Book Description
Presents an incorporation of dance therapy with visualisation methods, dramatic techniques and the visual arts. ... Read more

Book Description
What can dance movement contribute to psychotherapy?

This thoroughly updated edition of Dance Movement Therapy echoes the increased world-wide interest in dance movement therapy and makes a strong contribution to the emerging awareness of the nature of embodiment in psychotherapy.Recent research is incorporated, along with developments in theory and practice, to provide a comprehensive overview of this fast-growing field.
Helen Payne brings together contributions from experts in the field to offer the reader a valuable insight into the theory and practice of Dance Movement Therapy.The contributions reflect the breadth of developing approaches, covering subjects including:
· Dance movement therapy with people with dementia
· Group work with people with enduring mental health difficulties
· Transcultural competence in dance movement therapy
· Freudian thought applied to authentic movement
· Embodiment in dance movement therapy training and practice
· Personal development through dance movement therapy
Dance Movement Therapy will be a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to learn more about the therapeutic use of creative movement and dance.It will be welcomed by students and practitioners in the arts therapies, psychotherapy, counseling and other health and social care professions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Overview
This book has many different opinions, which, when you are looking for an overview, gives you a more rounded experience.I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an introduction into the expressive therapies, but some prior knowledge of the arts as well as psychology is helpful. ... Read more

Book Description
The first book to document the pioneering practice of Dance Movement Therapy in a variety of settings. Experienced therapists working with a range of clients reveal their working methods and techniques. ... Read more

Book Description
Returing to Health: with Dance, Movement & Imagery is a theoretical and practical approach to using movement and imagery as a modality for people challenging cancer and other life threatening illness.Anna Halprin describes her expressive movement work with terminally ill patients and documents a ten-week series with each class clearly described in ways that can be easily followed by others using dance, movement or imagery as healing arts.

Examples of participants' experiences, drawings, photographs and words, are interwoven with lesson plans, directions and summaries in a lively and balanced format, which never feels abstract or difficult to read.Halprin manages to describe movement processes succinctly and in ways you can easily visualize, understand and try out. The reader "breathes and moves" through this book as Halprin leads us into the healing room.

Halprin offers the wisdom of her life experience as a dancer, teacher, cancer survivor, and facilitator for healing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Creative Path to Healing
A grounded, practical guide to using movement, dance, drawing, expression, as tools to heal the body of cancer. Exercises and creative visualizations to bring groups in direct participation with the healing process, incorporating the entire body and spirit with breath, movement, creativity, and visualizations.Geared towards teachers, guides, or moderators who may be interested in leading classes or seminars in the field, after thoroughly examining and experiencing the process first hand. Lots of photographs illustrating the process, showing examples of artwork produced in the workshops, and tips on how to bring out the most expressive, creative, healing movement and dance pieces in a safe, unself-conscious, and liberating manner. Inspiring. Recommended.

The personal and compelling memoir of a cancer survivor
A revised edition of "Dance As A Healing Art" by Anna Halprin, Returning to Health with Dance, Movement, and Imagery is the personal and compelling memoir of a cancer survivor and dance teacher who navigated the difficult road to wellness and healing. Telling her courageous, inspiring story in her own words, Returning To Health With Dance, Movement, And Imagery is highly recommended reading, especially for anyone having to deal with cancer and in need of an uplifting, positive read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An impressive collection of papers on dance therapy research
It was my privilege to write the Foreword to this book. Robyn Cruz and Cynthia Berrol were guided by their shared vision ofa comprehensible and useful text written by authors with exemplary credentials.Their inspiring and informative work is a significant contribution to the literature.If you are interested in exploring questions aboutthe living body in dance therapy, read this book. ... Read more

Book Description
As a psychotherapeutic technique dance/movement as active imagination was originated by Carl Gustav Jung in 1916. It was later developed in the 1960s by dance therapy pioneer Mary Whitehouse. Today it is an approach to dance therapy as well as a form of active imagination in analysis.

Joan Chodorow, a leading dance therapist and Jungian analyst, provides a detailed exploration of the origins, theory and practice of dance/movement as active imagination.

The author begins with her own story, through early dance studies and performing and teaching, to becoming a dance therapist, psychotherapist and Jungian analyst. It is a story that shows, in an immediate way, how dance/movement is of value to psychotherapy--how the expression of the patient's emotions and their role in each individual's psychological development are of crucial importance. An historical overview of Jung's basic concepts is given, as well as the most recent depth psychological synthesis of affect theory, based on the work of Silvan Tomkins and Louis Stewart, among others. Finally, in discussing the use of dance/movement as active imagination in the practice of psychotherapy, the movement themes that emerge and the nonverbal expressive aspects of the therapeutic relationship are described.

This delightful introduction to depth psychology from the perspective of body, psyche and the emotions will be of interest to practitioners, teachers and students of psychotherapy and dance therapy, as well as those concerned with psychology and the arts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A good introduction to the theory behind dance therapy
This book isn't an easy read:the autobiographical first section is straightforward and engaging;however, in the second section, when she outlines the theoretical background and underpinnings of her method, it becomes rather heavy going.(The book was based on her dissertation, and it shows here.At least the chapters are fairly concise, but, if you start getting bogged down in this section, skip to the last 4 chapters.)However, in the final section, everything comes together and makes sense:the discussion of the various "movement themes," what they signify, and where they originate in the mover's psyche, is clear, understandable, and applicable in practice.For the reader with an academic background in psychology, this is a good introduction to the subject of dance therapy;if you come to the book from a dance perspective, it will increase your understanding of why certain movements are powerfully evocative, and perhaps give you some insight into what your own dance style expresses.

