Expressive Therapies in Trauma Treatment

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Table of Contents

Psychodrama and Trauma
Dance and Movement therapy
Art Therapy and the Sexually-abused
Music Therapy in Treating Sexually Abused Children
Conclusion
References

This paper outlines various expressive therapies used in trauma treatment, namely: psychodrama, dance and movement therapy, art therapy, and music therapy. In reviewing these trauma treatment methods, the paper explores possible connections, usefulness, and relevance of the articles provided to the field of study.

Expressive therapies refer to those therapies that introduce action into psychotherapy and the therapy is limited to only a specific mode of expression. Practitioners of expressive therapies know too well that different people have different styles, for instance it may either be tactile or visual. The different styles of expressive capabilities among different individuals therefore call for the need of therapists who are capable of including different expressive capabilities in their clients (Clark, 2010). This may enable a given client to communicate authentically and effectively.

The practice of expressive therapy has been adopted in various fields such as counseling, social work, medicine, psychology, and psychiatry. Various activities such as creative movement, drawing, drumming, and play, allow various categories of people to express their thoughts and feelings not only through verbal means, but also through some unique intervention.

Indeed, among the various possible traumatic treatments, expressive therapies have been found to be the most effective as they help individuals to communicate some relevant issues quickly in ways that cannot be done by verbal therapies. The expressive therapies refer to the use of music, dance, art, drama, poetry, and play within the context of counseling, psychotherapy, rehabilitation, and health care. The expressive therapies in trauma treatment are also referred to as the creative arts therapies or integrative therapies and they include the use of art, dance, music, drama, and poetry. On the other hand, the integrative approach is specifically used in combination in the procedures of treatment (Bessel, 2010). The expressive therapy is a domain of psychotherapy and counseling that includes other sets of individual approaches such as art therapy, music therapy and drama therapy among others.

The art therapy makes use of the media, creative processes and images. This method does not reveal the patient responses to the treatment procedures as an indicator of the patients’ abilities, individual’s personality and concerns, personal interest, patients’ developments, and conflicts. This is a therapeutic means of solving problems, developing social skills, reconciling emotional conflicts, managing behavior, and reconciling emotional conflicts. It also involves aiding orientation of reality, reducing anxiety and increasing self-esteem.

A drama therapy is the use of theatre in a systematic way to achieve the desired results, for instance, the intention to achieve individual growth, integrate physical and emotional human behavior, and to relieve the trauma symptoms. This is an active therapy that enables the therapy to know how to solve a problem that is associated with trauma, clear understanding of the images and their meanings, the ability to deepen and widen the individual inner-experience with a purpose to emphasize on flexibility of tasks.

Psychodrama and Trauma

Psychodrama states that different categories of diagnostic benefit from different treatment procedures. Specific treatment procedures offer novel interventions with either new or modified techniques. Psychodrama has made possible the treatment of trauma survivors, adults and children included (Altman, 1993). However, the psychodrama produces vivid experiences and intense emotions that may overwhelm traumatic clients. The choice of psychodrama and its associated modalities to the treatment of trauma survivors would require more work and clinical research. The research should focus on providing refined data on the treatment of trauma using this method, and probably its positive and negative indicators. Additional evaluation and application of this method with action experiential modalities would enable the establishment of the viability of this method.

Dance and Movement therapy

Dance and movement therapy is used to treat trauma survivors through the integration of self-psychology, classical psychodrama, and object-relations theory. This model was developed to prevent uncontrolled regression the trauma survivors were treated using experiential methods. The Dance and movement therapy provide a construct that is used for organizing self-structures into experience, energy and meaning. The model also provides a process of psychodramatic psycho

therapy trauma. Finally, the model provides a series of operationalized clinical intervention modules. The method enables a counselor to have fun and play as a means to counterbalance emotional aspects of the therapeutic treatment. It liberates the traumatized patients from the arduous tasks of expressing themselves verbally.The methods actively engage the patients in dance and body movement to release tension and emotion. The method also incorporates the use of non-verbal signs which are very essential in expression of inner feelings and emotional materials.

Art Therapy and the Sexually-abused

Terry (2009) suggested that the art therapy method of treating trauma disorders can be used in helping adult women who were sexually abused create a favorable and orderly environment (Terry, 2009). The art therapy provided a friendly environment by helping the sexually abused women to nurture relevant skills, cope and relate well with other human beings in the society. The relevant skills would help them manage their emotions and set productive goals in life.

Music Therapy in Treating Sexually Abused Children

Analytical music therapy uses psychoanalytical theory to understand the meaning of music, which is in most cases improvised by the patient suffering from trauma. The music has a role in interacting with the child and therapist. It builds the quality of the relationship between the therapist and the traumatized child. The music acts as a way of preserving, clarifying and modulating unbearable experiences (Fox, 1987). The music therapy makes use of music to effect changes that are positive in the cognitive, psychological, social, or physical function of individuals with educational or health problems.

Conclusion

The Dance and movement therapy is similar to the Psychodrama method since both methods of treating trauma victims use experiential method of expressive therapy. Dance and movement therapy is capable of controlling regression and retraumatization amongst patients who are diagnosed with dissociative identity disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. The model has a direct relationship with the psychodrama method since it provides a process of psychodramatic that is used to treat trauma. The process includes principles of conscious re-experiencing, re-experiencing dramas with the development of repair and making use of action trauma-team.

The dance and movement therapy is the most powerful among psychodrama approaches that psychiatrists and other health professionals use to incorporate group members into therapeutic process. On the other hand, maps enable group members (caregivers) to use the visual and concrete nature of the maps to identify possible behavior in sex offenders and possible warning signs portrayed by the sexually offended children. Music therapy as a treatment of the sexually abused children will provide a good and secure space for both the caregivers and the sexually abused children to express themselves (Strehlow, 2009).

The psychodrama method is useful in the treatment of the traumatic and post-traumatic disorder. But, more work and clinical research are required on this method so as to evaluate the effectiveness and associated action experiential modalities as a choice of treatment for trauma survivors. On the other hand, the containing double is relevant for the treatment of trauma and trauma disorders since it can be learned very fast through skill demonstration. Deductive instruction and supervised practice models are useful in the fields of advocacy, education, human rights, and psychotherapy. However, a further research is recommended to validate empirically the effectiveness of this method on the adolescent sex offenders and offenders, to find common healing for both parties.

The art therapy technique is relevant to the study of express therapeutic treatment of trauma as it is useful in mapping helped group members to identify and process their individual effects that are related to secondary trauma at the time of disclosure, so that the individuals would manage and cope with their trauma.

Music therapy with sexually abused children is useful as it provides solutions to problems such as withdrawal, inability to deal with overwhelming feelings and the need for safety. The treatment method also provides options for dealing with the problem of restricted capacity of mentalization among sexually abused victims.

References

Altman, K. A. (1993). Psychodrama in treatment of Post-Abuse Syndrome. Dissociation, 2, 27-31. Print.

Bessel, van der Kolk. (2010). Treating Trauma Stress.

Fox, J. (1987). The Essential Moreno. New York: Springer.

Strehlow, G. (2009). Music Therapy. Web.

Terry, P. & Charleston, S. C. (2009). Art Therapy. A Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 26(1) pp.12-18. Print.

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