Atlas›Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy›Guide 036
Guide IV-036

Functional psychotherapy

Luciano Rispoli1993Italy
A 28 · L 46 · M 2624 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Luciano Rispoli's Functional Psychotherapy (Psicoterapia Funzionale), also called Neo-Functionalism (Neo-Funzionalismo), as taught by the European School of Functional Psychotherapy (Scuola Europea di Psicoterapia Funzionale, SEF). Sources: Rispoli's books (2004 / English edition 2008; 2016; 2024), the SEF journal (2012) and SEF trainers Pedrelli & Sabella (2020). It originates in Italy. The SEF headquarters city (Naples) and the founding year are [uncertain].

Source access. Only publisher previews (front matter, table of contents and opening chapters), the SEF journal overview and two short articles could be opened. Rispoli's chapters on method and technique (2004 ch. 8–10; 2016 ch. 8–9; 2024 ch. 8–10) were not available. Section 4 therefore names only what the sources describe. Every step-by-step procedure in it is my own operationalisation and is marked [synthesis]. Before using the model clinically, read those chapters or train with SEF.

What it is. Functional Psychotherapy is an integrative body-oriented psychotherapy. It is also a general psychological model of development, called Functional Psychology, which Rispoli developed from 1993 [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]. The model treats the person as one organism made of interconnected Functions, grouped descriptively on four planes:

  • cognitive-symbolic;
  • emotional;
  • postural-muscular;
  • physiological, covering neurovegetative, endocrine and immune functions.

No plane controls the others from above. Mind and body are seen as integrated from birth, not joined later in development [source: Rispoli 2016 preview; Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].

How change happens. Healthy development depends on Basic Experiences of the Self (Esperienze Basilari del Sé, EBS). Examples are being held, letting go, contact, tenderness, calm strength and control. Each EBS is a configuration of Functions across all four planes, built up through repeated experiences in which needs are adequately met. Distress arises when EBS are missing or altered and the person's Functions settle into fixed, stereotyped patterns. Rispoli calls the bodily side of these patterns "peripheral memory" (memoria periferica) [source: Rispoli 2016 preview; SEF 2012].

Therapy works directly on the underlying "funzionamenti di fondo" (basic functionings) on all planes at once. The aim is to rebuild the missing or altered experiences inside a real therapeutic relationship, not only to gain insight into them or express them [source: Rispoli 2024 preview; SEF 2012].

2. Framework

Overall arc. Rispoli's 2004 manual is organised around three steps [source: Rispoli 2004, table of contents]:

  1. Functional diagnosis: assessment form (scheda di valutazione), functional diagram and polar diagram.
  2. Therapeutic plan.
  3. Therapeutic process: "phases and therapeutic modalities", "signs to observe", "observation and diagnostic criteria" and "verification criteria".

The content of the phases is not drawn on here. The sequence below is built from those headings, the SEF counselling steps and the 2004 case chapter, which runs diagnosis, functional diagram, recurring threads, treatment plan, course of therapy [uncertain on phase names; structure synthesised].

Phase A: Reception and functional assessment (first sessions) [source: SEF 2012; Rispoli 2004 TOC; Rispoli 2016]

  • Goals:
    • Welcome the problem and its history.
    • Examine the symptoms.
    • Identify the general stress state and which EBS are altered or missing.
    • Map the Functions on all four planes, noting which are enlarged, shrunken or rigid. Rispoli draws these as circles of different size in a diagram of the Self.
  • Observe: basal muscle tone, breathing, movement, posture, tactile and pain perception, inner proprioception, sleep and eating, voice, gaze, silences and gestures.

Phase B: Functional reformulation and plan [source: SEF 2012; Rispoli 2004 TOC]

  • Goals:
    • Give the client feedback that restates the problem in terms of underlying functioning, not symptoms.
    • Decide whether the alterations are limited and recoverable in a short time. If so, use functional counselling. If not, use psychotherapy.
    • Set a plan that names the target EBS and the order in which to work on them (the 2004 TOC lists "sequence").

Phase C: Therapeutic process, rebuilding EBS [source: Rispoli 2004 TOC; Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]

  • Goals:
    • Recreate each target EBS in session, working at the same time on breath, muscle tone, posture and movement, sensation, voice, gaze, touch and contact, emotion and beliefs.
    • Keep the work going until the new configuration of Functions becomes stable and available outside the session.
  • The 2004 TOC lists "evaluation and regularities" and "verification criteria". Their content is not drawn on here [uncertain].

Phase D: Consolidation and ending [synthesis]

  • Goals:
    • Check that changes hold across contexts. Rispoli contrasts basic functionings with context-specific behaviour (2016 ch. 9 title).
    • Review the functional diagram against the baseline.

