Dear Readers,
Welcome to this Spring 2018 issue. Body and dance movement psychotherapies have a deserved reputation for their capacities to tap into, and constructively work with, clients’ preverbal disturbances. These are experiences that are intrinsic to the body and usually without mental representations. Therapeutic work will necessarily build on inner and embodied images and on the innate intelligence of the organism. While not an explicit focus, preverbal disturbances and certainly their embodied presence in the therapeutic relationship appear as a shared implicit aspect present in several articles in this issue.
This is particularly apparent in the first article in this issue by Einat Shuper-Engelhard, from Haifa University on somatic mirroring. The main argument of this paper being that there are areas in the psyche that do not have a clear representation but through dance movement therapy and ‘somatic mirroring’ in particular they can gain a concrete representation. The term ‘body figurability’ is introduced to refer to such representations that may take the form of rhythm, space or intensity, while a clinical vignette is introduced as illustration to the points made. Psychoanalytically informed, this first article allows us to consider ways in which more intangible aspects of psychotherapy work can find concrete manifestations, lead to new internal representations and potentially achieve body and movement-based therapeutic change.
Moments of therapeutic change is the topic focused upon in our second paper presented in this issue, authored by body psychotherapist and trainer Gill Westland from the UK and one of the co-editors for the journal. ‘Innovative moments’; ‘relational depth events’; ‘healing moments’; ‘now moments’; ‘present moments’; ‘key moments’; ‘improvisational moments’; ‘pivotal moments’ are all turning points in therapy. They refer to the time in the therapeutic process when insights are gained, important emotional connections are achieved, and/or integration of actions, thoughts and feelings takes place. Such times often give the sense that the process slows down and/or accelerates and something new comes to the foreground. Gill Westland discusses this topic from a body psychotherapy perspective. She reviews relevant conceptions and builds on a small study in which both psychotherapists and clients participated, thereby giving voice to experiences and perceptions from both positions in the consulting room. While it is not surprising to hear that such moments of change appear to be co-created and benefit from slowing down and from being aware of relationship dynamics, moments of change are certainly key to better understanding of the nature of therapeutic process and answer the question of ‘what makes therapy work?’
Another important component of the therapeutic process discussed in this issue is the topic of assessment and diagnosis. This paper comes from the Netherlands where psychomotor therapy is strongly represented. It discusses the development of a psychomotor diagnostic instrument (PMDI) for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, and particularly so for patients with impeded or limited capacities to verbally communicate their plight. Developed as part of Minke Van de Kamp’s doctoral studies (supervised by Claudia Emck, Peter Beek and Pim Cuijpers), the instrument is a non-verbal tool designed to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder. Its development is described, whilst clinical vignettes are presented and discussed giving insights into how the tool can be used.
Our annual New Researcher Award is now in its third year. The last of the articles included in this issue titled ‘Dance/movement therapy and shamanic healing ritual: Natural intelligence of body and spirit’ by Megan Ramos is submitted as part of this award. The unique feature of this paper is that writings on dance movement psychotherapy and shamanism are sparse. Dance movement psychotherapy draws heavily upon Western psychotherapy thinking and traditions. An association with shamanism, relevant and interesting as it may be for many of our fellow practitioners (and potentially for our clients), is often avoided in academic scholarship in the disciplines as are discussions on spirituality. Megan Ramos departs from these omissions and presents a bold, clear and fresh take on the links between dance/movement therapy, spirituality and shamanism. It is not surprising that this is a paper that comes from the USA and the Naropa training institute in particular, where the transpersonal and discussions on spirituality find a very fertile ground.
Note that the deadline for New Researcher Award for 2017 is now closed, but we would welcome more student papers submitted as part of, or outside, this scheme, hoping that this will support a future and vibrant research community. The deadline for the New Researcher Award 2018 will be mid December 2018.
Relational aspects framed through relational psychotherapy are explicitly revisited in the first of our book reviews included in this issue which has been contributed by Jeremy Rose. The book titled: ‘The therapist and client: A relational approach to psychotherapy’ is written by Patrick Nolan. This author will be familiar to our readers from his article ‘The relational field of body psychotherapy’ we published in 2014. Nolan’s book makes clear references to psychoanalytic theory, but at the same time integrates humanistic and transpersonal work. Rose’s review takes us through this book and its main premises, highlighting sections that bring new insights into body psychotherapeutic thinking and practice.
This issue concludes with Sharon Chaiklin’s review of the book ‘Why don’t psychotherapists laugh? Enjoyment and the consulting room’, by Ann Shearer. Humour is another topic only rarely considered in the psychotherapy field but which is gaining a lot of attention recently. We welcome the inclusion of this topic in our journal since most of us will have had experiences of spontaneous humour that moved a proverbial mountain in the therapeutic relationship. While this book is not specific to body and dance movement psychotherapies, laughter is of course a significant bodied event that may lead to an autonomic state change and we hope this review may stimulate further discourse and discussion.
We are tempted to complete this editorial with a joke as a way of keeping to the theme of the last paper. Instead we will simply wish you enjoy the issue. And we invite you to send us feedback of how you find this and other journal issues.
Edge Hill University, UK
[email protected] Warnecke
Re.Vision Counselling and Psychotherapy with a Soulful Perspective, UK
[email protected]