978 0 85700 722 3
Neuroscience for Counsellors
Practical Applications for Counsellors, Therapists
and Mental Health Practitioners
Rachal Zara Wilson
ISBN 978 1 84905 488 1
eISBN 978 0 85700 894 7
Counselling Skills for Working with Trauma
Healing From Child Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse
Christiane Sanderson
ISBN 978 1 84905 326 6
eISBN 978 0 85700 743 8
Counselling Skills for Working with Shame
Christiane Sanderson
ISBN 978 1 84905 562 8
eISBN 978 1 78450 001 6
WORKING WITH
TRAUMATIC MEMORIES
TO HEAL ADULTS
WITH UNRESOLVED
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
NEUROSCIENCE, ATTACHMENT THEORY
AND PESSO BOYDEN SYSTEM
PSYCHOMOTOR PSYCHOTHERAPY
Petra Winnette and Jonathan Baylin
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
Photo of Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso on page 257 courtesy of Petra Winnette.
First published in 2017
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Petra Winnette and Jonathan Baylin 2017
Front cover image source: Petra Winnette.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the
provisions of the law or under terms of a licence issued in the UK by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in overseas territories by the relevant
reproduction rights organisation, for details see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the
copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should
be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in
both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Winnette, Petra, author. | Baylin, Jonathan F., author.
Title: Treating adults with unresolved childhood trauma : a mind-body and
brain-based approach / Petra Winnette and Jonathan Baylin.
Description: London ; Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016023366 | ISBN 9781849057240 (alk. paper)
Subjects: | MESH: Stress Disorders, Traumatic--therapy | Adult Survivors of
Child Adverse Events--psychology | Psychotherapy--methods
Classification: LCC RC552.P67 | NLM WM 172.5 | DDC 616.85/210651--dc23 LC
record available at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-
3A__lccn.loc.gov_2016023366&d=BQIFAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-
v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=9mHiSDoCvT5cZBRZ6X2fs9G2VQ_rSWeSJ7D9vRQBh-
s&m=bQo0E5xaYsj85qN5rqWdv_oOr_G-
ufzK_Oxcge7wQMY&s=rvIlzF8t3vEm_
UYKUIqkVnrvgYMUu8Reh4NmPTWbpUg&e=
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84905 724 0
eISBN 978 1 78450 182 2
I would like to dedicate this book to Albert Pesso,
my great teacher and supervisor. He had a life-changing
influence on me and the way I understand the meaning
of working with people and psychotherapy itself.
Petra Winette
I would like to dedicate this book to the main author,
Petra, and to the memory of the Pessos, who passed
away before I had the privilege of meeting them.
Jon Baylin

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 15
Organisation of the book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Clarification of language . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Part I: Background 21
1. When Things Go Right
Developing Brain, Mind and Self in Good Care. . . . . . . . . 23
Petra Winnette
How the brain develops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Memory: The basis for learning
and understanding the world. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 27
The role of memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The hierarchic development of memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Attachment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 31
Attunement and the child’s sense of self . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Feeling secure with my parent: A secure attachment style. . . . . 32
Adults and attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Secure attachment in childhood and a secure, autonomous
state of mind in adulthood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 33
Adulthood and a safe model of autonomous life . . . . . . . . . 34
Window to Neurobiology of Good Care . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Jon Baylin
Building brain bridges in stages:
Vertical, horizontal, lateral . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Social buffering: The neurobiology
of parent–child bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Behavioural epigenetics: The hot science
of experience-dependent development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The self-reflection system: Safe to be introspective . . . . . . . . 40
Social development as a whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2. When Things Go Wrong
Developing Brain, Mind and Self in Poor Care . . . . . . . . .45
Petra Winnette
Early trauma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 45
Healthy balance versus stress. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 46
Insecure attachment style and state
of mind in respect to attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Trauma and developmental trauma. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 52
Serial traumatic experiences in childhood:
Developmental trauma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The relationship between developmental
trauma and PTSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Memory and trauma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Adults with unresolved developmental trauma . . . . . . . . . . 56
Window to Neurobiology of Poor Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Jon Baylin
The midbrain defence system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 58
Neuroception and social switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Suppression of social emotions
in favour of asocial feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dissociation: How opioids promote emotional numbing . . . . . 61
Suppression of reflective functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3. Children, Adults and Therapeutic Change
Who Are the Clients with Unresolved
Developmental Trauma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Petra Winnette
Developmental trauma disorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Developmental trauma in adulthood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Degree of unresolved developmental
trauma: Clients are on a spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The core of developmental trauma: The sense of self. . . . . . . 70
Treating unresolved developmental trauma. . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Treating children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The healing power of a secure base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
PACE and PLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Therapeutic parenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Treatment options for Clara as a child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Treatment options for Paul as a child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The surprising, new experience of a safe haven. . . . . . . . . . 77
I need to be a baby again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 77
Core principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 80
Treating the developing mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Treating adults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 81
Development through the life span:
The interplay of nature and nurture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Nature and nurture in psychotherapy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor therapy . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Window to Neurobiology of Therapeutic Change. . . . . . . . 85
Jon Baylin
Neurobiology of trauma-focused treatment with adults . . . . . 85
Awakening the client’s brain, bottom up and top down . . . . . 86
Social buffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Procedural and structural safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Creating new relational experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Safety to go inside: Activating the default mode network . . . . 88
Part II: Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor
as a Therapeutic System 91
4. Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy (PBSP)
An Innovative Psychotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Petra Winnette
The authors and the evolution of PBSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
PBSP theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Autonomy: An independent life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
The therapeutic content of PBSP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
PBSP therapeutic process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 115
Window to Neurobiology of Change in Pesso Boyden
System Psychomotor Therapy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Jon Baylin
Neural integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Experiencing the unknown: Being
loved, accepted, safe and good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127