Format and dose

  • Settings described in the sources:
    • individual adult therapy;
    • child and adolescent therapy;
    • prevention work in schools, using "functional and school observation forms";
    • groups, which Pedrelli & Sabella describe as useful "when carefully guided";
    • short functional counselling;
    • stress work, including organisational stress, for which SEF 2012 describes a 45-item questionnaire scored 1 (most altered) to 4 (fullest).
  • [source: Rispoli 2004 TOC; Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; SEF 2012]
  • No standard session count was found [uncertain]. A process-outcome study used at least 9 months of treatment [source: Perrella 2017].
  • Sessions combine talk with body work (breath, posture, movement, touch, voice) on all planes in the same session [source: Rispoli 2024; SEF 2012].

Criteria for moving on [synthesis, from the source concepts]

  • Phase A to B: You can name the altered EBS and show which Functions on each plane carry them.
  • Phase B to C: The client understands the functional reformulation and agrees to body-inclusive work, including any touch.
  • Within Phase C, from one EBS to the next:
    • The client can enter the target experience with its typical functions present on all four planes, for example slow diaphragmatic breathing, softened tone and an open gaze for Contact.
    • The client can do this without defensive bracing.
    • Changes appear in daily-life reports.
  • Phase C to D: Fixed patterns such as chronic hypertonia, held breathing or stereotyped posture have loosened, and the target EBS are available outside sessions.

3. Guiding principles

[source for each line in brackets]

  • Functions, not parts. Assess and intervene on Functions that express the whole Self, not on isolated body parts or symptoms. In practice, one altered Function, such as breathing, points to an EBS to work on. [Rispoli 2016; 2024]
  • No hierarchy between mind and body. Never assume talk alone will reorganise the body, or the reverse. Plan interventions on several planes. [Rispoli 2016; 2024]
  • Original integration. Development is integrated from birth, and needs that are met (not frustration) build capacities. The therapist provides adequate experiences rather than frustrating ones to "strengthen" the client. [Rispoli 2024; SEF 2012]
  • Work on basic functionings (funzionamenti di fondo). Target the few essential variables of a way of functioning, not context-specific behaviours. In practice, ask "which EBS is missing?" before "which behaviour should change?" [Rispoli 2024]
  • Intervene on all levels of the Self together. One session should touch breath, tone, posture, sensation, emotion and meaning, not only one channel. [Rispoli 2004 TOC; Rispoli 2024; SEF 2012]
  • Moving the body is not enough. The goal is to change dysfunctional patterns, not to discharge emotion. Avoid catharsis for its own sake. [Rispoli 2024]
  • The relationship is real, not "come se" (as-if). What happens between therapist and client is a new real experience, not only a symbolic replay of the past. Offer genuine contact, warmth and firmness. [SEF 2012]
  • Change the functioning, not only its representation. Insight and reframing are not the end point. Check whether the bodily and physiological configuration has actually changed. [SEF 2012]
  • Polarities are complementary. Pairs such as love and hate or strength and fragility are poles to be lived fully, not conflicts to resolve. Help the client reach the missing pole rather than suppress the over-used one. [SEF 2012]
  • Well-being is a goal in itself. Aim for positive experiences such as calm, pleasure, vitality and tenderness, not only symptom removal. [SEF 2012]
  • Stress harms when functioning is already altered. Treat vulnerability to stress through the underlying EBS, not only by reducing stressors. [SEF 2012]
  • Rebuilding rules. The 2004 TOC headings are core layers, configuration of functions, old traces, small steps, redundancy and clarity, precision and detail, completeness and sequence. Their content is not drawn on here [uncertain]. My operational reading [synthesis]:
    • Start from the deepest missing experience.
    • Recreate all its functions, not just one.
    • Expect old traces to resurface.
    • Advance in small steps.
    • Repeat the experience clearly and unambiguously.
    • Be precise about posture, rhythm and touch.
    • Follow a deliberate order of EBS.
  • The body is not "the truth". Do not read bodily signs as infallible. Check them against what the client says and feels. [Perrella 2017]
  • Link words to the induced experience. Change is marked when the client connects what they say to the bodily experience the therapist induced in session. Always talk the exercise through afterwards. [Perrella 2017]
  • Non-defensive sensing. Help clients treat inner signals as part of themselves, not as threats. The therapist stays present with distressing sensations, tolerates them and acknowledges them. [Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]
  • Touch and body work require consent and training [synthesis, safety rule]. Explain any touch first, ask, offer a no-touch alternative and agree a stop signal. Check in during and after. Practise touch only with specific training and supervision, and within what your licence and jurisdiction allow.

4. Intervention inventory

Read this first. The sources name these interventions and their aims. They do not publish SEF's step-by-step technique protocols; those sit in book chapters not drawn on here [uncertain].

  • The "Steps" below are my own practical operationalisation and are marked [synthesis] unless a source is given. They stay within what the sources describe and add no named SEF techniques.
  • All example language is my own wording (illustrative).
  • For every touch item, use the consent sequence in 4.0 [synthesis].
  • Touch requires specific training and supervision, and a check of what your licence and jurisdiction allow.

