Body Integration: Trudi Schoop / Innermost Fantasy

 

I

 

Unit: Body Integration

Theme: Innermost Fantasy 

 

Introduction

 

Trudi Schoop believed in exploring, through dance/movement, the fantasy life of clients diagnosed as psychotic. In order to bring the client to the world as others saw it, Schoop believed in the importance of engaging the patient in understanding and temporarily joining the client in his/her delusions, hallucinations and ideations.

II

Learning Objectives

 

• Understand the role of the dance/movement therapist in helping patients with schizophrenia
• Explain  the therapist approach when working with patients diagnosed with schizophrenia
• Gain an awareness of how joining the clients' innermost fantasy positively affects the clients' well-being
• Experience the therapeutic process through a personal recollection on one's own innermost fantasy
  

 III

 Mindful Walking practice will be played the weeks of Feb 26 and March 25

Check file on email.

Mindful Walking

You will engage in a mindful walking practice. Like focused attention practices, you will be instructed to notice when your mind wanders to internal distractions, like your thoughts, or to external distractions, like a tree, and when this happens, you will be instructed to redirect your attention right back to your feet as they make contact with the earth. If at any time you feel uncomfortable or agitated, know that you can always choose to stop the practice. 

 

 Post-practice

Now that the practice has finished, I'd like to hear from two students. Please share in 1-2 words what you observed as you engaged in the practice. When students respond, please say, “thank you for your response.” Only respond further if you feel it is necessary (e.g., a student expresses distress).

 

 Check In

 

 

IV

 

Main Lesson

 

1 

 John Nash

Videos 1 & 2

 

 

 Question 1

In video 2, which would you say is John Nash's vision?
 

 

Videos 3 & 4

 

 

Question 2

 

In video 4 (min 1:40 - 2:43) what did John Nash mean when he said " I was forced to accept normal thinking"? 

 

Question 3

In video 4, (min. 6:00 - 7:00), what does Johny Nash (John Nash's youngest son), mean when he says "too bad" in reference to his parents not wanting to intrude on his life (as suggested by the psychiatrist)?

 

2

Trudi Schoop

 

 

The Un-Understandable

“When I am intensely present in all my multifaceted totality, I feel that I am in balance.  Thus, my approach to my work becomes an ‘attitude’ rather than a ‘treatment.’  The application of any one ‘treatment form’ would get in the way of my trying to understand the un-understandable.  If I face a patient with the freedom of all my capabilities intact, I can more readily detect in him the parts that seem to be intact, as well as those that seem to be different. I can more easily assess the patient’s strengths as well as his weaknesses.  I can appreciate the fact that he is always saying something, even when he’s saying nothing. I can feel assured that the patient contains all the same elements or possibilities that we all have; they merely differ in duration, intensity, and arrangement.”

Schoop, T. (2000). Motion and Emotion. American Journal of Dance Therapy. 22 (2), 91-101.  (Original work presented in 1978.)

Question 4

What is Schoop's message for the dance/movement therapist?

 

 

 3

 

Innermost Fantasy

 

 

Another important idea developed by Schoop was the exploration of the patient’s inner most fantasy (or the most intimate vision) to try and see it from their point of view.  Often looked at and frowned upon, the use of the person's inner most fantasy, became a progressive way of bridging the gap between the patient's psychotic and ‘normal’ realities.  

 

TEXTBOOK:

Dance Movement Therapy: A Healing Art by Fran J. Levy

(Chapter 5 - The Inner-Fantasy)

 

Question 5

 

How could the exploration of Andy's inner most fantasy help him cope with his situation?

 

 

 

 

 

4

 

 

 

Conclusions from Previous Experiences

a) Inner fantasies range from the very concrete to the very abstract, from the very poetic to the very literal. 

b) Degrees of expressive movement describe how open, how able, how comfortable the person is with moving to their inner thoughts; this may take time. It helps client to get out of their mind and inhabit their bodies.

c) Rhythm seems to work as a transitional catalyst from fantasy into the present moment. It energizes their bodies, it makes their thought process sharper; it shifts the mood.

d) Mirroring exaggeration seems to bring people to the present and out of the fantasy as they focus on the other. It also brings attention to the meaning of their moves as they are mirrored, changing their meaning.

e) Partnering is a good way to end the session when accompanied by a talk at the end. Verbalizing the possible meanings of the movement and receiving feedback is a great way of closing. 

 

 
 

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V

 

A Note to Remember

 

Trudi Schoop was a comedic dancer who pioneered the treatment of mental illness with dance therapy. She was born in 1903, Zurich, Switzerland.   She died in 1999 in Los Angeles, California.

Perhaps. influenced by her miming skills, Trudi Schoop used exaggerated posture/ alignment exercises and split body exaggeration, in order to provide the schizophrenic client who had limited movement, with an image of their body's potential range of motion.

 

VI

 

  Case Study

 

Verbal Therapy

 

 

 Question 6

 

What is Andy's main challenge?

