Health, Happiness And Movement Based Treatment

By Joshua Reed


While traditional therapists still provide clients with services out of an office with a couch, others now use more alternative therapies. These can include everything from hypnosis and psychoanalysis to movement based treatment. While psychoanalysis and hypnosis often focus on behavioral and emotional issues, dance oriented therapies often treat body, mind and soul.

Therapists working in dance therapy often use a four stage approach when providing treatment. These stages include, preparation, illumination, evaluation and incubation. First the therapist evaluates the mover, creates a treatment plan, illuminates the issues then institutes the plan for a specific incubation period.

These therapies are often provided in a clinical or medical setting. While community dances such as the many ongoing non-alcohol, smoke-free, barefoot dance jams that occur on an regular basis are often hosted in churches, community centers or schools. In either case, dance is one activity which has the ability to effect the overall health and well being of the dancer. In some cases related to physical injuries, individuals may be sent to a physical therapist who can also integrate movement based therapies into an overall treatment plan.

While this type therapy has only been recognized in the United States and Europe since the 1930s, with more development in the 1950s, it is nothing new. Dance and movement therapies have actually been used in the Near East, Greek and Roman civilizations for thousands of years. In fact, it was not until the 1950s when a choreographer, dance teacher and therapist noticed the positive effects movement had on a number of students that dance became an acceptable form of treatment.

Up until the time it was discovered that dance had an effect on the mover, movement was seen primarily as an expressive art. Dance and movement were then established as therapies in the 1950s. After which, a number of professional psychotherapists decided to begin work in the field.

These dance oriented therapies can be divided into two distinct waves. The first involves the use of dance as related to the medical community. Once a well known therapist noticed the effects movement had on clients, a larger field of movement therapy was formed. Once several clients had reported success in overcoming emotional and physical issues, more therapists started providing these type services.

After students began to report seeing positive changes to overall health and happiness, doctors began sending clients to receive treatment. After several success stories from these individuals and others, these alternative therapeutic forms became more accepted as valid forms of treatment for emotional and physical aspects of clients.

A new ideology related to dance therapy was formed in the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, a number of therapists began exploring and experimenting with this new aspect of treatment. Several therapists started developing new and exciting applications in the process. After which, these application based therapies were matched with the healing needs of clients.




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