4.0 Consent and safety routine for any body or touch work [synthesis]

  • Purpose: Make body-inclusive work safe and voluntary. The SEF sources do not set out a consent procedure.
  • Steps:
    1. In the first session, explain that the work includes breath, posture, movement, voice, gaze and possibly touch, and that each part is optional.
    2. Screen before any breath or intense body work. Ask about:
      • pregnancy;
      • heart or respiratory illness;
      • epilepsy;
      • recent injury or surgery;
      • psychosis;
      • severe dissociation;
      • active suicidality;
      • recent trauma without stabilisation;
      • a history of touch-related abuse.
    3. Before each touch exercise:
      • Say exactly where your hand will go (hands, forearms, shoulders, upper back), how and for how long.
      • Ask for a yes.
      • Offer a no-touch version, such as self-touch, touching a cushion, or the therapist's hand held near but not touching.
      • Agree a stop signal, such as a word or a raised hand.
    4. During touch, check in briefly. Remove your hand at once on the signal or on any sign of freezing.
    5. Afterwards, talk it through: what was felt, what was too much, and what to change next time.
    6. Never use touch to the chest, abdomen, thighs or face without explicit, specific consent and a clear clinical reason. Never use sexual or genital touch.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'd like to put my hand flat between your shoulder blades for about a minute while you breathe. You can say no, or we can do it with your own hand instead. If you want me to stop, just say 'stop'. Is that OK?"
  • Watch for:
    • compliance without real agreement;
    • holding the breath;
    • a fixed gaze;
    • delayed or flat answers.
    Any of these means pause and return to talking.

4.1 Functional observation of the four planes

  • Purpose: Build the functional picture of the Self, as the basis for diagnosis and for choosing the EBS to work on [source: Rispoli 2016; SEF 2012; Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
  • Steps:
    1. While taking the history, observe Functions on four planes:
      • Postural-muscular: basal muscle tone, posture, stereotyped or rigid movements, gestures.
      • Physiological: breathing (high/thoracic or held vs. slow/diaphragmatic), signs of sympathetic arousal, sweating, skin, sleep, eating, tactile and pain perception (often raised thresholds in depression).
      • Emotional: calm, irritability, tenderness, joy, emptiness.
      • Cognitive-symbolic: fixed beliefs about self and others, planning that is open or closed, imagination.
    2. Note voice (tone, volume, openness), gaze (direct, avoidant, fixed), silences and how the client receives contact [source: Perrella 2017; Rispoli 2024].
    3. Look for chronic signs of stress named by SEF [source: SEF 2012]:
      • perceiving oneself as stressed;
      • closed planning;
      • chronic muscle tension;
      • sympathetic arousal;
      • stereotyped posture;
      • high or held breathing;
      • closed feelings;
      • irritability;
      • low tenderness.
    4. Record which Functions look enlarged, shrunken or rigid. Rispoli draws these as differently sized circles in a diagram of the Self [source: Rispoli 2016, fig. 1.1]. Steps 1–4 as a structured routine are [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "While you were telling me about work, I noticed your breathing stayed high in your chest and your shoulders lifted. Do you notice that too?"
  • Watch for:
    • over-interpreting single signs; the body is not "the truth" [source: Perrella 2017];
    • signs that differ between the start and end of the session.

4.2 Identifying altered Basic Experiences of the Self (functional diagnosis)

  • Purpose: Translate the observations into which EBS are missing or altered [source: SEF 2012; Rispoli 2004 TOC].
  • The EBS as listed in Rispoli 2004 [source: Rispoli 2004 TOC]:
    • being held (Tenuti);
    • being taken or picked up (Presi);
    • letting go (Lasciare);
    • contact (Contatto);
    • active contact (Contatto Attivo);
    • love (Amore);
    • sharing (Condivisione);
    • tenderness (Tenerezza);
    • being considered (Considerati);
    • vitality (Vitalità);
    • well-being (Benessere);
    • sensations (Sensazioni);
    • control (Controllo);
    • strength (Forza);
    • aggressiveness (Aggressività);
    • consistency or solidity (Consistenza);
    • affirmation (Affermazione);
    • negativity, i.e. being able to say no (Negatività);
    • autonomy (Autonomia).
  • Also named elsewhere:
    • Calm Strength (Forza Calma) [source: Rispoli 2024];
    • Receptive Contact [source: Sabella & Pedrelli 2019];
    • calm, "stare" (staying or being), loosening control, being contained, being fed and being loved [source: SEF 2012];
    • pleasure and joy [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; Rispoli 2004 publisher description].
    • Translations of Presi, Considerati and Negatività are mine [uncertain].
  • Steps:
    1. For each candidate EBS, compare the client's Functions with that experience's typical configuration (see 4.5–4.8 for the configurations the sources give).
    2. Draw a functional diagram, with the four planes and the altered Functions marked. Add the polar diagram named in Rispoli 2004. Its exact format is not described here [uncertain].
    3. Look for the "recurring threads" across the history; Rispoli 2004 uses this as a case heading.
    4. Decide whether the alterations are limited and recoverable in the short term, which points to counselling, or need psychotherapy [source: SEF 2012].
    5. Steps 1 and 3 as written are [synthesis].
  • Example (illustrative), in depression: Pedrelli & Sabella name these EBS as altered:
    • Contact;
    • Sensations;
    • strength;
    • sharing;
    • anger;
    • vitality;
    • pleasure;
    • autonomy.
  • Watch for: Diagnosing by symptom category only. SEF looks beneath classification to the underlying mechanisms [source: SEF 2012].

