The dance/movement therapy group in a psychiatric outpatient clinic: explorations in body image and interaction

Abstract

The clinical experiences gained in the practice of dance/movement therapy group at the Psychiatric Clinic of Tampere are discussed. The clinical work was built on the tradition of DMT and it has been informed by the practice of mindfulness and the recent findings in interpersonal neurobiology. The experiences of the bodily, true self are dominantly processed in right hemisphere of the brain. Neurobiology also informs us that the right hemisphere is essentially involved in emotional processes, nonverbal communications, attachment, subjectivity and intersubjectivity, in empathy, in the processing of non-conscious self images, threat detection, bodily-based stress regulation and survival. Intersubjective relationships are essentially dependent upon the information processing in the right hemisphere. The quality of interpersonal interactions and relationships is influenced by nonverbal, kinesthetic behaviour and the sensitivity to it. DMT work, promoting movement experiences, internal attunement and enhancing the body-self, allows a creative method to explore and integrate the contents of the right hemisphere.