Well worth the effort
Joan Chodorow has done a masterful job of bringing together Jung's work on active imagination in a book that ranges from the extremely dense material typical of Jung to the very practical and "moving."I found myself dipping in and out rather than trying to absorb it straight through.

Tough going but worth it
Ms. Chodorow does an excellent job of introducing and summarizing Carl Jung's concept of "active imagination" and its importance in becoming an "individuated" person.I'm currently bogged down in the middle of the book, though, due to the Jungian-ness of it all.(I've never found Jung's terminology to be straight forward or easily understandable...maybe it's just me.)I've jumped ahead and read other portions that seem more practical and have given me a much better idea of what the field is about.This would be a good textbook for a dance therapy program, but as a dancer, I sometimes felt it was too much up in the head (too intellectual) and not enough in the body ... Read more

Book Description

Dance Movement Therapy is a concise, practical introduction to a form of therapy, which has the body-mind relationship at its center. Movement, with both its physical and metaphorical potential, provides a unique medium through which clients can find expression, reach new interpretations and ultimately achieve a greater integration of their emotional and physical experience.

In the book, Bonnie Meekums maps the origins of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) and its relationship to other more traditional forms of therapy. Outlining a new model for DMT, she describes the creative process, which develops in cycles throughout each session and over the course of therapy. Illustrated throughout with vivid case examples, the book defines the role of the therapist in working with clients to bring about change.

Customer Reviews (1)

Good for general knowledge
This book is good for general knowledge of dance therapy, it provides pretty good examples of mind-body relation in a form of case studies. Though this book lacks detail of the therapy session, methods used, group dynamics, etc. If you are looking for a real detail and structured explanation, look somewhere else. ... Read more

Book Description
This edition of Using the Creative Arts in Therapy has been updated to include developments in creative therapy and to reflect changing attitudes on the role of the arts in therapy. Its emphasis is on promoting health and encouraging healing, particularly self-healing. The contributors, all creative specialists with extensive experience of working in education, rehabilitation and health care, describe in detail their work in the fields of folklore and ritual, the visual arts, music, dance, drama, puppetry and storytelling. Designed for all those who are interested in using the arts in their professional practice, this book provides a practical approach to the use of the arts in special education, rehabilitation and health care. ... Read more

Book Description
This authoritative volume, written by one of the world's leading pioneers in the field, provides an integrative framework for the practice of drama therapy. It is the first book to offer a comprehensive and systematized description of drama therapy techniques as well as an in?depth analysis, supported by clinical examples and case histories, of the progression of brief and long?term drama therapy. After exploring the primary conceptual sources at the roots of drama therapy, the author delineates five distinct development phases in the therapeutic process that will help the therapist to pace treatment, assess progress, and choose effective techniques and interventions. The volumes describes over 125 distinct drama therapy techniques, many of which were created by the author. These techniques are categorized according to phases of the session and treatment series and subcategorized by therapeutic objective. Also included are an examination of performance?oriented drama therapy and "self?revelatory" theater as well as the poignant story about a group of seven former psychiatric patients and the play they created about their lives. The techniques described in Acting for Real will be particularly useful for clients who have difficulty with verbal communication, social interaction, or emotional expression/containment. They can be easily integrated into the contexts of individual, family, and group therapy; day treatment centers; inpatient psychiatric hospital units; as well as clinical and recreational work with all populations and age groups. Drama therapy offers an intensification of the psychotherapeutic process that will contribute to the growing need, in our current economic climate, for more cost?effective types of psychiatric treatment. But above all, drama therapy, as so clearly and knowledgeably set forth in Acting for Real, can offer individuals a particularly potent and multidimensional means of accessing their most profound and vital selves. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from The Arts in Psychotherapy, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The recent discovery by neuroscientists of mirror neurons has launched a spate of scientific investigations. A keystone of the therapeutic process of dance/movement therapy (D/MT), the concept of mirroring is now the subject of neuroscience. An interactive phenomenon, studies are revealing that the identical sets of neurons can be activated in an individual who is simply witnessing another person performing a movement as the one actually engaged in the action or the expression of some emotion or behavior. The domains of behavior currently under investigation span motoric, psychosocial and cognitive functions, including specific psychosocial issues related to attunement, attachment theory and empathy. Although D/MT embodies empathic forms, until recently their neurological underpinnings have not been studied. The paper addresses the theoretical constructs of the mirror matching mechanism and empathy, and the implications for D/MT. Beginning with the basic mapping of important central nervous system structures and their behavioral functions, the focus shifts to the mirror neurons with respect to the formative years vis-a-vis the developmental issues of empathy-attachment, attunement, social cognition and morality. The final section offers two exemplars of mirror neurons and empathy as mediated through dance and D/MT. ... Read more