4.3 Functional reformulation and feedback

  • Purpose: Restate the presenting problem as an underlying functioning, so the client understands why body and relationship work will follow [source: SEF 2012].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Summarise the symptom in the client's own words.
    2. Name two or three linked Functions on different planes, such as held breath, raised shoulders and the thought "I must manage alone".
    3. Name the missing experience in plain words, for example "letting go" or "being held".
    4. Propose the first focus.
    5. Ask for the client's view.
  • Example language (illustrative): "It looks less like 'anxiety' as a thing and more like your whole system rarely gets to let go: breath, muscles, thoughts. I suggest we practise that experience here, step by step."
  • Watch for:
    • the client hearing the reformulation as blame;
    • intellectual agreement with no felt sense; add a brief body experiment to make it concrete.

4.4 General procedure for rebuilding an EBS in session

  • Purpose: The core therapeutic act, recreating a missing experience on all planes at once [source: Rispoli 2004 TOC ch. 9; Rispoli 2024; SEF 2012].
  • Steps [synthesis, organised by the 2004 headings]:
    1. Choose one EBS from the plan, starting with the most basic layer.
    2. List its target Functions on each plane.
    3. Set up the physical frame: client lying, sitting or standing; distance; whether touch is agreed (4.0).
    4. Introduce one channel at a time in small steps: for example breath first, then tone, then gaze, then voice, then touch.
    5. Repeat the same clear sequence across sessions (redundancy). Be precise about rhythm, pressure and duration (precision).
    6. When old traces surface (an old pain, memory or reflexive bracing), stay with them and acknowledge them, then return to the target experience [source for staying with sensations: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    7. Close the experience: slowly return to sitting, re-orient and talk it through. Link what was said to what was felt [source: Perrella 2017].
    8. Note the changes in each Function for the verification criteria.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's stay with just the breath for now, low and slow. Good. Now, keeping that, let your gaze rest on me. What do you notice?"
  • Watch for:
    • one-channel change, for example a calm voice with a held breath; this means the experience is not yet complete;
    • forcing pace;
    • the client performing "well-being" to please the therapist.

4.5 Rebuilding Contact (including Receptive and Active Contact)

  • Purpose: Restore the experience of mutual closeness [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; Sabella & Pedrelli 2019]. This means:
    • pleasure in being together and feeling someone is with you;
    • empathy;
    • no demand to give or do anything;
    • the creation of "a we".
  • When to use:
    • depression;
    • loneliness;
    • difficulty giving or receiving affection;
    • when closeness no longer brings pleasure.
  • Target configuration [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020, fig. 2]:
    • Emotional: tenderness, peace of mind, contentment.
    • Gaze: open and welcoming.
    • Posture and movement: soft postures, flowing movement.
    • Touch and tone: full touch, relaxed muscle tone.
    • Breath: open diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing.
    • Voice: slow and clear, with few words.
    • Sensations: flowing.
  • Receptive and Active Contact: these are asymmetric forms. Attention shifts to what happens in the person receiving and in the person giving [source: Sabella & Pedrelli 2019]. SEF teaches "a sequence" of Contact techniques "with attention to various types of touch". The sequence itself is not described here [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Do the consent routine (4.0). Agree the form of contact: hands resting on hands, the therapist's palm on the client's forearm or upper back, or no-touch proximity.
    2. The client sits or lies comfortably. Invite slow abdominal breathing for 1–2 minutes.
    3. Receptive phase: the therapist offers still, full, warm touch, with no pressure or movement, for 1–3 minutes. The client's task is only to notice receiving, with no need to respond.
    4. Active phase (another session, or later in the same one): the client gives contact, for example placing a hand on the therapist's forearm. The client notices giving without having to perform.
    5. Add an open gaze and a few slow words only if the client stays relaxed.
    6. Close by slowly withdrawing touch. Sit up, then talk it through: "What was it like to receive without having to give back?"
  • Example language (illustrative): "You don't have to do anything for me now. Just notice my hand there and your breath."
  • Watch for:
    • "shifty, elusive" touch, where the client pulls away or touches with fingertips only [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020];
    • holding the breath;
    • jokes;
    • rushing to give back.
    It is working when breathing deepens, tone softens, the gaze stays open and the client reports pleasure or calm in closeness. Embrace is mentioned only "if appropriate" [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]. Use it only with explicit consent, training and a clear clinical reason [synthesis].

