Title: Her body speaks: the experience of dance therapy for women survivors of
child sexual abuse.
Date: 2002
Authors: Letty J. Mills , Judith C. Daniluk
Publication: Journal of Counseling and Development. Volume: 80. Issue: 1
Counseling and therapy have traditionally been known as "talking cures," used to relieve
the symptoms of emotional distress and the problems in living encountered by clients as
they progress through life. Consistent with the mind-body duality that had its origins in
the teachings of Aristotle and Plato, whatever the theoretical underpinnings of the various
theorists, and irrespective of the psychological or somatic nature of clients' concerns,
these talking cures have all had as their goal facilitating changes in clients' thoughts,
feelings, behaviors, and perceptions. Noticeably absent in most traditional approaches,
however, has been attention to the body--to the embodied aspects of clients' psychosocial
experiencing (Simonds, 1994). Even when clients have experienced significant physical
trauma, as in the case of physical or sexual abuse or various health crises (e.g.,
mastectomy, hysterectomy, spinal cord injury, stroke), direct attention is rarely paid to
the clients' relationships with and experiences of living in their bodies.
Yet, each individual's history is etched in their body and is reflected in their breathing, in
the lines on their faces, in their eyes, and in the way they walk in the world (P. L.
Bernstein, 1986; Levy, 1988; Siegel, 1995). As Alice Miller (1981/1984) aptly stated in
relation to traumatic childhood experiences,
The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can
repress it, we can never alter it. Our intellect can be deceived, our
feelings manipulated, our perceptions confused, and our body tricked with
medication.
But someday the body will present its bill. (p. 316)
Vigier (1994) also speaks of the power of the "voice of the body"--a "voice inside the
flesh" that is beyond interpretation, "that is simply the body speaking" (p. 236). She
underscores the importance of finding ways to give voice to this "place of subtle and
silent speech" (p. 236), in particular through dance. In virtually all known cultures, dance
has existed as a form of communication, ritual, and celebration (Schmais & White, 1986).
However, it was not until the 1930s that dance was formally adapted for therapeutic
purposes (Levy, 1988), to provide individuals with mental illness or disabilities with a
means of communication. Since then, it has been used in the treatment of anxiety
disorders (Leste & Rust, 1990), eating disorders (Wise, 1984), Parkinson's disease
(Westbrook & McKibben, 1989), addictions (Murray-Lane, 1995; Rose, 1995), head
injuries (Berrol & Katz, 1985), multiple personality disorder (Baum, 1995), abused
children (Goodill, 1987), battered women (Chang, 1995), older persons (Sandel &
Hollander, 1995), people who are blind (Fried, 1995), people with learning difficulties
(MacDonald, 1992), individuals with physical disabilities (Levy, 1988), and survivors of
sexual abuse (B. Bernstein, 1995). B. Bernstein uses numerous case examples and
anecdotal material to illustrate how dance therapy can be used to work through and
resolve various issues that commonly arise in therapeutic work with sexual abuse
survivors. These include shame, guilt, dissociation, sexuality, boundaries, intimacy, and
personal power.
Commonly referred to in the literature as "dance therapy" or "dance-movement therapy"
(Payne, 1992), this approach to facilitating therapeutic change uses psychomotor
expression as its major mode of intervention. On its Web page (http://www.adta.org), the
American Dance Therapy Association defined dance therapy as "the psychotherapeutic
use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive and physical
integration of the individual." Conducted individually and in groups, dance therapy is
aimed broadly at facilitating personal mind, body, and emotional integration; emotional
growth (P. L. Bernstein, 1986); and clearer self-definition (Payne, 1992) The movement
component of dance therapy can include rhythmic dance, spontaneous and creative
movements, thematic movement improvisations, unconscious symbolic body movement,
group dance, and range of movement and relaxation exercises (P. L. Bernstein, 1986). It
may or may not include music and verbalizations.
Theories in psychology that have been most influential in the field of dance therapy
include Reichian, psychoanalytic, Gestalt, object relations, humanistic, family systems,
and Adlerian. Levy (1988) noted a trend toward increasing theoretical eclecticism and
integration in the field of dance therapy. However, there are some key conceptual themes
that are common to most dance therapy approaches. Human beings are assumed to have
unconscious memories, feelings, and motivations that need to be introduced and
integrated into individuals' conscious awareness (P. L. Bernstein, 1986). Furthermore, it
is assumed that some unconscious material, especially memories formed during preverbal
stages of development and bodily trauma, are stored in the body and are more easily
accessed through physical expression (Levy, 1988). Within the holistic conception of the
individual conscious intellect, the emotions, the unconscious, and the body are considered
interconnected, with the experiencing and processing of physical experiences believed to
positively affect emotional and cognitive growth and functioning (P. L. Bernstein, 1986;
Espenak, 1981).