 

Question 7

 

What is the therapist's approach in regards to Andy's story? 

 

 

VII 

 

 

 

FANTASIES, MOVEMENT, RHYTHM & MIRRORING EXAGGERATION

 

Activity

1. Writing about one’s innermost fantasy; 

2. Exploring expression of innermost fantasy in movement; (Write about the experience)

3. Movement formulation (choosing 8 relevant movement from exploration and creating a                 structure in order to repeat phrase in a continuum); (Write about the experience).

4. Add rhythm to the sequence/structure; (Write about the experience)

5 Use exaggeration to expand movement expression.

6. Choose a partner, witness each other's movement.
7. Mirror your partner and exaggerate his/her movement

    Prompt each other to exaggerate

9. Give each other feedback

  (Write about your experience with the exercise)

 

 

 

 Question 8

 

Choose one of the conclusions listed above and comment on it based on your experience with your own inner most fantasy.

 

 

VIII

 Journaling

 

 

IX

Glossary

Psychosis: A mental disorder characterized by a disconnection from reality.

 

MI5: The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service, Government Communications Headquarters, and Defense Intelligence.

 

 

 X

Sources

 

Blanche Evan, 73, a Pioneer In Dance Therapy Techniques.
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/obituaries/blanche-evan-73-a-pioneer-in-dance-therapy-techniques.html

Berstein, Bonnie. Dancing Beyond Drama: Women Survivor of Sexual Abuse.

Dance and Other Expressive Art Therapies: When Words Are Not Enough (Editor Fran J. Levy). Routledge, 2014. 

 Corteville, Mary K. (2009). Dance Your Way to Communication: Dance Movement Therapy to Increase Self-Esteem, Poor Body Image, and Communication Skills in High School Females. The College at Brockport: State University of New York

 

  Frieder Wallock, Susan (1983). Interview with Trudi Schoop. American Journal of Dance Therapy. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02579516

 

XI

Students' Work

Tom Shanahan - Make up Class

1. His vision is to the best, as he wants to actually matter and be better than everyone else

2. I think he means he was forced to accept these norms and society didn't help him at the start rather just try to change him.

3. I think it means he wishes his parents were more helpful because he looks up to them and wants them to help rather then stay quiet and not help him.

4. His message to approach the situation with freedom. To treat the patient how you think you should. This allows you to see what really is going on with the patient rather than if a dance movement therapist just followed strict rules for a session.

5. The exploration of Andy's inner most fantasy helps him cope because that fantasy is what relaxes him. It helps him reach an emotional level within himself according to Chace (from textbook). The exploration will help put Andy at ease and explain the issue.

6. His roommates work for MI5 and Andy says they are doing things to his brain. He hears his roommates talking about him in his head, 3 to be specific.

7. One approach is to see if he has used substances, he says no. Then she offers if he should enter a hospital for a few days, he says he is not sure. Then she gets the mother in the hopes that all 3 of them can come up with a solution

 

John Cernada

make up

1.  John Nash's vision is that he wants to become a greater version of himself, while also battling schizophrenia. 

2. He was acknowledging that he had to confront and manage his schizophrenia by recognizing that his delusions were not real. It reflects his acceptance of treatment and coping mechanisms to lead a more stable life.

3. Johnny likely means that he disagrees with the psychiatrist's suggestion and wishes his parents were more involved.

4. Trudy Schoop's message for the dance/movement therapist emphasizes the importance of being fully present and authentic when working with patients. 

5. Using Andy's inner most fantasy can bridge the gap between the his psychotic and normal realities.  

6. Andy's roommates  work for M15 and says they are doing things to his brain, causing him to hear his roommates in his head.

7. The therapist  gets the mother in the hopes that all of them can come up with a solution. The therapist asked about substance abuse and offered hospitalization, and that did not work.

 

 

 

Haleigh Hockenberry

Reflection

I have watched " A Beautiful Mind" in my psychology class in high school and it made me feel for Dr. Nash. That he felt unnoticed and that he wanted to help everyone out even if they weren't real, but he didn't know it. The movie does a good job portraying how someone with schizophrenia can still function, they are still human, like Dr. Nash had a girlfriend, a baby, went to Princeton, all while he had hallucinations. The therapist in the last video agreed with Andy, so he didn't think that he was crazy. She wanted to get as much information out of him about his hallucinations about the MI5 and the voices he was hearing. It's sad because he said he feels most at safe at home with his parents, but he can't tell them because he does not want them to be dragged into the MI5, so they can't get him the help he needs since they do not know what is going on. The therapist does not judge him and just wants to understand what is going on. It is important to engage with the patient and listen to them, hear them out, listen to their fantastic images. Suppressing the voices and images instead of descending the visions allowing the patient to fuse fantasy and reality. Most people with schizophrenia are given medications right away and put into a category of insanity, which is unfair because they are still human beings.