Dancing Through Trauma: Using Bilateral Stimulation to Integrate Mind, Body, and Spirit

By Leona Kashersky Psy.D.

©️4/25/2023

Trauma is the result of an assault on our being and the consequences of trauma are complex and far-reaching. They may include complete disruption of life, isolation from others, anxiety, depression, PTSD, dissociative disorders, addictions, eating disorders, and a range of physical illnesses, as well as a loss of identity due to dislocation from the body.

For all that survive the ordeal of serious trauma at any age, the challenge is not only to heal the body, but also the mind and soul. The possibility of experiencing safety and pleasure in the body are impaired. If the body has been wounded, long after the body has healed survivors continue to cope with emotional devastation, as well as re-negotiation of their identities in bodies that have suffered profound changes. Recovery can be all the more difficult because the innate life coping skills of the survivor are seriously affected.

In the developmental trauma of childhood abuse, individuals  experience  rupture in attachment bonds, the vital connections between child and caregiver. This damages the trust essential for healthy emotional growth. Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse affects the development of healthy embodiment, and the possibility of experiencing security and pleasure in the body.

Whatever the cause, traumatic experiences remain embedded in our bodies. Overwhelming emotions and shocking memories can be suppressed and repressed in an attempt to survive and recreate a sense of stability. Patterns of dissociation and chronic states of shock can impact the individual’s ability to live a healthy, satisfying life.

Trauma experiences are held in memory as sensations and images, which cannot be accessed through words. These memories are located in the primitive parts of the brain, and cut off from conscious awareness. The conscious level of memory is narrative, symbolic and verbal, managed by the frontal lobes. The’ split off’ or dissociated trauma memories are at the core of PTSD symptoms. (Van der Kolk, 1994) They manifest in three areas of behavior. First, uncontrollable, intrusions of the trauma appear as flashbacks, dissociative states, hallucinations and intense emotional and/or physical reactions triggered by cues within the person or in the external environment. Second, they cause persistent avoidance and numbing to experiences associated with the trauma, as well as much of life. Third, they perpetuate a state of being hyper-alert and on edge. (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)

The general goals for treatment are: to help individuals feel stable and safe in themselves and with others; to work through and integrate the traumatic memories; and to assist in re-engaging fully in their lives and in relationships with others. (van der Kolk, MacFarlane & Alexander, 1996). 

How Does Dance Support Healing?

Safety

• Increases body awareness by providing a safe environment to carefully enter the body, noticing the support given by parts that are not traumatized and bringing gentle awareness to traumatized areas.

• Allows the body to be experienced as a whole, developing trust in the information and wisdom it offers.

• Teaches a felt sense of the body, creating a safe container, a resource, in which the memories can be slowly and safely experienced and integrated.

• Increases the ability to self-soothe by contacting the flow of pleasurable sensations moving through the body.

• Teaches the ability to connect and ground the body to the support of the earth.

• Develops the ability to identify and manage the intensity of feeling states arising in the body.

Renegotiations and integration

• Shapes information emerging out of the body as dreams, fantasies, images, and feelings into dance/movement expression in the presence of the witnessing therapist who helps to manage the intensity of expression so it is not overwhelming and re-traumatizing.

• Helps to accept the body and increase self-esteem by creating a positive body image.

• Helps relieve the tension and anxiety of hyper-arousal.

• Masters the traumatic material with the use of creative play.

• Uses movement, sound, and imagination to assist in integrating trauma memory imprints into symbol and story, thus enabling the individual to discover the meaning of this experience in their lives.

Repairing relationship and re-entry into the world

• Encourages individuals to remember and accept the painful experiences through the process of sharing their creative movement expressions with others.

The body awareness practices and simple rhythmic movements experienced in Dance Movement Therapy connect participants with their bodies and assist the expression of feelings. Communicating non-verbally unites people in the most profound manner possible. Gaining access to one’s creativity, core vitality and personal power develops increased self – acceptance, and encourages compassion and empathy with others. Being mirrored by another who understands allows people to feel seen and accepted in their suffering, knowing they are not alone. The Dance Movement therapy circle dissolves the shards of trauma, and offers the possibility of feeling whole and held lovingly within the flow of life that moves through all.

References 

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van der Kolk, B. A., McFarlane, Alexander C., Weisaeth, Lars. (Eds.) (1996). Traumatic Stress. New York. The Guilford Press.