Despite the growth in this and other nonverbal modes of intervention (Levy, 1995;
Simonds, 1994; Zwerling, 1989), dance therapy remains a "diverse, complex, but
little-known subject area" (Payne, 1992, p. 1). Therapeutic goals are rarely or poorly
defined, and change is often measured based on the dance therapist's intuition and
judgment rather than on the client's self-report or on concrete behavioral indices. The
theoretical and empirical literature in this area is sparse. The few available efficacy
studies involve single cases (Hammond-Meiers, 1992), rely on anecdotal reports of client
change and symptom improvement (e.g., Lawlor, 1995; Liebowitz, 1992; Meekums,
1992), or attempt to assess change based on only one dance therapy session (Brooks &
Stark, 1989). Descriptive accounts of intervention strategies abound, to the neglect of
conceptual discussion and theoretical application (P. L. Bernstein, 1986; Levy, 1995;
Musicant, 1994). Overall, the reader is informed about what dance therapy looks like in
practice but is left to wonder about how it works and why certain interventions are used
in certain circumstances. Little is known about client's subjective experiences of this form
of therapy and their perceptions of how dance therapy facilitates client change.
We undertook this qualitative study in an attempt to begin to understand how dance
therapy effects change in clients' lives. The purpose of this phenomenological exploration
was to explore the lived experience and meaning of dance therapy for women who found
that this form of therapy contributed to their personal growth and healing. The question
that guided this research was, "What is the lived experience and meaning of dance
therapy for individuals who found it to be facilitative of their personal growth and
healing?"
METHOD
Participants
Participants were required to have been involved in individual or group dance therapy
that was facilitated by a certified dance therapist. This requirement differentiated between
those who had experienced dance "therapy" and those who had engaged in dance as a
performing art or for reasons of physical rehabilitation. Consistent with verbal methods of
data collection, participants had to be able to describe their experience in a way that
would help to uncover the nature and essence of the phenomenon of dance therapy
(Colaizzi, 1978; Osborne, 1990). Only those who considered their dance therapy
experience to have been facilitative of their personal growth or healing, or both were
included in the study. According to Osborne (1990, 1994), a person who has had a
meaningful experience is more likely to be interested in describing it and to provide the
kind of rich descriptions that are needed for phenomenological analysis. To ensure that
they had adequate exposure to this form of therapy, participants had to have completed at
least six sessions of dance therapy. Finally, a minimum requirement of 1 year since
completion of dance therapy was established to allow for some integration of the therapy
experience. Also, to ensure that participants could recall the details of their experience,
the maximum time since completion was set at 5 years.
Participants were recruited through word of mouth and through notices posted at social
service agencies and at the studios of certified dance therapists. All of the inquiries
regarding the study were made by women. Individuals were screened through telephone
conversations, and the first 6 women who met the inclusion criteria were included in the
study. However, when it became apparent during the data collection that 5 of the 6
participants had histories of child sexual abuse, we decided to limit our analysis to the 5
abuse survivors.
The 5 participants ranged in age from 25 to 48 years (M = 39 years). The participants
were Caucasian women of EuroAmerican ancestry. All of the women had participated in
group dance therapy, and 1 had also worked individually with a dance therapist. One was
single, 1 divorced, and 3 were involved in a cohabiting or marital relationship. Three had
some postsecondary education, and 2 had graduate degrees.
Procedure
In phenomenological research, the data are descriptions of experience (Osborne, 1990;
van Manen, 1984). In this study, individual in-depth interviews were used to gather the
data. The audiotaped interviews lasted an average of 1.5 hours. Each interview began
with a general orienting statement to ensure that the context of the study was presented in
a consistent manner to each woman. We followed the guidelines for qualitative research
interviews detailed by Kvale (1996). According to Kvale, "the outcome of the interview
depends on the knowledge, sensitivity, and empathy of the interviewer" (p. 105). As such,
the interviews centered on the life-world of each woman, and we focused on establishing
an atmosphere in which each participant felt safe enough to talk freely about her
experiences and to share her thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment. Van Manen
(1984) described this lifeworld as "the world as we immediately experience it rather than
as we conceptualize, categorize, or theorize about it" (p. 37). Accordingly, the interviewer
(the first author) sought to understand the meaning and experience of the phenomenon of
dance therapy for the 6 women in the study.
The narrative interviews were largely unstructured (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995; Mishler,
1991) in that they were focused on the subjective experiences of each woman. The
interviewer attempted to facilitate an in-depth exploration of each participants' lived
experience of dance therapy at a level that allowed for the explication of meaning. Some
open-ended questions (e.g., "What differences can you detect in your
experience/understanding of yourself after experiencing dance therapy?"), paraphrasing,
and empathic reflections were used to help deepen the exploration of issues raised by
each woman and to elicit rich, detailed descriptions. The term empathic reflection is
defined as mirroring the deeper feelings and meanings implicit in the words and
communications of those interviewed (Mishler, 1991). The interviewer endeavored to
conduct interviews in a sensitive manner, conveying an attitude of interest, openness,
trust and respect. Each interview continued until the participant believed her experience
of dance therapy had been thoroughly described.
In an effort to ensure that the interviewer did not lead the participants based on her own
biases and assumptions, an independent observer who was trained in qualitative research
methods reviewed the transcripts. The interviewer attempted to articulate her biases and
presuppositions before engaging in the interviews and kept detailed process notes,
highlighting her reactions to, and experience of, the data collection and analysis.
