Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Discovering Dance Therapy And Movement Based Treatment

By Joshua Reed


While traditional therapists still provide clients with services out of an office with a couch, others now use more alternative therapies. These can include everything from hypnosis and psychoanalysis to movement based treatment. While psychoanalysis and hypnosis often focus on behavioral and emotional issues, dance oriented therapies often treat body, mind and soul.

These therapists use a form of expression which draws a correlation between preparation, illumination, evaluation and incubation. Each of these aspects represent one of four stages of treatment. To prepare a client for this type treatment, therapists generally create a treatment plan, evaluate the mover then provide illumination when discovering the right treatment and incubation period for putting the plan into action.

These therapies are often provided in a clinical or medical setting. While community dances such as the many ongoing non-alcohol, smoke-free, barefoot dance jams that occur on an regular basis are often hosted in churches, community centers or schools. In either case, dance is one activity which has the ability to effect the overall health and well being of the dancer. In some cases related to physical injuries, individuals may be sent to a physical therapist who can also integrate movement based therapies into an overall treatment plan.

Originally developed thousands of years ago, dance and movement therapies have had a major impact on issues related to birth, death, happiness, sickness and health. In 1930, a new philosophy was born which helped establish these therapies in the United States, Europe and around the world. Then, once it became clear the effects had been proven, several colleges and universities began offering a focus on this area of psychotherapy.

Before that time, dance had only been viewed as an expressive art form in the United States and Europe. Once movement became an accepted form of healing, several therapists became interested in working in the area. After which, a focus of dance and movement were added to a number of degree programs in the area of psychology.

Throughout history, dance can be divided into two waves. The first wave involved the use of dance in the medical community beginning in 1942. After which, a choreographer, dancer and therapist began to notice the effects dance had on her students. As a result, the field of dance and movement based therapy was created.

After students began to report seeing positive changes to overall health and happiness, doctors began sending clients to receive treatment. After several success stories from these individuals and others, these alternative therapeutic forms became more accepted as valid forms of treatment for emotional and physical aspects of clients.

The next or second wave brought a new ideology to dance therapy in the 1970s and 1980s. The new ideology sparked a great deal of attention from therapists at the time. A time when therapists began to explore and experiment with different applications associated with dance and movement. It was these applications that evolved into forms and modalities which therapists still use after having seen great success.




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