Date of Award
Spring 5-21-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MA - Master of Arts
Department
Expressive Therapies
Advisor
Dr. Lee Ann Thill, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC
Abstract
Individuals with reactive attachment disorder present as guarded towards therapeutic care and respond passively to treatment or become combative and aggressive. Previous body-based interventions for individuals with reactive attachment disorder included dangerous and unethical approaches that led to traumatization, distrust, and even death. Historical attachment therapies focused on making the client feel powerless and hopeless to accept care rather than practitioners adjusting to individualized client-centered care. A dance/movement therapy-informed method was developed to provide a nonthreatening therapeutic space to foster genuine participation for clients who present with reactivity towards treatment. The method was implemented over the course of seven weeks in weekly individual sessions with a female adolescent client who presented with reactivity towards therapeutic care. In response to this reactivity, sessions included activities that were familiar and non-threatening, including soccer, basketball, cornhole, volleyball, and going for walks. Body Attitude Coding Sheets and Laban Movement Analysis were used to record and assess the client’s ability to coregulate, communicate, and create through her movement patterns and action efforts. Results included changes in the participant’s pattern of action efforts as well as her use of coregulation, mirroring, and kinesthetic empathy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Koontz, Nicole, "Combining Non-traditional Therapeutic Competencies with Dance/Movement Therapy in Response to Client Reactivity: The Development of a Method" (2022). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 566.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/566
Included in
Child Psychology Commons, Clinical Psychology Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Somatic Psychology Commons
Rights
The author owns the copyright to this work.