Although the coconstructed nature of this type of research (Osborne, 1994) is
acknowledged, reflecting on these notes helped the interviewer to maintain awareness of
and to put aside, as much as possible, her biases and assumptions.
Analysis
The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim. Listening to the interviews
provided a richer understanding of the communication nuances than could be obtained
from transcriptions alone. We used phenomenological data analysis procedures drawn
from Colaizzi (1978) to analyze the data. Initially, we read each transcription in its
entirety in order to acquire a sense of the whole. Significant phrases were highlighted,
and the underlying meaning of each one was identified. This involved using "creative
insight," while taking care to remain faithful to the data. Through an ongoing process of
dialogue, discussion, and rereading of the transcripts, we identified common themes and
subthemes in the participants' experiences of dance therapy. We reviewed the transcripts
to ensure that the identified themes and subthemes accurately reflected the experiences of
all participants. Identification of common thematic content was further refined when we
wrote each thematic description, using the words of the participants to explicate the
meaning and essence of their dance therapy experiences. The thematic descriptions were
then returned to the participants, and follow-up validation interviews were conducted
(Colaizzi, 1978; Osborne, 1990). Participant feedback was used to further refine the
descriptions of the findings, which, according to all of the women in the study,
represented an accurate and valid portrayal of their experiences of dance therapy.
RESULTS
Six themes that were common to the participants emerged from the data analysis. The
words of the participants are used in the following descriptions of the themes and
subthemes to more accurately capture the essence and meaning of their dance therapy
experiences. To enhance reporting, each subtheme is italicized within the thematic
descriptions.
Theme 1: Reconnection to Their Bodies
All of the women in this study mentioned having felt disconnected to varying degrees
from their bodies. Some spoke about a rejecting attitude they had toward their bodies,
either because it seemed fragile or because it had attracted a child abuser. As one
participant put it, "I thought of my body as this unfortunate accessory ... it has just caused
me trouble ... it always felt like the enemy."
Others talked about a general sense of not having been present in their bodies. One
recalled, "I had spent most of my life feeling that my body either walked in front of me or
behind me, so that's what I mean by not being in my body." At the extreme were various
descriptions of dissociation, which seemed to be related to experiences of childhood
sexual abuse. For example, one participant reflected on her sense of having been a
collection of pieces: "I always felt sort of fractured, fragmented, like parts of my body are
on different planes and they're not connected to me personally." Another stated, "because
of the nature of the abuse done to me ... ... I was encouraged to dissociate ... shut off,
literally right down the center of my body, one side or the other." These women reported
having felt sad and angry when they reflected on the personal costs associated with being
split off from their bodies and dissociated from their feelings.
In fact, having experienced various other forms of more traditional "talk" therapies, these
women specifically sought dance therapy as a means to help them reconnect to their
bodies. It is not surprising, then, that a sense of bodily reconnection was an extremely
prominent theme running through the transcriptions of each of the participants. All of the
women talked about how dance therapy involved a process of getting back into their
bodies. One woman defined this as "being conscious and at the same time aware of my
physical parameters." The women related stories of becoming aware of their body parts
and the thrill of new physical sensations. As one put it, "you get total awareness of your
body ... it was exciting ... even talking about it now I get tingly ... it felt like coming
alive." By becoming more connected to their bodies, the women were able to become
more "present" in and more comfortable with the range of energetic and emotional
sensations in their bodies.
In reestablishing a connection with their bodies, the participants reported feeling an
increased sense of acceptance and care of their bodies. One woman reported, "I like my
body a lot more. I am much more accepting of how I physically look and how I feel
physically." Another woman commented that subsequent to dance therapy, she shifted her
attitude regarding self-care and was making healthier food choices and exercising more
frequently. Three of the participants talked about how dance therapy provided them with
a sense of safety and control, which allowed them to stay present in their bodies during
times when painful feelings or sensations related to past bodily trauma resurfaced, rather
than distancing or dissociating themselves from their bodies. In this way, these
participants believed that dance therapy helped them "reprogram" themselves by learning
an alternate response to the resurfacing of painful memories. They talked about how,
through dance therapy, they were able to use their bodies to anchor themselves in the
safety of the present time and place when faced with, or when processing, distressing
psychological material. One woman's story illustrates this process.
In the dance therapy room, you can have one new experience where [abuse]
doesn't happen ... you can force your body past that place where it
remembers what happened and have a new memory, of something that's
different and positive ... now I can say to myself "it just feels like
where I was before, but I am not actually there" and then I can snap out of
it. I just have to remember to go back to my body and do those things where
I can feel present.
