This study is to examine the hypotheses that Dance/Movement Therapy reduces women's psychosomatic symptoms and improves emotional perception and expressivity as well. Somatization means complaining somatic symptoms even though there aren't definite causes for the physical pains. Many studies have supported that psychosomatic symptoms are very interrelated with emotional causes. Especially the repression of emotion is said to be one of the main causes of somatization. So this study is to prove that DMT is an effective psychotherapy which is able to deal with psychosomatic symptoms, especially caused by emotional difficulties.
The research hypotheses are as follows.
1. Does DMT help reduce women's somatic symptoms?
2-1. Does DMT help improve women's emotional perception?
2-2. Does DMT help improve women's emotional expressivity?
For this study, the experimental group- the women with somatic symptoms- received treatment interventions, a DMT program for one and a half hour each session once a week for 10 weeks. Pre- and posttest were administered to both an experimental group(N=7) and a control group(N=7) to discern whether meaningful differences between them exist. To examine the effects of DMT on the women with somatic symptoms, four measurement tools were administered. To measure somatic symptoms Wahler Physical Symptom Inventory and SCL-90R-R's somatization subscale were used. To measure emotional perception level, Alexithymia Scale was administered. Lastly, to measure emotional expressivity, Emotional Expressivity Scale was used.
The results are as follows. The differences between pre- and posttest scores in three variables were all meaningful. First, DMT reduced somatic symptoms of the experimental group compared with the control group. Secondly, DMT improved emotional perception level of the experimental group too. Lastly, DMT improved emotional expressivity of experimental participants.
DMT is a psychotherapeutic mode using dance and movements. In this study, the stimulation and release of emotions, physical/sensory/emotional awareness, relaxation of tension, the experiencing of physical and emotional joy were mentioned as therapeutic factors. In conclusion, DMT was effective on those who suffer from somatic symptoms. In addition, this study verified that DMT is also effective in improving physical, sensational and emotional awareness. As an expressive arts therapy, DMT is effective to enhance emotional expressivity. Therefore DMT will be able to be applied to various popularity especially in the perspective of somatization because somatic symptoms are very common in ordinary people to say nothing of in the psychotic and the neurotic.
keywords : Dance/Movement Therapy, somatization, awareness, emotional perception, emotional expressivity