Great video about what Dance Movement Therapy is and how its done in a Medical setting with children.
Dance Movement Therapy at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA
Posted in creative arts therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, youtube
Tagged children, health, medical, youtube
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Assessment and evaluation
In therapy at some point the counselor will engage in an assessment/evaluation process that generally involves examining how the therapy sessions are going and hopefully includes feed back from the client/patient. If the counselor is trained as a
dance movement therapist the evaluation/assessment may include many areas such
as verbal sharing, drawings and movement. Movement assessment can include
observing ( which can be considered seeing someone move objectively) and
witnessing (which can be considered seeing someone move subjectively) a person
move. I look at:
- Space, how does the person
move in the environment, up/down, do they use space or stay small. - Time, do they move fast/slow.
- Force, what is their muscle
tension like, are they contracting/expanding, hard/soft, light/heavy. - Flow, is the movement
continuous, unrestrained, restricted. - Sound, do they talk, use
vocal sound, create sound with their body. - Congruent, how are the
movements related to the intention. - What do I feel while
witnessing, what and how do I feel like moving when witnessing . - How does this compare to
other people I have observed, the same/different.
I first learned and applied these techniques while studying the movement based
group creative arts modalities know as the Halprin Method and Motional Process
in the 80’s and early 90’s. If you would like more info I recommend 4 books I found useful:
Dance/Movement Therapists in Action: A Working Guide to Research Options
Artistic Inquiry in Dance/Movement Therapy: Creative Research Alternatives
Meaning of Movement
Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology: The Moving Imagination.
These books helped me to strengthen my assessment techniques and to discover new
methods.
Posted in creative arts therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Psychology
Tagged evaluation
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Healing from Childhood Trauma
Studies on neuroplasticity have become increasingly popular in the last several years. It was once thought that our brain was fixed and unchanging once we enter adulthood. Research throughout the last few decades has determined that in fact, our brain has the ability to change and create new neural pathways as well as produce new neurons, a process labeled as neurogenesis (Doidge, 2015). This finding is significant because if the brain has this ability to change, we have the ability to change our way of thinking and possibly improve mood.
Neural pathways in the brain are strengthened with repetition. One way to describe this process is “the neurons that fire together, wire together.” Constant repetition of an experience leads to changes within the brain’s structure and how the neurons process that experience. The more consistent this experience is, the stronger these neurons bond. MORE HERE
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Halting Legacies of Trauma | Brian Dias | TEDxEmory
Brian Dias is a researcher in the field of neurobiology and an active participant in scientific innovation and education. Dr. Dias grew up in India and received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Over the years, he has investigated the neurobiology underlying depression, anxiety, PTSD, and anti-social behavior. Currently, Dr. Dias and his team are studying how mammalian neurobiology, physiology and reproductive biology are impacted by stress, and how legacies of stress perpetuate across generations. Among other outlets, Dr. Dias’ work has been featured in Nature, on the BBC, in a list of the 10 Most Important Discoveries of 2014 published by La Recherche Magazine. Most recently, Dr. Dias was quoted in articles about the legacy of trauma (BBC) and the neurobiology of family separation (BrainFacts). In 2017, Dr. Dias received a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar Award from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and is currently an Associate Fellow in CIFAR’s Child & Brain Development Program. In addition to research, Dr. Dias is interested in scientific innovation and education. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Movement Therapies May Aid Those with Schizophrenia
Interesting post from Psych Central:
A study using a procedure called the “rubber hand illusion” has found new evidence that people experiencing schizophrenia have a weakened sense of body ownership.
It has also produced the first documented case of a spontaneous, out-of-body experience in the laboratory.
These findings suggest that movement therapy, which trains people to be focused and centered on their own bodies, including some forms of yoga and dance, could be helpful for many of the 2.2 million people in the United States who suffer from schizophrenia.
Posted in creative arts therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Mental illness, Movement, Psychology, Psychotherapy
Tagged schizophrenia
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