The participants also talked about their previous tendencies to cope with physical and
psychological discomfort by "going into their heads" through intellectualizing,
minimizing, and denying. One woman stated that she entered dance therapy "wanting to
know what happened to [her] without [her] mind's censor involved." The participants
reported that, unlike traditional talk therapies, dance therapy offered them a way to
bypass this defensive reaction to discomfort, because this therapeutic process was rooted
in bodily expression. As one participant observed, "I think the moving repeatedly helps
you to stay in your body, and not go back into your head." Another stated, "Dance
therapy is good because it doesn't let you analyze yourself to the nth degree and never
come up with any answers." Participants in this study also talked about the experience of
getting to know themselves better through dance therapy. They spoke about discovering
bodily "truths' that had previously been inaccessible to them. As one woman put it, "I
knew somehow my body would tell me the truth ... the surprise was how deeply my body
felt the things that happened to me ... for the first time I understood what body memory
means." Another woman had a similar realization: "Dance therapy was one of the first
experiences of discovering how much was stored in my body.... I discovered that there
were whole aspects of my body and my experiences that I hadn't gone into ... it was a
powerful way of getting connected to myself."
The women also reported an increase in their emotional awareness through dance therapy.
By becoming more connected to their physical selves, the women felt they were able to
detect and identify their deeper feelings more accurately and more easily. They reflected
on how working in the medium of movement rather than just words helped to make their
emotional worlds more accessible to them. As expressed by one participant, "It's being
able to move and show the emotion in some way that helps the words come out.... I don't
have to just say how I feel, I can show how I feel."
All of the participants also reflected on how, through their enhanced connection to their
bodies, they experienced a sense of wholeness and integration that had been lost to them
for many years. Through their experiences of dance therapy, the participants believed
they were able to reunite their minds and bodies, to reconnect to split-off parts of the self,
and to recover and reclaim their emotional and psychological worlds.
Theme 2: Permission to Play
The women in the study had experienced talk-based therapies as sometimes serious and
hard work and were surprised that play was encouraged as an integral part of the dance
therapy process. One woman found that, contrary to her expectations, she really enjoyed
the dance therapy sessions. She remarked, "I thought, aren't we supposed to be crying and
upset and angry?" The women described the playful element of this therapy as
"delightful" and "exciting." They experienced it as a means of recapturing a sense of
carefree youth that had been lost to them over the years. This aspect was particularly
significant for some women who remembered childhood years in which play and fun
were lacking or forbidden. Through dance therapy, these women were able to experience,
as adults, a sense of the type of playfulness that is characteristic of childhood.
The participants noted especially, how the playfulness of dance therapy provided a
balance to and a relief from some of the emotionally heavier aspects of therapeutic work.
As one participant said, "There was at least one moment every time I went where I just
had a good time. And that was a neat thing to learn, that I could do some healing work
and it didn't have to be totally serious and really hard all the time." Indeed, that play and
work could coexist and, in fact, that both together could lead to healing and growth was
considered a significant new insight by the women in this study.
Theme 3: Sense of Spontaneity
Spontaneous movement was mentioned as an important aspect of the dance therapy
experience by the women in the study. When they spoke about spontaneous body
movement, the participants described movement that was free, self-determined, natural,
and uncontrived. They spoke about a progression during their dance therapy experiences
toward increased spontaneity in their body movements and toward overcoming the
various obstacles they encountered along the way.
One obstacle that emerged from the women's stories of their group dance therapy
experiences was what one participant referred to as having an "outer focus." They
reflected on how, at times, their concern with "what others might think" about they way
they moved led to self-conscious and constrained body movement. One woman
explained, "If I'm in the middle of [moving] and someone else is there, I'm so busy
gauging what they're feeling about what I'm doing, that I stop being in what I'm doing."
This tendency toward heightened self-consciousness was particularly salient for two of
the participants who had had formal ballet training. They reflected on how this painful
self-consciousness became an obstacle at times--impairing their ability to honestly
express themselves through spontaneous movement.
The women in this study described how dance therapy was about challenging themselves
to focus less on the evaluation of others and more on expressing themselves authentically.
One woman described her therapeutic process in terms of moving her attention away
from the "gaze of others" and into her own body. Another participant talked about dance
therapy helping her to open the passages to her emotions and to express herself in a more
authentic way: "Because of dance therapy ... I'm moving naturally as opposed to moving
in a controlled way ... more from my body as opposed to my head ... I think more of me
will come out, I'll be freer in how I express how I feel."
The women also talked about how their inclinations toward rigid mental control blocked
their connection with their bodies and their authentic emotions. For example, one woman
reported that she had never felt safe to move and be present in her body without mental
vigilance. While engaged in dance therapy, however, she experienced a dramatic shift: "It
suddenly dawned on me that I had actually moved without thinking first!. It's in the
nature of an epiphany!" She talked about how this experience opened her to a "whole
other way of being," one in which she could enjoy being present in her body without
expending large quantities of energy on being "in control."
Theme 4: Sense of Struggle
All of the women in this study reported that their experience of dance therapy was
infused with a sense of struggle. Initially this involved the unfamiliarity of this type of
therapy. Many found dance therapy to be new and strange and used words like
"challenging," "difficult," and "uncomfortable" to describe their experiences. Some felt
inhibited and embarrassed at the idea of dance itself, whereas others felt apprehensive
because this approach to therapy was nontraditional and represented uncharted territory.
