746 research outputs found
Postpartum Depression: Healing through Archetypes and the Expressive Arts Therapies
This thesis is a literature review investigating treating postpartum depression through the expressive arts therapies and feminine archetypes. The expressive arts therapies explored for treatment are dance, music, art, and drama. Meditation, mindfulness, and writing are also included. The importance of expressive arts therapies in treating postpartum depression is of interest now because of the increasing number of mothers who experience postpartum depression who are looking for alternatives to treatment beyond, or complementing, traditional talk therapy and medication. A search for literature on treating postpartum depression with expressive arts therapies and archetypes was conducted on-line using the Lesley University database. This research provides resources for women who are seeking to overcome postpartum depression in increasingly creative ways. The author will be presenting recommendations for incorporating this creativity in the lives of mothers. Recommendations for incorporating expressive arts therapy interventions for treating postpartum depression will include examples of integrating feminine archetypes for healing
Dance/Movement Therapy as a Potential Supplementary Treatment for Vasovagal Syncope: A Literature Review
Dance movement therapy has been utilized as an evidenced-based modality in treating numerous medical diagnoses. Despite its established efficacy in diverse medical contexts, little research exists on its application for vasovagal syncope, a condition often intertwined with mental health challenges. Although vasovagal syncope is situated in the body and frequently comorbid with mental health struggles that impact physiological symptoms, treatment options remain solely in the medical model. This literature review seeks to address this lack of research and adequate treatment options by highlighting the body/mind connection and advocating for dance/movement therapy as a potential supplementary treatment for vasovagal syncope. The author used personal experience with this diagnosis as well as Lesley @ll search and Google Scholar to gather research. The research explored is summarized through a description of the diagnosis, the physical and psychological impact, current treatment options, the use of dance/movement therapy with other medical and psychological diagnoses, and polyvagal-informed dance/movement therapy. The therapeutic qualities that emerged from the literature as important to treatment are therapeutic presence, embodied awareness, interoception, resilience, coping, empowerment, self-efficacy, and identity. It was concluded that dance movement therapy has the unique potential to support the body and mind of those struggling with vasovagal syncope supplementary to medical care. However, further research is needed to test this hypothesis
Person-centred advocacy: Some ethical issues
In the second of two articles on advocacy for people with dementia Mike Fox with Lesley Wilson considers some of the ethical issues arising from advocacy work within a residential home that was due to close
Sacar La Voz: A Manifesto For My Latinx Peers
This thesis was originally concerned with the use of expressive arts therapy with Latinx survivors of domestic violence. As the author carried out the review of literature, she began to encounter fundamental issues in the way that the Latinx community is approached in research. Instead of carrying out a traditional review of literature, the author approached the literature through three main questions: Who is the research about?, Who is the research by?,” and Who is the research for? Reductive generalizations, missing information, and disempowering assumptions were found. These problematic realities are presented as symptomatic of larger systemic issues, which the author connects to her experiences in formal education, as well as to relevant personal and professional experiences. The paper concludes by exhorting mental health counselors and expressive arts therapists to give up the idea of being apolitical because trauma work, especially with those experiencing compounded marginalization, is inherently political
CIPD accreditation approval document
Accepted document for CIPD accreditation of the MSc Human Resource Management Programme.Approved April 2023Programme Commenced September 2023Principal Author: Dr Lesley McLea
The Role of Defense Mechanisms of Israeli Society in Relationship to the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: From “1948 Repression” to Artistic Sublimation
Although many researchers have examined the concept of defense mechanisms, almost none have done so from a societal and cultural point of view. The author investigated the following research questions: (1) Which defense mechanisms are used in Israeli society within the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict? What changes, if any, have occurred in these defenses over the years? (2) What are the reasons for the use of these defenses? What are the consequences of the use? (3) How can a transition(s) from the use of a lower-level defense mechanism(s) to a higher-level one(s) occur? What is the role of the arts in this transition(s)? The author reviewed the concept of defense mechanism as coined in 1894 by Sigmund Freud and then developed by later researchers and clinicians. The author also reviewed the ways defense mechanisms are perceived and processed within the realm of expressive therapies. The research paradigm was qualitative and the major investigative method consisted of semistructured interviews of six professionals involved in Israeli–Palestinian relations. The author found that a slow, positive transition has occurred in use of the defenses, namely, a progression from mainly psychotic and early forms of immature defenses such as denial, distortion, and splitting to the use of higher-level expressions of immature forms of defenses, as well as various levels of intermediate defenses, such as projection, repression, rationalization, and isolation. The author suggested practical steps to continue the perceived advancement on the developmental scale of the defenses toward more adaptive and empathic relations between Israeli society and the Palestinians. These steps include creating a more objective media, developing changes within the educational system, generating more symmetric encounters and personal contact between Israelis and Palestinians, while using artistic language in order to increase empathy
