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Process Work: Eight Steps Designed by Sedláková et al. (2020)

The eight-step session protocol from Sedláková et al. (2020), traced step by step to its source

How does process work by Arnold Mindell work with unintended body signals?

Process-oriented psychology, also called process work, is a phenomenological approach developed in the 1970s by Arnold Mindell, who researched body symptoms and Jungian analysis of dreams (as Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík, 2020, describe him). The method separates the identity a person lives from, the primary process, from the marginalized signals set aside from that identity, the secondary process, which emerge as a disturbing signal such as a symptom. The steps on this page are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. They are not presented as Mindell's own sequence, because his books could not be read for this page. The one controlled study found tested a single therapist-led session.

Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík (2020) describe process-oriented psychology, also called process work, as a phenomenological approach developed in the 1970s by Arnold Mindell, who researched body symptoms and Jungian analysis of dreams. The paper says hundreds of psychotherapists and facilitators use it. The method separates two processes: the identity a person lives from, and the marginalized signals set aside from that identity, which emerge as a disturbing signal such as a symptom. The practices on this page are steps of the eight-step session protocol that the 2020 authors designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. Mindell's own books could not be read for this page, so book-level statements appear only as the 2020 paper attributes them.

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Wie diese Übungen zusammenhängen

Each practice here is a step of the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. The steps move from the identity a person lives from, to a chosen symptom described in sensory words, to developing its most disturbing quality the way it emerged, and then to returning to the figure during the following week. This page treats the protocol as a practitioner model whose only controlled test is one therapist-led session.

What two processes does process work separate, and how does the 2020 session start?

Process work separates the primary process, the identity a person lives from, from the secondary process, the marginalized signals set aside from that identity. Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík (2020) describe the secondary process as emerging as a disturbing signal, such as a symptom. Their session starts with Step 1, questions about everyday identity, and Step 2, a chosen symptom and the attitude toward it. The two-process model is attributed to Diamond and Jones (2005).

What did the 2020 study's session do, step by step?

The session had eight steps. Step 1 asked about everyday identity. Step 2 described a chosen symptom and the attitude toward it. Step 3 had participants draw themselves with the symptom. Step 4 described its most disturbing quality in sensory terms. Step 5 developed that quality through movement, proprioception, sound or imagination and gave it a dream figure. Step 6 had participants draw themselves with the embodied quality. Step 7 asked integration questions about daily life. Step 8 encouraged a return to the figure during the following week. The practices on this page use Steps 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8, and describe them as the study gave them.

What is the dreambody, and does process work link body experience with dreams?

The 2020 paper cites Mindell (1998), Dreambody: The body's role in revealing the self (Lao Tse Press), which is a different book from the 1990 Working on Yourself Alone it also cites. Sedláková et al. (2020) describe Mindell as a researcher of body symptoms and of Jungian analysis of dreams, and say the session could produce a dream figure, an embodied experience of the originally marginalized quality. The paper did not test any link between dreams and body experience, so this page does not present one as a finding.

Is there any research showing that process-oriented psychology works?

Very little. PubMed searches run on 2026-10-14 found no controlled study of process work. Two records apply Mindell's approach: a 2014 article that reports 15 years of applying it to neurosurgical patients (PMID 24761599), and a 2023 paper on radicalization that uses Mindell's process-oriented psychology as its theoretical framework and draws on interviews with former militants (PMID 37287791). Neither is a controlled study of the method. The 2020 International Body Psychotherapy Journal study is not in PubMed (a title search returned 0 records). It is the one controlled study found: a single session on body symptoms. Its authors wrote in 2020 that no such quantitative research of process-oriented psychology had been done yet.

Can you do process work on your own, without a therapist?

Mindell's 1990 book Working on Yourself Alone is cited by the 2020 paper; not read for this page, so this page cannot say what its self-practice instructions are. The study tested one therapist-led session, so none of the four practices here has been tested as self-practice. See a doctor about any physical symptom before exploring it. Sensations a doctor has not checked, and images or feelings that will not settle, belong with a trained practitioner or therapist.

Wie wählst du zwischen ihnen?

If you have never tried this, begin with the study's first two steps: who you have been in the last few days and who you are today, then a symptom you have chosen and your attitude to it. If you want to work with a sensation in the body, see a doctor about any physical symptom first, then describe it in sensory words and develop its most disturbing quality the way it emerged. The study's eighth step asks whether you return to the figure during the following week. Stop if it becomes more than you can stay with, and work with a trained therapist.

Was diese Ansätze offenlassen

The book-level statements on this page are limited to what Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík (2020) report about Mindell's books, and those books were not checked against their text. The only controlled study found is one therapist-led session on body symptoms. The sample represented three types of clients: 31 participants were hospitalized in psychiatric clinics, 26 regularly attended a psychological outpatient facility, and 10 clients were individuals experiencing common medical care and self-supportive methods (such as yoga, meditation, and physical exercise). The first author also delivered the sessions, outcomes were self-reported, the follow-up was one week, and the ORS interaction was significant on one of four scales. Assignment was alternating according to the methods, though the abstract and Practitioner Points say randomized. The central constructs, the primary and secondary process, the channels and the dream figure, were not measured separately. The study excluded oncological symptoms, and the paper names the Hawthorne effect as a possible influence. The four practices are steps from that eight-step session, not a validated self-practice program. Physical symptoms need a doctor first, and no practice here substitutes for medical care.