As discussed previously, the women struggled with the discomfort of being seen by
others. They felt self-conscious and worried about looking foolish. For some, the
experience went beyond embarrassment to a more acute sense of vulnerability and
exposure. One woman's metaphor poignantly conveyed this feeling: "Moving is like
opening the book ... it wasn't just like opening the book, it was like ripping the book
open. It was really difficult."
Some of the women also reported that they struggled with how to deal with painful
memories and feelings that arose during their dance therapy sessions. Many talked about
how their bodies contained information about past traumas and about how that powerful
and sometimes shameful material surfaced while they were engaged in the therapeutic
movements. Anticipating the emergence of new and potentially painful material
contributed to the women's sense of apprehension. This was dramatically captured in one
woman's metaphor: "Being in my body always feels like walking through a minefield ...
you know that there's danger out there, you just don't know where ... you're waiting for
the inevitable."
The women also reported their struggle to cope with the fact that particular aspects of the
dance therapy process (e.g. music, certain movements, structured activities) could trigger
physical and emotional responses associated with past trauma. Certain kinds of music
triggered in one woman a deluge of emotion and frightening mental images related to the
ritual abuse she had experienced as a child. An exercise that involved holding still
reminded another woman of being bound and confined as a small child, and these
memories resulted in considerable emotional and physical distress during the session.
Although these women struggled to keep from being overwhelmed by body memories
and emotional triggers, they were also aware that this material was necessary "grist for
the therapy mill," the identification and working through of which was critical to their
own growth and healing. As such, these women considered it essential to develop a sense
of safety in the group. They reported that the therapist and other group members helped
create a safe environment in which they were able to challenge themselves to explore
difficult and painful issues.
Despite these struggles, the women said they continued in dance therapy because they
saw their hard work actually helping them to grow and heal. One woman remarked, "I
kept going back because I felt like some of the problems ... weren't as significant as the
benefits I was getting." Another participant's summary reflects the sentiments of the other
women in the study: "There were times when I really didn't like the stuff [dance therapy]
brought up ... but at the same time it's what helped free me. I think if it had just been fun
and playful, I would have felt really cheated."
Theme 5: Sense of Intimate Connection
The women in this study reflected on their experience of a unique kind of emotional
connection with others while engaging in dance therapy. They remarked on how this
intimacy was created without words, simply by moving together and at times, physically
connecting with each other. The words of one participant captured this experience:
I was feeling very connected to that person, as if we were sharing
something very special and we did it without words, we didn't organize it,
we didn't plan it in advance, we didn't have a script, we just seemed to
move together in some collective space that was warm and caring and quite
beautiful.
The women talked about how the sense of intimacy they experienced with other
participants during dance therapy was uncontrived. It seemed to emerge spontaneously
through the wonder of simple gestures, playful moments, and dances that conveyed trust
and caring. The women also spoke about factors like music and synchronized movement
that contributed to a feeling of unity in the group. The participants believed that this
connection and intimacy added greatly to their growth and healing through dance therapy,
because they felt supported by others and accepted both physically and emotionally
within the group. The participants in this study remarked that observing another person
being vulnerable while dancing was also a meaningful aspect of their dance therapy
experience. They called this observation "witnessing" and said it was important for them
in several ways. Seeing others taking risks and being vulnerable made them more willing
to risk and to open up and share more of themselves and their struggles. The women also
felt "honored" to receive the gift of another's dance and said this contributed greatly to
their own sense of self-worth. In the words of one participant:
In talk therapy I didn't have so much of a sense of being honored at the
presence of the sharing. I guess in the dance therapy that came across more
for me because there were so many people who weren't able to do it at all
... so those who stayed and shared, I felt really honored to be in their
presence ... they trusted me to hear their pain."
The women also discovered that during group sessions, they gained insights about
themselves and were engaged in their own work, even when bearing witness to the
struggles of other members or when others were working individually with the therapist.
As one participant said, "My experience was that things always came up for me. It never
stayed feeling like it was the other person's time; it was always my time as well." Theme
6: Sense of Freedom
The word freedom appeared repeatedly in all of the women's stories in many different
contexts. The participants reflected on how they appreciated the freedom of choice that
characterized dance therapy. They talked about having their choice of the activities that
were presented and about feeling free to adjust their participation according to their own
needs, agendas, and comfort levels. One woman explained, "It was clear to me that I
could choose not to do any exercise, which was very important, or I could choose to do it
in my own way." For one woman, this freedom of choice and control over the therapeutic
process was especially significant and meaningful in light of her past abuse experiences:"
For most people that have been sexually abused, that's one thing that was taken away
from them, their ability to move, emotionally, physically, mentally, everything. So you've
got this freedom that is so important." This woman described the sense of personal
freedom as entitlement--reclaiming her right to be in charge of her body and her
experience.