4.6 Rebuilding Sensations (internal proprioception)

  • Purpose: Restore the ability to perceive oneself, others and the world through bodily signals, and to treat them as information rather than threats [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
  • Two alterations to target [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]:
    • sensory "anaesthesia", where sensations go unfelt;
    • over-reliance on old, familiar sensory patterns, which leaves little room for new learning.
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. The client sits or lies down with eyes open or closed, as they prefer.
    2. Guide attention slowly through the body, region by region, asking only "what do you notice?"
    3. When a signal appears, for example tight throat, stomach pain, dizziness, floating or expansion, ask the client to describe its size, temperature and movement. These examples come from Pedrelli & Sabella.
    4. Invite the client to voice the sensation aloud, using the voice as an amplifier [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    5. If old pains surface, acknowledge them and keep them connected to the present, more resourced Self [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    6. Close by noticing feet, seat and breath, then talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "That tightness in your throat is something your body is telling you. We don't have to make it go away, just get to know it."
  • Watch for:
    • defensive narrowing;
    • intellectual labels instead of sensations;
    • numbness spreading.
    It is working when the client notices finer and more varied sensations and can stay with them without alarm.

4.7 Rebuilding Calm Strength (Forza Calma)

  • Purpose: Restore firm, non-agitated self-assertion [source: Rispoli 2024].
  • When to use: low self-esteem, submissiveness, or explosive anger. Anger often blocks Calm Strength [source: Rispoli 2024].
  • Target configuration [source: Rispoli 2024]:
    • Voice: open and resonant.
    • Gaze: direct.
    • Posture and tone: upright posture, slight muscular tension.
    • Physiology: mild sympathetic activation, diaphragmatic breathing.
    • Emotion and self-view: calm combined with power, good self-esteem.
    • Movement: firm, not agitated.
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. The client stands with feet hip-width apart and knees soft.
    2. Build diaphragmatic breathing first.
    3. Add an upright spine and a slight, steady tension in the legs and trunk, not bracing.
    4. The client looks directly at the therapist and holds the gaze calmly.
    5. Add a short, firm statement in an open voice, for example "I'm here" or "No", repeated several times without shouting.
    6. If anger or agitation rises, return to the breath and slow the movement.
    7. Close sitting down and talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Say it again, but slower and lower, as if you don't need to convince anyone."
  • Watch for:
    • escalation into rage or shouting; this is discharge, not Calm Strength;
    • collapse of posture;
    • a fixed stare instead of a direct gaze.
    It is working when the voice resonates and the breath stays low while the client is assertive.

4.8 Letting go, calm and loosening control

  • Purpose: Restore recovery processes in chronic stress and over-control [source: SEF 2012; Rispoli 2004 TOC].
  • Experiences targeted [source: SEF 2012]:
    • Lasciare (letting go);
    • Calma;
    • Stare;
    • Allentare il controllo (loosening control);
    • Benessere.
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. The client lies on a mat or sits supported.
    2. Slow the exhale and let the pause after it lengthen naturally.
    3. With consent, the therapist supports the weight of a forearm or the head with flat hands. The client practises letting the weight go, a little more each time.
    4. Name and allow small involuntary movements or sighs.
    5. Close slowly, check for dizziness, then talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let me take the weight of your arm. You don't need to help me. Notice if your arm wants to hold on."
  • Watch for:
    • the client "helping", for example lifting the arm themselves;
    • anxiety at losing control;
    • dissociation (glazed eyes, delayed replies).
    For those, go back to eyes-open work. It is working when the weight is given, the breath deepens and the client reports rest.

4.9 Tenderness, contentment and emotional work

  • Purpose [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]:
    • Restore contentment, joy and a sense of peace, and let go of chronic emptiness.
    • Develop tenderness towards oneself in place of harsh self-judgment.
    • Replace loneliness with mutual closeness.
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. After a Contact or Letting-go experience, invite the client to notice any warmth or ease.
    2. Ask them to direct the same quality of slow, soft touch to their own forearm or chest, with a soft voice.
    3. Contrast this with their usual inner critical voice. Notice the bodily difference, then talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Could you speak to yourself now in the same tone I used with you?"
  • Watch for: shame or tears of grief. Stay with them, do not hurry back to positivity. It is working when self-talk softens in the session and in reports from daily life.

