Dance/Movement Therapy with Clergy in Crisis: A (Group) Case Study

Abstract

The article describes dance/movement therapy with Roman Catholic clergy in a therapeutic facility associated with a monastery in Germany. The facility offers nuns, monks, and priests in need of rest the possibility to recollect, recuperate, and reorient in a three-month spiritual and therapeutic program. Dance/movement therapy was offered as one therapeutic modality integrated into a broader concept of psychotherapeutic and bodywork. The article describes a weekend intensive with a group of eighteen participants. A single case of an abused nun is elaborated in the context of the description of the bodywork with the entire group.

Breaking Free: One Adolescent Woman’s Recovery from Dating Violence Through Creative Dance

“…Being disconnected from sensations and feelings disrupts the very foundation of self-awareness and identity. Dance/movement therapists (Chang & Leventhal, 2008;Gray, 2015;Koch, 2008;Springer, 1997;Stromsted, 2001; Whitehouse, 1999) as well as pioneers who work with trauma (Van der Kolk 2014) and battered women (Walker 1979) have extensively revealed the potency of working directly with the body-mind connection and its potential for sensory and emotional integration, moving out of a physical and psychic immobilized state, and internalizing a positive self-concept over time. Dance/movement therapy (DMT) is repeatedly and successfully employed with rape victims (Chang & Leventhal, 2008).…”

Is Dance/Movement Therapy Relevant to the Process of Achieving a Healthy Sexuality?

“…Studies support the benefits of using dance/movement therapy for treatment in cases of sexual abuse (Ben-Asher, Koren, Tropea, & Fraenkel, 2002;Levy, 1992;Weltman, 1986). Survivors are reported to find it difficult to talk about the experience of abuse and dance/movement therapy has been observed to provide a way for the survivor to express emotions and re-establish a positive relation to his or her own body (Koch, 2008).…”

“…Coercion and abuse related to sexual behaviors can cause lasting physical and emotional health problems for men and women; some of these potential consequences can include depression, eating disorders, anxiety and panic attacks, conflictive relationships, and addiction (Koch, 2008). Dance/movement therapy is used as an intervention for survivors of trauma and violence, categories that include rape and incest.…”

Effect of an art brut therapy program called go beyond the schizophrenia (GBTS) on prison inmates with schizophrenia in mainland China—A randomized, longitudinal, and controlled trial

“…Arts therapy is defined as “a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of expression and communication” and includes dance movement therapy, body psychotherapy, drama therapy, and music therapy according to the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT, ). It can embed humans into primary interaction systems and directly touch our essence, which enhances an individual's creativity, emotional expression, communication, insight and ability to relate to themselves, and others (Cruz & Feder, ; Koch, ). Art therapy has been used in psychiatry for decades and can enhance the patients' cognitive understanding of their disorder (Hanevik, Hestad, Lien, Teglbjaerg, & Danbolt, ), their sense of self, interpersonal contact, self‐esteem, and social competency (Teglbjaerg, ), as well as the quality of life of the patients with schizophrenia (Greenwood, ; Peter, ).…”