Dance Therapy

DMT - Work Samples #1 from DMT Documentary on Vimeo.
This video shows a clip of a documentary on how dance movement therapy was used as a way of rehab to help victims of human trafficking and mental illness in India.

Power, Knowledge, and Practice

After reading Allan Young’s article, A Description of How Ideology Shapes Knowledge of Mental Disorder (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), I began to wonder about  the many different therapeutic techniques  used today to treat illness, and why certain treatments are chosen over other modalities to reach better health.  Young describes that treatment at the Institute for post traumatic stress disorder is focused around  the patient’s ability to express and “recall his etiological event and then disclose it, in detail to his therapist and fellow patients in the course of psychotherapy sessions” (Young, 111).  Not only are patients at the Institute expected to give “verbal evidence” of their experiences, they must also acknowledge how their present behavior is influenced by their disturbing past (Young, 112). 

Many expectations placed on these patients are  based on their ability to verbal communication and express emotions accurately. This success is then used as a model to map their progress and growth in the program. With patients arriving at the Institution with traumatic stories attached to their so called “defective self,” it is not surprising that this Institution has such strict protocols of rehabilitation that have to be followed (Young, 112).  “In order for these events to be properly worked through or processed, patients need to give detailed accounts” (Young 116). The Institutional ideas around mental health are used to persuade people to act in ways they might not want to. With each psychiatric unit in the Veterans Administration having a very different “standard table” of organization to follow, it is easy to see how the power of knowledge behind mental illness can shift (Young, 117).   Because these ideas are imbedded in therapeutic codes, the disorder is reinforced yet again, connecting the patient with the defective self and giving power back to the Institution. With disorderly and wild behavior occurring, the program claims to need a way to find control. Creating a code that says “when patients feel physically unsafe they also feel psychologically unsafe, lack of psychological safety is an obstacle to disclosure, and without disclosure there can be no recovery,” automatically bounds and limits the patients (Young, 123). They are simply supposed to obey with the guidelines set in their “agreement,” and not act against these beliefs.  After moving through the experience together, the patient is said to have found a more appropriate behavior around anger, while the therapist has conquered the difficulties surrounding the “knowledge production process” (Young, 128).

By looking at how PTSD was handled through the framework of this Institution, it is hard not to think about the many other treatments that might be useful in helping the mentally ill. While both a medical and psychological model is used to treat these illnesses, each  approach offers a very different style to the healing process. One model uses “products,” like prescription drugs and pills, which are separate from the “body” and patient.  While the physiological model requires the patient to use more internal resources that are already available, trying to build relationships and new behavior.  An alternative therapy that is also used to treat mental illness is dance movement rehab. This approach does not use drugs or talk therapy as a means of communication.

Dance Therapy                     

Definitions from the ADTA: American Dance Therapy Association

"Dance/Movement Therapy is the psycho-therapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of individuals."         

"Dance/Movement Therapy is practiced in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational, and forensic settings, and in nursing homes, day care centers, disease prevention, and health promotion programs. "  

Moving away from a social or psychological approach to the treatment of mental illness, dance therapy creates an atmosphere that encourages communication and expression through body movement. It connects the mind with the body, presenting a place for emotions to break free without speaking. As the article by Allan Young discussed, there is a resistance among the patients when pushing to engage in verbal dialogue.  Dance therapy offers a non verbal, movement based approach that allows expression when words might not be available or possible.  It provides a tool to use against harmful emotions and behaviors. It relieves muscular tension caused from physical and mental disabilities, enabling the body to become more aware of itself in space. With my background in dance and movement, I truly believe that it can heal and give the body a chance to feel free and balanced again.

Works Cited:
• Allan Young, 1993. "A Description of How ideology Shapes Knowledge of a Mental Disorder (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder." p.108-128.  IN Knowledge, Power, and Practice: The Anthropology of Medicine and Everyday Life
• DMT- Work Sample 1 . Vimeo. <http://vimeo.com/7287738>.
• Dance Movement Therapy With Gina Serraino.  YouTube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ0kO6-W4uc>.
• ADTA (American Dance Therapy Association). < http://www.adta.org/. 2009