4.10 Breath reshaping

  • Purpose: Move breathing from shallow, held ("apnea") or high thoracic patterns towards deep, broad, slow diaphragmatic breathing. The authors link this to vagal tone and relaxation [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; SEF 2012]. SEF names breathing as a key regulator to work on through "specific techniques" [source: SEF 2012]. Those techniques are not described here [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. The client lies or sits with one hand on the abdomen and one on the chest.
    2. Observe without changing for 1 minute.
    3. Invite a slightly longer, unforced exhale, letting the abdomen rise on the in-breath.
    4. Continue for 3–5 minutes, then link it to the target EBS.
    5. With consent, the therapist's flat hand resting on the upper back or lower ribs can give a reference point.
  • Screening: this is gentle slow breathing, not intensification. Still ask about:
    • respiratory or heart illness;
    • pregnancy;
    • panic about breath focus.
    Stop if the client feels dizzy or tingly, a sign of over-breathing [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "No need to breathe deeply. Just let the out-breath be a bit longer and see what follows."
  • Watch for:
    • effortful deep breathing;
    • breath-holding;
    • dizziness.

4.11 Voice work

  • Purpose: Move the voice from low or strident to soft and open, as in Contact, or open and resonant, as in Calm Strength. Use the voice to amplify feeling and self-perception [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; Rispoli 2024].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Start from a sound on the out-breath, such as a hum or "ah".
    2. Then a single word, then a short phrase linked to the EBS.
    3. Vary volume and pace until the voice matches the target configuration.
    4. Talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let a sound come out on the out-breath, any sound. Now a little more open."
  • Watch for:
    • a strained throat;
    • embarrassment; lower your own voice to match first;
    • shouting, which is not the aim.

4.12 Gaze work

  • Purpose: Gaze is part of each EBS configuration: an open, welcoming look in Contact; a direct look in Calm Strength [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; Rispoli 2024]. No separate SEF gaze technique was found [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Inside an ongoing EBS exercise, invite brief eye contact.
    2. The client can look away whenever they wish.
    3. Lengthen the contact gradually across sessions.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Look at me only as long as it feels fine, then look away. That's part of it."
  • Watch for:
    • staring;
    • freezing;
    • the breath stopping when eyes meet.

4.13 Posture and movement opening

  • Purpose: Open what is closed, narrow, rigid or still; replace stereotyped postures and repetitive movements with soft, flowing or firm movement as the EBS requires [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; Rispoli 2016].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Mirror the client's habitual posture back, by describing it or by the therapist adopting it.
    2. Explore a small change, such as opening the chest, lowering the shoulders or widening the arms.
    3. Explore slow movement, for example reaching out and returning, at the client's pace.
    4. Compare how each feels, then talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Try letting your arms open slowly, as far as feels OK, then bring them back. Again, a little slower."
  • Watch for: pain, and the posture snapping back. Check for recent injury or surgery before larger movements [synthesis].

4.14 Muscle tone and peripheral memory

  • Purpose: Loosen chronic hypertonia and the fixed bodily patterns Rispoli calls peripheral memory [source: Rispoli 2016; SEF 2012]. No deep-tissue procedure is described here [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Use gentle approaches only: alternate slight contraction and release in one area.
    2. With consent, resting, not kneading, touch on the shoulders or upper back while the client lets go.
    3. Then notice the tone afterwards.
    4. Do not do deep-tissue work without specific training.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Tighten your shoulders a little, hold, and now let them go, more slowly than you think."
  • Watch for: pain, emotional flooding as tension releases, numbness. Slow down, return to breath and talk it through.

4.15 Changing the quality of touch

  • Purpose: Move the client's way of touching and being touched from "shifty, elusive" to full participation, including a close embrace where appropriate [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Do the consent routine (4.0).
    2. Start with palm-to-palm contact. Ask the client to notice whether they touch with fingertips or the whole hand, and whether their attention leaves the hand.
    3. Invite them to let the whole palm rest and to stay with it for 30–60 seconds.
    4. Swap who initiates.
    5. Consider an embrace only after many safe experiences, only when the client asks for it or explicitly agrees to it, and never as a therapist's need.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Notice where your attention is right now: in your hand, or somewhere else?"
  • Watch for:
    • compliance;
    • erotic or confused transference;
    • freezing.
    Any of these means stopping touch and discussing it. Keep supervision notes on all touch.

4.16 Cognitive work on fossilised beliefs

  • Purpose: Loosen rigid beliefs and schemas about self and others, and make room for change in the body [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]. The work aims to help the client:
    • see that not everything about them is negative;
    • value what they have achieved and their resources;
    • learn that closeness can be safe and empathy possible;
    • loosen control.
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Identify the belief that accompanies the bodily pattern, for example "if I let go, everything collapses".
    2. Test it directly in a body experiment, such as 4.8.
    3. Ask what actually happened and compare it with the belief.
    4. Record new evidence, including resources the client has shown.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You expected to fall apart when you gave me the weight of your arm. What actually happened?"
  • Watch for: purely verbal disputing with no body anchor. The model expects change on several planes together [source: Rispoli 2024].