The women also spoke about how the particular freedom not to talk was a very
significant part of their dance therapy experiences. Verbal processing was optional, and
this was important to the women for various reasons. Some commented on how
nonverbal expression provided a welcome reprieve from talk-based therapy. One woman
expressed a sense of being tired of talking about her pain and wanting an alternative way
to process it. Another described how talking was a pitfall for her because it kept her "in
her head," unaware of her feelings and experiences. She found that nonverbal modes of
expression were more fruitful for her in terms of making the connection to her inner
world.
Freedom not to talk was also perceived as valuable for those who were processing
distressing memories or flashbacks to abuse experiences. In these cases, expressing
feelings and memories first in movement was reported as being a safer and more gentle
way to begin to work on these very painful and difficult therapeutic issues. For some of
the women, not having to engage in talk and analysis was important in terms of not
"spoiling" a significant moment of bodily connection. One woman explained, "It was a
great experience in my body ... and I didn't want to observe it, didn't want to form some
conclusion. I didn't want to leave my body and go into my head."
The women in this study also spoke about experiencing freedom on a visceral level; that
is, they were not restricted in their use of space or in the intensity of their emotional
expression. Some of the women told stories about breakthrough cathartic experiences that
illustrated the powerful potential of dance therapy. One woman told her story:
My epiphany was a complete body experience. I started sobbing, and I ended
up on the bathroom floor curled up in the fetal position screaming at my
dad, screaming at my mom, that I wasn't going to hold onto this anymore ...
and my body let it go. Since then, I remember the beatings and the sexual
abuse, but the pain isn't attached to it anymore. I'm not reexperiencing
the pain with every memory.
All of the women told stories of emotional release, which they experienced to some
degree in more traditional forms of therapy. What the women believed was unique to
dance therapy, however, was the opportunity to discharge some of the physical energy
that accompanied these powerful emotions. As one woman put it, "When stuff comes up
in dance therapy you've got some way to expend the energy that's involved ... to deal with
it in terms of your body, and to get the energy out of your body, not just out of your
mouth." The women stated that releasing the emotional energy through their bodies
helped deepen their therapeutic process, and they found that this gave them an
unprecedented sense of resolution. One participant expressed it this way: "A lot of
emotion shifted and came out ... somehow a lot of whatever had been building up was
gone? Another remarked: "The whole approach was so different than talk therapy. It just
freed me up to let that stuff go."
DISCUSSION
A review of the findings indicates that four of the themes are reflective of the participants'
experiences of the therapeutic modality of dance (i.e., reconnection to their bodies,
permission to play, sense of spontaneity, sense of freedom), whereas two of the themes,
also related to dance therapy, are more specific to participating in this type of therapeutic
work in a group setting (i.e., sense of struggle, sense of intimate connection). What
follows is a discussion of the implications of these findings based on these apparent
distinctions.
In terms of the participants' experiences of dance therapy, the results suggest that for the
women in this study, all of whom had prior experiences with more traditional "talk"
therapies, dance therapy provided a forum for therapeutic work that, while emotionally
painful and psychologically challenging, was also infused with pleasure. With
observations similar to those of other clinicians and researchers CB. Bernstein, 1995;
Schmais, 1985), these participants identified spontaneity of movement, permission to
play, and the freedom to construct and control their own therapeutic experiences as
important components of dance therapy. As Espenak (1981) contended, vitality and
playfulness seem to be central to the effectiveness of dance therapy, because they help to
counterbalance some of the more painful and difficult aspects of therapeutic work.
A progression toward increased spontaneity in their bodies and in their emotional
expression through their bodies was also noted by the participants in this study. Through
dance therapy, the women became aware of various blocks and inhibitions in themselves
and gradually learned how to move in ways that were more unconstrained and authentic.
Originally conceptualized by Mary Whitehouse (Levy, 1988) as authentic movement, this
involves the relaxing of the ego's defenses against spontaneous expression so that
unconscious aspects of the client's inner world can be expressed (Espenak, 1981; Levy,
1988; Simonds, 1994). Indeed, the women in this study underscored the importance of
being able to move "out of their heads" and past their cognitive defenses, so that they
could begin to attend to their bodily sensations, feelings, and impulses. In so doing, they
confirmed the contentions of many dance therapists and theorists (e.g., P. L. Bernstein,
1986; Payne, 1992; Penfield, 1992) that they became more "aware" of and connected to
their inner emotional and psychic worlds. Referred to by Yalom (1975) as the process of
recognition, expression, and integration of previously unknown or disowned aspects of
the self, participants in this study emphasized the therapeutic value of getting in touch
with their inner strengths, as well as the more problematic and painful aspects of their
experiences.
The findings also underscore the importance of the physical discharge and expression of
emotional and psychological energy through bodily expression. For the participants in
this study, spontaneous physical movement was perceived not only as an avenue to
access their inner worlds, but also as a vehicle for the physical expression and release of
sometimes intensely painful emotions. The women talked about the importance of being
able to express and expend through spontaneous movement the energy generated by this
therapeutic work--a type of physical catharsis (Payne, 1992; Schmais, 1985; Simonds,
1994)--allowing for a physical release that participants perceived as an important part of
their "healing" and a critical aspect of reconnecting to their bodies.
