AD

Monday, September 12, 2016

The Origin Of Movement Therapy

By Karen Carter


Movement/Dance therapy refers to the therapeutic use of dance and movement for the purpose of supporting emotional, motor, and intellectual functions of the body. The term movement/dance therapy is often abbreviated as DMT and is commonly used in the United States and Australia. In the United Kingdom, this therapeutic treatment is referred by the name dance movement psychotherapy. The abbreviated form used in the United Kingdom is DMP.

DMT is categorized under expressive therapy. It aims to find the correlation between emotion and movement. Movement therapy has been in existence for a very long time. Since early human history, it has been used in healing rituals for issues such as death, sickness, birth, and fertility. The idea that dance was not simply an expressive art began to exist in the US and Europe between the years of 1840 and 1930.

Although the use of dance to heal was in use since thousands of years ago, its actual establishment into a profession and therapy happened in the 1950s. Marian Chance, the founder of American Dance Therapy Association played a major role in the establishment of dance as a therapy. There are two waves of the history of DMT. Chance spearheaded the first wave, whereas American therapists took great interest in the second wave.

The belief that the body and mind are in constant interaction is the basis for the theory of DMT. The dualist mind body premise is what the unconscious and conscious movements people make are based. For that reason, therapists partly base their relationships with clients on body language among other non-verbal cues. Each participant receives a sense of wholeness from DMT session by exploiting the unity among the body, spirit, and mind.

There are four main stages involved in this therapy that need to be completed. Each stage is composed of smaller goals that the client needs to accomplish, which contribute to the larger purpose of DMT. There is a huge variance in the stages and goals depending on the individual. The stages generally progress from one to the next. However, the stages may also be revisited over and over through the entire process.

The therapy involves four stages, which include preparation, evaluation, incubation, and illumination. The name warm-up may also be used for the preparation stage. This stage entails preparation of adequate and safe room with no distractions or obstacles. Supportive relationships with the witnesses are also formed at this point. Participants need to close their eyes and still be able to move around.

The leader prompts participants to venture into the subconscious during the incubation stage. Verbal contact is used to make the prompt. The subconscious offers a good environment to allow for the exploitation of emotions. The stage of illumination follows after incubation. Illumination stage is introduced in dialogue. The witness offers dialogue to conscious awareness to let self-reflection to begin.

Through self-reflection, participants can resolve and uncover motivations within their subconscious. There are both positive and negative aspects of excess self-awareness. The session is concluded with evaluation where insights are discussed to understand their significance.




About the Author: