中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: Dance therapy has been a part of expressive art therapy for more than 60 years in Western countries. Historically, two major working models have been applied. First, the movement analysis model included Laban movement analysis and the Kesternberg movement profile. The former analyzed the patient's body quality to infer his or her psychological state. The latter used Freud's sexual development concepts to describe the patient's body rhythm. Observation of the patient's body movement allowed therapists to identify the deficits of body schema and to plan treatment. Second, the experiential and discovery model included the creative and authentic movement models. The creative model followed the idea of free dance from Duncan and focused on body expression and creativity. The authentic movement model applied psychoanalytic theory to explain the unconsciousness and then identified the individual's inner growth processes. The purpose of this article is to propose the therapeutic meanings of body epistemology based on these two models. Methods: A literature review of dance therapy was used to compare and analyze the two models using theoretical and practical perspectives. Results: The movement analysis model relied on objective body-psychological schema and measured and developed categories of movement as a tool to explain the client's condition and to intervene in it. The experiential and discovery model relied on the movement process to provide another way of knowing and associating inner feelings with images. Therapists used the client's body as a vehicle to transform body sensation and experience, to enhance understanding of the body-emotion relationship, and to reintegrate the body process for therapeutic change. Conclusions: The author clarified the body epistemology of both models. Dance therapists tapped emotional rather than cognitive processes and evoked responses more directly than verbal therapies. There is a need to integrate the body of knowledge surrounding dance therapy and to rethink the therapeutic process and how therapy is conducted.