All of the women in the study had felt disconnected from their bodies to varying
degrees--a very common experience for survivors of child sexual abuse (Ambra, 1995;
Bass & Davis, 1988). Perhaps a consequence of the dissociation that is common among
abuse survivors (Bass & Davis, 1988; Sanderson, 1995), each woman in the study learned
through dance therapy how to "become attentive to the body, to feel safe in having a body
... to be present in the body as an adult" (Simonds, 1994, p. 9). They learned to trust their
bodies and to feel more grounded and safe and comfortable within their own skin,
resulting in greater acceptance and care of their bodies and a greater sense of physical and
psychological integration.
More specific to the participants' experiences of dance therapy in a group format, the
results suggest that the group setting both impeded and enhanced their therapeutic work.
Similar to the reactions of those in more traditional forms of group therapy (e.g., Corey,
1991; Gazda, Ginter, & Home, 2001; Yalom, 1975), the women in our study struggled
with feelings of vulnerability and fears related to emotional disclosure within the group.
Many talked about their heightened self-consciousness in sharing their emotional worlds
through such a physical medium and about the difficulty of being "observed," especially
given their personal discomfort with living and moving in their own bodies. They
emphasized the need for safety and trust, underscored the power of this type of work, and
emphasized the importance of their readiness to work within a group context. They also
reflected very positively on the benefits of working in a group, describing the deep
emotional connection that seemed to emerge spontaneously with others in the group in
the absence of speech and their feelings of unity as they moved together in a
synchronized fashion. The women also spoke about the therapeutic power of bearing
witness to the experiences of other group members, and of others bearing witness to their
experience. Musicant (1994) underscored the value of witnessing in dance therapy,
suggesting that this process involves watching another person in a compassionate,
nonjudgmental manner while also following one's own feelings, thoughts, and sensations.
He claims that learning to witness another with compassion and acceptance facilitates the
development of compassionate and accepting self-observation.
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELING PRACTICE
Overall, the findings from this study provide some important insights for counseling
professionals. First, counselors should remember the importance of play and fun as a
counterbalance to some of the more emotionally challenging aspects of therapeutic work.
It is also important to liberate clients from the constraints of the therapy chair and from
having to verbally articulate all of their feelings and concerns. In addition to dance
therapy, there are a variety of nonverbal, expressive interventions that counselors can
incorporate into their practice (see Simonds, 1994) to help clients access the landscapes
of their inner world, and to assist them in expressing and releasing intensely charged
emotional material.
Counselors need to be cognizant of the ways in which clients' psychological worlds are
etched in their bodies and in their relationships to their bodies and find ways to include
embodiment work in their clinical practice, a task that for most counseling professionals
is not easily undertaken. According to McNiff (1981), "probably no single feature of
artistic and general human expression is as consistently missing in training
psychotherapists as the language of the body" (p. 131). A body-inclusive counseling
approach is critical particularly when working with adult survivors of child sexual
trauma, as in the case of 5 of the 6 women in this study.
The impact of sexual trauma on the body demands that the body itself be a major topic at
some point in treatment. Reconnecting with the body, learning how to care for the body,
developing more positive feelings for the body, and recreating sexuality must occur in the
process of healing. (Simonds, 1994, p. 10).
Indeed, clients' experiences of and relationships with their bodies are implicated in many
of the issues that they commonly bring to counseling (e.g., health problems, aging,
physical injuries, reproductive concerns, eating disorders). As such, counselors may need
to work along with other mental health professionals who are trained in therapeutic body
awareness methods or they may need to undertake professional training in these areas if
they are to more fully meet the needs of a wide range of clients.
REFERENCES
Ambra, L. (1995). Approaches used in dance/movement therapy with adult women incest
survivors. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 17, 15-24.
Bass, E., & Davis, L. (1988). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child
sexual abuse. New York: Harper & Row.
Baum, E. (1995). Multiple personality disorder: A group movement therapy approach. In
E Levy (Ed.), Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp.
83-92). New York: Routledge.
Bernstein, B. (1995). Dancing beyond trauma: Women survivors of sexual abuse. In E
Levy (Ed.), Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp.
41-58). New York: Routledge.
Bernstein, P. L. (1986). Theoretical approaches in dance-movement therapy (Vol. 1).
Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Berrol, C., & Katz, S. (1985). Dance/movement therapy in the rehabilitation of
individuals surviving severe head injuries. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 8, 46-66.
Brooks, D., & Stark, A. (1989). The effect of dance/movement therapy on affect: A pilot
study. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 11, 101-111.
Chang, M. (1995). Mobilizing battered women: A creative step forward. In F. Levy (Ed.),
Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp. 59-68). New
York: Routledge.
Colaizzi, P. F. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. S.
Valle & M. King (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp.
48-71). New York: Oxford University Press.
Corey, G. (1991). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (4th ed.). Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Espenak, L. (1981). Dance therapy: Theory and applications. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Fried, J. P. (1995). Sue and Jon: Working with blind children. In E Levy (Ed.), Dance and
other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp. 147-166). New York:
Routledge.
