Premium
Her Body Speaks: The Experience of Dance Therapy for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Author(s) -
Mills Letty J.,
Daniluk Judith C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6678.2002.tb00169.x
Subject(s) - dance , psychotherapist , psychology , dance therapy , sexual abuse , perception , art therapy , interpretative phenomenological analysis , qualitative research , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , suicide prevention , poison control , sociology , art , visual arts , social science , environmental health , neuroscience
This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the experiences of dance therapy for 5 women who had been sexually abused as children. Using in‐depth, largely unstructured interviews, the women reflect on their dance therapy experiences and on their perceptions of the role of these experiences in their psychological healing. Analysis of these data revealed 6 common themes related to the women's sense of spontaneity, permission to play, struggle, freedom, intimate connection, and bodily reconnection. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the therapeutic nature of dance therapy and how this therapeutic modality facilitates change and healing in clients' lives.