RECOGNIZING COUNTERTRANSFERENCE WITH THE BODY AND CREATIVE MOVEMENT: a dialogue with verbal psychotherapists

In this thesis we have made (1) a review and reflection of the existing literature and research about what is known as countertransference (CT) and Somatic Countertransference (SCT) from the contributions of psychoanalysis, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) and Body therapy; (2) a exploratory, qualitative and artistic inquiry with six experienced verbal psychotherapists, using a methodological design inspired by Panhofer’s (2009a) artistic research in DMT. We have offered these therapists the possibility of "thinking in movement" (Sheets-Johnstone, 2009 cited by Panhofer et al., 2010) while reflecting about a clinical case, using different expressive modes. We used the creative process cycle spiral (Meekums, 2002, Hervey, 2000) as a framework for group process and data analysis. 

The primary implication of the current study is to suggest that the proposed theoretical and practical framework can be useful to identify, work and manage with CT. Moreover, the artistic material produced by the psychotherapists (movement and graphic expression) can help us deepen our understanding of CT in many ways, as in the expression of drive discharge in tension flow rhythms (Kestenberg Amighi et al., 1999) and in specific patterns of defensive or learning-struggling pre-efforts movements (Kestenberg Amighi et al.), and of deregulation in breathing, in core-distal and upper-lower connectivity (Bartenieff Fundamentals, Hackney, 1998). These results were influenced by the sample that has been determined by voluntary participation. Participants in this sample expressed a high level of vulnerability while trying to manage their CT.

As this is an exploratory study, future researchers will need to replicate these findings to provide further support for the observed movement pattern in CT, and to know if the methodology is useful to improve professional’s embodied therapeutic presence.

Keywords: Dance Movement Therapy, countertransference, therapeutic embodied presence, verbal psychotherapy, artistic inquiry.

The research is in Spanish.

(RE)CONOCER LA CONTRATRANSFERENCIA DESDE EL CUERPO Y DEL MOVIMIENTO CREATIVO
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