Gazda, G. M., Ginter, E. J., & Home, A. M. (2001). Group counseling and
psychotherapy. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Goodill, S. W. (1987). Dance/movement therapy with abused children. The Arts in
Psychotherapy, 14, 59-68.
Hammond-Meiers, J. A. (1992). A phenomenological investigation of the experience of
dance/movement therapy. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54(03), 816. (University
Microfilms No. AAC NN77232)
Holstein, J., & Gubrium, J. (1995). The active interview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lawlor, E. (1995). Confronting co-dependency: A psychodramatic movement therapy
approach. In F. Levy (Ed.), Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not
enough (pp. 109-118). New York: Routledge.
Leste, A., & Rust, J. (1990). Effects of dance on anxiety. American Journal of Dance
Therapy, 12, 19-26.
Levy, F. J. (1988). Dance movement therapy: A healing art. Reston, VA: The American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.
Levy, F. J. (1995). Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough.
New York: Routledge.
Liebowitz, G. (1992). Individual dance movement therapy in an inpatient psychiatric
setting. In H. Payne (Ed.), Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice (pp. 102-122).
London: Routledge.
MacDonald, J. (1992). Dance? Of course I can] Dance movement therapy for people with
learning difficulties. In H. Payne (Ed.), Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice
(pp. 202-217). London: Routledge.
McNiff, S. (1981). The arts and psychotherapy. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Meekums, B. (1992). The love bugs: Dance movement therapy in a family service unit.
In H. Payne (Ed.), Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice (pp. 18-38). London:
Routledge.
Miller, A. (1984). Thou shalt not be aware: Society's betrayal of the child (H. Hannum &
H. Hannum, Trans.). New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. (Original work published 1981).
Mishler, E. (1991). Research interviewing: Context and narrative. Cambridge: Harvard.
Murray-Lane, M. B. (1995). Walls of addiction. In F. Levy (Ed.), Dance and other
expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp. 93-100). New York: Routledge.
Musicant, S. (1994). Authentic movement and dance therapy. American Journal of Dance
Therapy, 16, 91-106.
Osborne, J. W. (1990). Some basic existential-phenomenological research methodology
for counsellors. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 24, 79-91.
Osborne, J. W. (1994). Some similarities and differences among phenomenological and
other methods of psychological qualitative research. Canadian Psychology, 35, 167-189.
Payne, H. (1992). Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice. London: Routledge.
Penfield, K. (1992). Individual movement psychotherapy: Dance movement therapy in
private practice. In H. Payne (Ed.), Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice (pp.
163-181). London: Routledge.
Rose, S. (1995). Movement as metaphor: Treating chemical addiction. In F. Levy (Ed.),
Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp. 101-108).
New York: Routledge.
Sandel, S., & Hollander, A. (1995). Dance/movement therapy with aging populations. In
E Levy (Ed.), Dance and other expressive art therapies: When words are not enough (pp.
133-143). New York: Routledge.
Sanderson, C. (1995). Counselling adult survivors of child sexual abuse (2nd ed.).
London: Kingsley Publishers.
Schmais, C. (1985). Healing processes in group dance therapy. American Journal of
Dance Therapy, 8, 17-36.
Schmais, C., & White, E. Q. (1986). Introduction to dance therapy. American Journal of
Dance Therapy, 9, 23-30.
Siegel, E. V. (1995). Psychoanalytic dance therapy: The bridge between psyche and
soma. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 17, 115-128.
Simonds, S. L. (1994). Bridging the silence: Nonverbal modalities in the treatment of
adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. New York: Norton.
van Manen, M. (1984). Practicing phenomenological writing. Phenomenology and
Pedagogy, 2, 37-69.
Vigier, R. (1994). Gestures of genius: Women, dance and the body. Stratford, Ontario:
Mercury Press.
Westbrook, B. K., & McKibben, H. (1989). Dance/movement therapy with groups of
outpatients with Parkinson's disease. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 11, 27-38.
Wise, S. K. (1984). Uses of dance therapy with eating disorders. The Journal of Obesity
and Weight Regulation, 3(2), 101-106.
Yalom, I. (1975). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (2nd ed.). New York:
Basic Books.
Zwerling, I. (1989). The creative art therapies as real therapies? American Journal of
Dance Therapy, 11, 19-26.
Letty J. Mills cofacilitates dance therapy groups for sexual abuse survivors, is a
consultant with an industrial/organizational psychology consulting firm, and is in private
practice in Vancouver, British Columbia. Judith C. Daniluk is a professor of counseling
psychology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Correspondence regarding
this article should be sent to Judith C. Daniluk, Department of Educational and
Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia, 2125
Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1Z4, Canada (e-mail: judith.daniluk@ubc.ca).
-1-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questia Media America, Inc. www.questia.com
Publication Information:Article Title: Her body speaks: the experience of dance
therapy for women survivors of child sexual abuse. Contributors: Judith C. Daniluk -
author, Letty J. Mills - author. Journal Title: Journal of Counseling and Development.
Volume: 80. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 77+. COPYRIGHT 2002
American Counseling Association; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