4.17 Linking words to the experience induced in session

  • Purpose: Consolidate change. Perrella observed change when the client "becomes conscious" that their words are linked to the bodily experience the therapist induced [source: Perrella 2017].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. After every exercise, ask the client for:
      • one sensation;
      • one feeling;
      • one thought;
      • one link to daily life.
    2. Reflect these back using the four planes.
  • Example language (illustrative): "So the warmth in your chest, the feeling of being less alone and the thought 'maybe I can ask for help' came together. Where else could that happen this week?"
  • Watch for: generic answers such as "it was nice". Ask for detail.

4.18 "Discover the world with your hands"

  • Purpose: A Functional Psychology technique named by SEF trainers in relation to Contact and Sensations, presented at the 2018 Berlin congress [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]. No procedure is published in the source [uncertain]. Do not use the name for an exercise you improvise.
  • Steps: Not found. A conservative proxy consistent with the stated aim [synthesis]: the client, eyes open or closed, explores objects of different texture with the hands, slowly. They report sensations rather than names of objects, then talk it through.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Not what it is, but how it feels: warm, rough, heavy?"
  • Watch for: the client naming instead of sensing; anxiety with eyes closed, in which case keep the eyes open.

4.19 "Discover the other with touch and movement" (group)

  • Purpose: A second named technique for Contact, used in carefully guided groups [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020]. No procedure is published in the source [uncertain].
  • Steps: Not found. If adapting [synthesis]:
    1. Use pairs only, with consent from both people.
    2. Allow hands and forearms only.
    3. Give everyone an opt-out role, such as observer.
    4. Set a clear stop signal.
    5. Keep each round short.
    6. Finish with a group talk-through.
  • Watch for:
    • group pressure to participate;
    • pairing people with a power difference;
    • a trauma history.

4.20 Functional counselling (short format)

  • Purpose: A brief intervention for limited, recoverable alterations [source: SEF 2012].
  • Steps [source: SEF 2012; the session-by-session split is my synthesis]:
    1. Welcome the problem and its history.
    2. Examine the symptoms.
    3. Identify the stress state and the altered EBS.
    4. Decide whether the alterations are limited and recoverable in a short time.
    5. Reformulate the problem and give feedback in terms of underlying functioning (4.3).
    6. Work on one or two EBS with simple body experiences (4.8, 4.10).
  • Watch for: EBS alterations turning out to be broader than first assessed. If so, refer on to psychotherapy.

4.21 Child and adolescent therapy and parent work

  • Purpose: Provide missing basic experiences in development. Examples are containment, contact, joy, tenderness and calm strength [source: Rispoli 2004 publisher description and TOC ch. 13; Rispoli 2008].
  • Early signs to assess [source: Rispoli 2024]:
    • sleep and eating problems;
    • enuresis;
    • excessive or absent aggression;
    • rigid or repetitive movements and stereotypies;
    • breathing patterns;
    • minor somatic complaints such as sweating, skin problems and tics.
  • Steps [synthesis; ch. 13]:
    1. Assess the four planes through play and observation.
    2. Identify missing EBS.
    3. Offer them in play: being held, being picked up, rough-and-tumble strength and saying "no", always within the child-protection rules for touch.
    4. Coach parents to provide the same experiences at home.
  • Example language (illustrative), to a parent: "When she melts down, try first just holding her calmly, with no talking, until her breathing slows."
  • Watch for:
    • any touch outside clear policy;
    • parents hearing this as blame.
    Physical touch with minors requires a written service policy and, where possible, a parent present [synthesis].

4.22 School prevention and functional observation

  • Purpose: Prevent childhood and adolescent distress by observing EBS in school and improving the conditions that meet needs [source: Rispoli 2004 TOC ch. 12; SEF 2012]. The book lists "functional and school observation forms" and a "prevention project". Their content is not drawn on here [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Train teachers to note the early signs listed in 4.21.
    2. Plan class activities that give contact, calm, strength and autonomy experiences.
    3. Refer children whose signs persist.
  • Watch for: pathologising normal variation.

4.23 Functional stress work

  • Purpose: Treat chronic stress as an alteration of underlying functioning rather than of stressor intensity alone [source: SEF 2012]. Rispoli also wrote L'analisi funzionale dello stress; it is not drawn on here [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Map the chronic stress signs (4.1).
    2. Rebuild the recovery EBS: letting go, calm, stare, loosening control, well-being (4.8, 4.10).
    3. Review the workload and context only after that.
  • Organisational version: SEF 2012 describes a 45-item functional questionnaire for companies, with 4 options per item. Its items are not reproduced here.
  • Watch for: using relaxation to help someone tolerate a harmful situation they could change.

5. Handling problems

The sources say little about clinical difficulties. Where a source is given, the problem is one the sources name. Each response is my own synthesis built on the model's principles [synthesis].

