Psychodynamic Movement and Dance Therapy (PMDT) in Hungary

Abstract

The emergence of dance therapy in Hungary has been a long and organic process from the 1980s onwards. In those years, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Márta Merényi developed Psychodynamic Movement and Dance Therapy (PMDT), a psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapeutic method, based on the body-mind work, the movement improvisation and the psychodynamic working through of movement experiences and relations in the group. This article offers insight into the Hungarian PMDT: its history, theoretical roots, therapeutic practice, applications, training and organisation, with an outline of the special characteristics of body-mind work, the interpersonal dynamics, leader instructions, and the creative movement and verbalism in PMDT.