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How does process work by Arnold Mindell work with unintended body signals?

Process-oriented psychology, also called process work, is a phenomenological approach developed in the 1970s by Arnold Mindell, who researched body symptoms and Jungian analysis of dreams (as Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík, 2020, describe him). The method separates the identity a person lives from, the primary process, from the marginalized signals set aside from that identity, the secondary process, which emerge as a disturbing signal such as a symptom. The steps on this page are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. They are not presented as Mindell's own sequence, because his books could not be read for this page. The one controlled study found tested a single therapist-led session.

Wie funktioniert „Notice the signal you did not intend"?

These steps are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. Mindell's own books could not be read for this page. Sedláková et al. (2020) describe a two-process model, citing Diamond and Jones (2005): signals of identity close to personal awareness (the primary process), and marginalized elements set aside from the focus of identity (the secondary process). The marginalized aspect emerges as a disturbing signal, such as a symptom (citing Mindell, 1990). This practice uses Step 1, questions about everyday identity, and Step 2, the chosen symptom and the attitude toward it.

Wie funktioniert „Describe the disturbing quality in sensory words"?

These steps are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. Mindell's own books could not be read for this page. Sedláková et al. (2020) state that signals of the two processes emerge through channels, which they list as visual, auditory, movement, proprioceptive, relational and world, citing Diamond and Jones (2005). The study's steps do not include a step for identifying a channel. This practice uses Step 4: participants described the symptom and its manifestations in detail, using a sensory-based description, and identified its most disturbing quality.

Wie funktioniert „Develop the disturbing quality the way it emerged"?

These steps are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. Mindell's own books could not be read for this page. Sedláková et al. (2020) describe unfolding a marginalized signal with sensory-grounded awareness, which makes a quality the client did not have access to before more tangible (citing Mindell, 1998). The session then developed that quality the way it emerged, through movement, proprioception, sound or imagination, and at the end gave it "a form of a mythological or historical entity", a "dream figure" (citing Mindell, 1990). This practice uses Step 5 of the eight-step session; the paper does not test that step on its own.

Wie funktioniert „Return to the figure during the week"?

These steps are the eight-step session protocol that Sedláková et al. (2020) designed, inspired by Weyermann (2006) and consulted with a practitioner. Mindell's own books could not be read for this page. This practice uses Step 8, in which participants were encouraged to return to the discovered quality or mythological figure, and to try to experiment with it during the following week. The paper does not report what participants did in that week; its outcome measures were taken before the session, right after it (for ŠIP only), and one week after.

What two processes does process work separate, and how does the 2020 session start?

Process work separates the primary process, the identity a person lives from, from the secondary process, the marginalized signals set aside from that identity. Sedláková, Dominik and Kolařík (2020) describe the secondary process as emerging as a disturbing signal, such as a symptom. Their session starts with Step 1, questions about everyday identity, and Step 2, a chosen symptom and the attitude toward it. The two-process model is attributed to Diamond and Jones (2005).

What did the 2020 study's session do, step by step?

The session had eight steps. Step 1 asked about everyday identity. Step 2 described a chosen symptom and the attitude toward it. Step 3 had participants draw themselves with the symptom. Step 4 described its most disturbing quality in sensory terms. Step 5 developed that quality through movement, proprioception, sound or imagination and gave it a dream figure. Step 6 had participants draw themselves with the embodied quality. Step 7 asked integration questions about daily life. Step 8 encouraged a return to the figure during the following week. The practices on this page use Steps 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8, and describe them as the study gave them.

What is the dreambody, and does process work link body experience with dreams?

The 2020 paper cites Mindell (1998), Dreambody: The body's role in revealing the self (Lao Tse Press), which is a different book from the 1990 Working on Yourself Alone it also cites. Sedláková et al. (2020) describe Mindell as a researcher of body symptoms and of Jungian analysis of dreams, and say the session could produce a dream figure, an embodied experience of the originally marginalized quality. The paper did not test any link between dreams and body experience, so this page does not present one as a finding.

Is there any research showing that process-oriented psychology works?

Very little. PubMed searches run on 2026-10-14 found no controlled study of process work. Two records apply Mindell's approach: a 2014 article that reports 15 years of applying it to neurosurgical patients (PMID 24761599), and a 2023 paper on radicalization that uses Mindell's process-oriented psychology as its theoretical framework and draws on interviews with former militants (PMID 37287791). Neither is a controlled study of the method. The 2020 International Body Psychotherapy Journal study is not in PubMed (a title search returned 0 records). It is the one controlled study found: a single session on body symptoms. Its authors wrote in 2020 that no such quantitative research of process-oriented psychology had been done yet.

Can you do process work on your own, without a therapist?

Mindell's 1990 book Working on Yourself Alone is cited by the 2020 paper; not read for this page, so this page cannot say what its self-practice instructions are. The study tested one therapist-led session, so none of the four practices here has been tested as self-practice. See a doctor about any physical symptom before exploring it. Sensations a doctor has not checked, and images or feelings that will not settle, belong with a trained practitioner or therapist.

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