  • Stuck client: talk improves but the body does not change.
    • Name the gap gently.
    • Return to one channel at a time (4.4).
    • Check that you are targeting the right EBS. A missing deeper layer, such as being held or letting go, often has to come before strength or autonomy.
    • Re-draw the functional diagram.
    • [source for multi-plane change: Rispoli 2024; SEF 2012]
  • Stuck client: the body changes in session but nothing changes outside.
    • Use more redundancy: repeat the same experience across sessions.
    • Link it explicitly to daily situations (4.17).
    • Check context factors that may be keeping the old functioning in place.
  • Defensiveness towards sensations. The client experiences inner signals as threats [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    • Go slower.
    • Keep the eyes open and use orienting.
    • Name the signal as part of the Self.
    • Stay present and tolerate it with the client, rather than trying to remove it.
  • Sensory "anaesthesia" or numbness [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    • Start with external sensations, such as hands on textures (4.18 proxy), before internal ones.
    • Do not push for emotion.
  • Clinging to familiar patterns [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    • Offer very small variations of the familiar pattern rather than its opposite.
  • Anger blocking Calm Strength [source: Rispoli 2024].
    • Do not encourage discharge.
    • Slow movement and breath until firmness can exist without agitation.
    • Explore the anger's message verbally afterwards.
  • Over-control and inability to let go [source: SEF 2012].
    • Make control explicit: the client decides the pace, the start and the stop.
    • Paradoxically, more felt control often allows more letting go.
  • Overwhelm, flooding or dissociation during body work. Signs include:
    • a glazed gaze;
    • delayed answers;
    • breath-holding or over-breathing;
    • shaking;
    • sudden coldness.
    Responses:
    • Stop the exercise and remove any touch.
    • Sit the client up, eyes open.
    • Orient to the room.
    • Feel the feet on the floor and lengthen the exhale.
    • Talk about the here and now.
    • Resume later at a lower intensity, or without touch.
    • Record what triggered it.
  • Touch-related difficulties: compliance, re-enactment of abuse, erotic transference.
    • Stop touch.
    • Discuss it openly and non-shamingly.
    • Return to no-touch versions.
    • Take it to supervision.
    • Never continue touch to "work through" sexualised feelings.
  • Non-adherence and resistance to body work.
    • Respect the refusal. The model works on all planes, so purely verbal, gaze, voice or breath-only work still addresses functions.
    • Explore what the refusal protects, for example control or a history of intrusion.
    • Offer self-touch or imagery alternatives.
    • No home-practice protocol was found in the sources [uncertain]. If you give one, keep it brief, such as a few minutes of slow exhale daily, and review it each session.
  • Ruptures. The relationship is real, not "as-if" [source: SEF 2012], so take ruptures as real events.
    • Acknowledge your part concretely.
    • Notice the bodily state of both parties.
    • Repair through an actual experience of contact or consideration (Considerati), not only through interpretation.
  • Depression. Several EBS are altered at once [source: Pedrelli & Sabella 2020].
    • Start with Contact and Sensations.
    • Expect shallow breathing and raised pain thresholds.
    • Assess suicide risk with current standard practice: direct questions about ideation, plans, intent, history and protective factors, plus a safety plan and lethal-means counselling (safe storage and removal). Arrange medical and psychiatric review as indicated.
    • Body work does not replace this.
  • Contraindications and screening. No SEF list was found [uncertain]. Screening items are in 4.0.
    • Postpone intensive body work, especially work on letting go, deep relaxation or touch, in:
      • acute psychosis;
      • severe dissociation;
      • active suicidality;
      • recent trauma without stabilisation;
      • pregnancy, heart or respiratory illness, epilepsy, or recent injury or surgery, without medical clearance.
    • Functional psychotherapy is not a treatment for physical disease. Refer somatic symptoms for medical assessment first.
  • Over-reading the body. Do not present bodily signs to the client as proof of hidden feelings. The body is not "the truth" [source: Perrella 2017]. Offer observations tentatively and let the client confirm or correct them.
  • Therapist training gap. The step-by-step SEF techniques are not published in the sources. Before using touch-based or named SEF techniques, train with SEF or a recognised Functional Psychotherapy trainer, and work under supervision.

Sources

Sources

Further reading (not drawn on)

  • Dipasquale, F., Blandini, M., Magnano, P. et al. (2023). On the Construct of Functional Psychology's Developmental Theory: Basic Experiences of the Self (BEsS). European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education 13(12), 2863–2876. [uncertain: full text]
  • Rispoli, L. (1993). Psicologia Funzionale del Sé. Astrolabio. [uncertain: cited via Pedrelli & Sabella 2020; title not verified]
  • Rispoli, L. L'analisi funzionale dello stress. FrancoAngeli. [title only]

Further reading (not drawn on)

  • The method and technique chapters of Rispoli 2004, 2016 and 2024.
  • SEF training materials.
  • The SEF founding date and headquarters.
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