Expressive Arts Therapy for Healing Gang Trauma: A Community Engagement
Many ex-gang members have experienced trauma. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the benefits of arts-based programs for rehabilitating gang members who have experienced trauma. The literature reviewed explores arts-based programs for those who have been incarcerated and those who have experienced trauma. The author was part of a community engagement with a gang-rehabilitation program in Los Angeles. The author participated in Music, Art and Drama based programs with ex-gang members. This experience further demonstrated the benefits of the expressive arts being used as a tool for treating trauma, especially in a community of people who have participated in gang life
I, You and We: Expressive Arts Therapy Interventions and Childhood Identity Development: Development of a Method
This thesis examined the value and intersection of intermodal Expressive Arts therapy work and childhood identity development. Through a critical review of the literature on identity work, Expressive Arts therapy, and child-centered approaches the author extricated reoccurring themes in each approach. The author also identified gaps in field research pertaining specifically to the 7-9 year old prepubescent population and the growing need for a holistic, arts-based approach to healthy identity exploration and development prior to the adolescent stage. To address this, the proposed method was used in a dyad with two 8-year-old cis-female children in a therapeutic school environment over the course of 6 consecutive weeks. The method was designed as a treatment plan to address 4 main points of personal identity, self-expression, self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-efficacy as well as social identity in order to address the multifaceted nature of our individual identities both internally and externally. Results and findings collected demonstrated the effectiveness of the child-centered, Expressive Arts therapy approach to identity work with this population while also calling attention to unsuccessful aspects of the proposed method, areas that require improvement and expansion to broaden its range of demographics. Literature and studies applicable to the value and intersection of intermodal Expressive Arts therapy, child-centered approaches to treatment and childhood identity development were examined identifying gaps in the current research and the growing need to address such disparities. The literature review conducted by the author to support their developing method looks at topics such as interventions that are school based or conducted in an educational setting, arts-based research methods and means of data collection and the various benefits of expressive art therapy group work with children
Utilizing Dance/Movement Therapy to Help Alleviate the Physical and Emotional Effects of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: A Literature Review
This capstone thesis literature review investigates dance/movement therapy as a complementary intervention to address the physical, mental and emotional effects of thoracic outlet syndrome. No research currently exists linking DMT and TOS in any capacity, so the author analyzes her own experience of utilizing various DMT techniques throughout her TOS recovery and reviews literature regarding DMT and conditions with similar symptoms to TOS, such as chronic pain, chronic illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression, stress and anxiety. The author hypothesizes that dance/movement therapy would be an effective complementary treatment to combat the physical, mental and emotional effects of TOS. The work presented in this literature review indicates that the author’s hypothesis has merit, because the research demonstrates a positive correlation between DMT and all conditions and symptoms that were investigated. The author states that further research is needed to explore and test this hypothesis, and she proposes a research method that could do so. This method utilizes a control group with TOS that does not receive any mental health services, a control group with TOS that is provided traditional talk therapy in a group setting, and a test group with TOS that is provided DMT group therapy interventions
Back to Belonging: Nature Connection and Expressive Arts Therapy in the Treatment of Trauma and Marginalization
There is increasing research on the benefits of incorporating nature-based approaches into mental health. This can be done in myriad ways both in and out of the counseling office. This literature review focuses on the benefits of incorporating nature as co-therapist and kin rather than only material or metaphor, particularly in the treatment of people who have experienced trauma and or marginalization. According to Herman (1997), wounds made relationally must be healed relationally, and the literature reviewed in this paper suggests that connection with the “more-than-human” world (Abram, 1996), and coming back into a sense belonging in the larger web of life, can be a part of this relational healing. Expressive arts therapy draws on many practices that are relational, embodied, and nonverbal. These are all aspects shown to support both nature connection and trauma recovery, suggesting great potential for expressive arts therapy to assist with both. The author reviewed literature from trauma studies, ecopsychology, ecotherapy, expressive arts therapy, as well as material from other relevant authors and practitioners, to demonstrate the important role of relationship for humans, highlight ways in which nature connection can aid in trauma recovery, and how expressive arts therapy can help facilitate and deepen that connection. Herman’s stages of trauma recovery are used to organize and highlight ways some practitioners are incorporating nature connection. The author uses a feminist paradigm of trauma, which acknowledges the impact of living as part of a marginalized or targeted group (Brown, 2004)
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