Dance Therapy in the Management of the Disorder of the Aggressive Behaviour of a Patient Followed at the Addictology and Mental Hygiene Service (SAHM) of Abidjan

Abstract

Dance as a method of treatment for behavioural disorder is very old and goes beyond dancing by using the whole body to reach the patient mainly on a non-verbal and creative level. It assists in the understanding, integration and well-being of clinical populations by alleviating their adverse symptoms. Dance therapy is very useful in the management of behavioural disorders in that it aims to treat the patient in both body and mind. The present study aims at highlighting the interest of dance therapy in the management of the aggressive behaviour disorder of a young patient followed at the Service d'Addictologie et d'Hygiène Mentale (SAHM) of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. This is a monograph that took place from 11 July to 12 September 2019. It is built around a student who was 21 years old at the time of the study, a substance user, in conflict with his mother who was exclusively responsible for his education, and who was received in consultation for this purpose in this outpatient care centre and relay to psychiatric hospitals. The use of body movement in space, often accompanied by music, during ten weekly sessions, combined with drug therapy in her treatment protocol, reduced her aggressive impulses, her use of ABP and improved her self-control and her relationship with her mother.