The Chat with Dr.

Dave
Therapeutic Thoughts of the Week

Experiential Therapy: Movement Therapy (DMT)

Dr. Daves Therapeutic Thoughts of the Week is intended to highlight a theoretical approach
to therapy as well as identify an alternative approach to be used in lieu of traditional talk
therapy. Dr. Dave has discovered that when working with children and adolescents that
traditional talk therapy theoretical approaches are not always effective and that the therapist
needs to have alternative ways in accessing information from the child, adolescent, or adult. Dr.
Dave has utilized Experiential therapies over the last 15 years and in this weeks Therapeutic
Thoughts of the Week Dr. Dave draws attention to Movement Therapy also known as Dance
Movement Therapy. Dr. Dave is a trained dancer and recognized years ago the information that
non-verbal movement can provide to the clinician. Dr. Dave perceives that the clinician does not
need to have a background in dance to utilize Movement Therapy as an intervention; however
does recommend that the clinician receives formal training in Movement Therapy prior to
utilizing it.
Background to Experiential Therapy:
Experiential Therapies externalize the human psyche through action where clients move out from
their heads and experience their unconscious self in the dynamic. Experiential therapy allows
clients to relate to them in a fuller context than just through talk therapy. Experiential techniques
offer clients new ways to experience self and to create new solutions to problems. Experiential
and humanistic therapies are:
client-centered/person centered therapy
Gestalt Therapy
Focusing-oriented Psychotherapy
Process-experiential Psychotherapy
Psychodrama
Existential Psychotherapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy
Expressive/Arts Therapies
Introduction to Movement Therapy (DMT):
Movement Therapy also known as Dance Movement Therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of
movement and dance through which a person can engage creatively in a process to further their
emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration (ADMT UK, 1977).

The Chat with Dr. Dave

Therapeutic Thoughts of the Week
Key Principles Underpinning DMT:
- Body and mind interact, so that change in movement will affect total functioning
- Movement reflects personality
- The therapeutic relationship is mediated at least to some extent non-verbally, for example
through the therapist mirroring the clients movement
- Movement contains symbolic function as such can be evidence of unconscious processes
- Movement improvisation allows the client to experiment with new ways of being
- DMT allows for the recapitulation of early object relationships by virtue of the largely nonverbal mediation of the latter
Movement Metaphor:
- A metaphor is the application of name or descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally
applicable. This literal definition can be expanded to include not just words but visual images
and body movements. The word metaphor comes from the Greek words meta and phora,
meaning to carry across.
- The movement metaphor is a symbol encapsulated in either a movement or posture.
- Movement metaphors can thus be as a form of nonverbal communication which, when
examined, can provide valuable insights into the individuals patterns of behavior, beliefs, and
relationships
To summarize, metaphor has the following qualities:
- Metaphor contains images that have sensory references
- Metaphor can provide a way of working with a stuck situation
- Metaphor may aid in memory by mediating between associative connections
- Metaphor reflects issues of self-identity
- Metaphor can provide a representation of role-relationship patterns used by client
- Metaphor connects both with the past experience and the potential to affect the future by
creating a new reality
- Metaphor holds multiple meanings and contexts
- Metaphor can function as a way of expressing something which might otherwise be
inexpressible
- Metaphor provides economy of expression without losing richness, thus making an experience
understandable to others
- Metaphor bridges left brain and right brain activity, or conscious and unconscious processes
- Metaphor can lead to increased intellectual clarity
- Metaphor can be used to explore alternative ways of thinking and behaving
- Metaphor can act both to distance the client from the emotional content of its reference, and to
reduce the distance between the client and therapist
- It is not always necessary to proceed from metaphor to linguistic or conscious processing, and
to do say may even reduce its therapeutic value
- By using metaphor, one can create a new concept for which is not other expression

The Chat with Dr. Dave

Therapeutic Thoughts of the Week
- Metaphor allows for serious and uncomfortable subjects to be explored, sometimes, even with
humor
This weeks Dr. Daves Therapeutic Thoughts of the Week is intended to highlight a
theoretical approach to therapy as well as identify an alternative approach to be used in lieu of
traditional talk therapy DMT. Dance Movement Therapy may be an effective approach when
working with children, adolescents, and adults with developmental disabilities as DMT relies on
non-verbal communication versus talking. Dr. Dave reiterates the importance to gain training
in DMT prior to utilizing it as a therapeutic intervention.
References
American Dance Therapy Association. (2004). [Brochure]. Columbia, MD: Author.
Felber, M. (n.d.). What is experiential therapy?. Retrieved Nov. 26, 2005, from
http://www.marriagecpr.com/experiential.html.
Meekums, B. (2002). Dance movement therapy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Network for Research on Experiential Psychotherapies, (n.d.). Retrieved Nov. 26, 2005,
from http://www.experiential-researchers.org/.