American Journal of Dance Therapy

, Volume 38, Issue 1, pp 63–80 | Cite as

Embodying Self: A Dance/Movement Therapy Approach to Working with Concealable Stigmas

Article
First Online:
  • 750 Downloads

Abstract

Concealable stigmas are characteristics, attributes, or identities that can be hidden from others and are socially devalued and negatively stereotyped. While research exists on the psychological costs of having a concealable stigma, less exists on the somatic costs of having a concealable stigma and on clinical approaches with this population. Drawing on the Kestenberg Movement Profile, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and the Five Fundamental Actions, this article proposes how dance/movement therapy (DMT) can be an additional lens through which to understand how having a concealable stigma impacts a person, particularly on a somatic level. This article also outlines specific DMT interventions designed to increase embodiment and movement repertoire. The goals of these interventions are to lessen the somatic impact of having a concealable stigma and empower clients to have choice in the ways in which they present themselves in the world.

Keywords

Bartenieff Fundamentals Concealable stigma Dance/movement therapy Embodiment Kestenberg Movement Profile 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Aposhyan, S. (1999). Natural intelligence: Body-mind integration and human development. Boulder, CO: NOW Press.Google Scholar
  2. Aposhyan, S. (2004). Body-mind psychotherapy: Principles, techniques, and practical applications. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
  3. Bosson, J. K., Weaver, J. R., & Prewitt-Freilino, J. L. (2012). Concealing to belong, revealing to be known: Classification expectations and self-threats among persons with concealable stigmas. Self and Identity, 11(1), 114–135. doi: 10.1080/15298868.1010.513508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Brook, A. (2010). From conception to crawling: Foundations for developmental movement. Boulder, CO: Smart Body Books.Google Scholar
  5. Brooks, D., & Stark, A. (1989). The effect of dance/movement therapy on affect: A pilot study. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 11(2), 101–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Brown, C. (2009). Moving into action: A case study of dance/movement therapy with the dually diagnosed in a methadone treatment program. In S. L. Brooke (Ed.), The use of the creative therapies with chemical dependency issues (pp. 187–203). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
  7. Caldwell, C. (1996). Getting our bodies back: Recovery, healing, and transformation through body-centered psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications Inc.Google Scholar
  8. Caldwell, C. (2013). Diversity issues in movement observation and assessment. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 35(2), 183–200. doi: 10.1007/s10465-013-9159-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Clare, E. (2001). Stolen bodies, reclaimed bodies: Disability and queerness. Public Culture, 13(3), 359–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Cohen, B. B. (1993). Sensing, feeling, and action: The experiential anatomy of body-mind centering. Northampton, MA: Contact Editions.Google Scholar
  11. Cornell, A. W. (1996). The power of focusing: A practical guide to emotional self-healing. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications Inc.Google Scholar
  12. Corrigan, P. W., & Kleinlein, P. (2005). The impact of mental illness stigma. In P. W. Corrigan (Ed.), On the stigma of mental illness: Practical strategies for research and social change (pp. 11–44). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Crocker, J., Major, B., & Steele, C. (1998). Social stigma. In D. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindsey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 504–553). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
  14. DePaulo, B. M. (1992). Nonverbal behavior and self-presentation. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 203–243.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Dosamantes, E. (1990). Movement and psychodynamic pattern changes in long-term dance/movement therapy groups. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 12(1), 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Eribon, D. (2004). Insult and the making of the gay self. (M. Lucey, Trans.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  17. Frable, D. E. S., Blackstone, T., & Scherbaum, C. (1990). Marginal and mindful: Deviants in social interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(1), 140–149.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. Frable, D. E. S., Platt, L., & Hoey, S. (1998). Concealable stigmas and positive self-perceptions: Feeling better around similar others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(4), 909–992.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Frank, Z. (1997). Dance and expressive movement therapy: An effective treatment for a sexually abused man. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 19(1), 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  21. Gray, A. E. L. (2001). The body remembers: Dance/movement therapy with an adult survivor of torture. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 21(1), 29–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Hackney, P. (2002). Making connections: Total body integration through Bartenieff Fundamentals. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Henley, N. (1977). Body politics: Power, sex and non-verbal communication. Body politics: Power, sex, and nonverbal communication. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
  24. Herek, G. M. (1998). Stigma and sexual orientation: Understanding prejudice against lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  25. Herek, G. M., & Berrill, K. T. (1992). Hate crimes: Confronting violence against lesbians and gay men. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  26. Herek, G. M., Gillis, J. R., & Cogan, J. C. (2009). Internalized stigma among sexual minority adults: Insight from a social psychology perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56(1), 32–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Jeong, Y. J., Hong, S. C., Lee, M., Park, M. C., Kim, Y. K., & Suh, C. M. (2005). Dance/movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression. International Journal of Neuroscience, 115(12), 1711–1720.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  28. Johnson, R. (2009). Oppression embodied: The intersecting dimensions of trauma, oppression, and somatic psychology. The USA Body Psychotherapy Journal, 8(1), 19–31.Google Scholar
  29. Jones, E. E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A. H., Markus, H., Miller, D. T., & Scott, A. S. (1984). Social stigma: The psychology of marked relationships. New York, NY: Freeman.Google Scholar
  30. Kestenberg Amighi, J., Loman, S., Lewis, P., & Sossin, K. M. (1999). The meaning of movement: developmental and clinical perspectives of the Kestenberg Movement Profile. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
  31. Koch, S., Kunz, T., Lykou, S., & Cruz, R. (2014). Effects of dance/movement therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: A meta-analysis. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 41(1), 46–64. doi: 10.1016/j.aip.2013.10.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Koch, S. C., Morlinghaus, K., & Fuchs, T. (2007). The joy dance: Specific effects of a single dance intervention on psychiatric patients with depression. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 34(4), 340–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Krantz, A. M. (1999). Growing into her body: Dance/movement therapy for women with eating disorders. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 21(2), 81–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Lane, J. D., & Wegner, D. M. (1995). The cognitive consequences of secrecy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(2), 237–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Leventhal, F., & Chang, M. (1991). Dance/movement therapy with battered women: A paradigm of action. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 13(2), 131–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Levy, F. (2005). Dance movement therapy: A healing art. Reston, CA: National Dance Association.Google Scholar
  37. Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 363–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Loman, S. (2005). Dance/movement therapy. In C. A. Malchiodi (Ed.), Expressive therapies (pp. 68–89). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
  39. Loman, S., & Merman, H. (1996). The KMP: A tool for dance/movement therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 18(1), 29–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Lovell, S. M. (1993). An interview with Warren Lamb. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 15(1), 19–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Malchiodi, C. A. (2005). Expressive therapies: History, theory, and practice. In C. A. Malchiodi (Ed.), Expressive therapies (pp. 68–89). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
  42. McCormick, L. A. (2006). Transcending homophobia: Shifting sexual prohibitions in dance/movement therapy. Unpublished master’s thesis, Naropa University, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
  43. Milliken, R. (1990). Dance/movement therapy with the substance abuser. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 17(4), 309–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Pachankis, J. E. (2007). The psychological implications of concealing a stigma: A cognitive-affective-behavioral model. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 328–345.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  45. Padrão, M. J., & Coimbra, J. L. (2011). The anorectic dance: Towards a new understanding of inner-experience through psychotherapeutic movement. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 33(2), 131–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Pallaro, P. (1997). Culture, self and body-self: Dance/movement therapy with Asian Americans. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 24(3), 227–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Pallaro, P. (1999). Authentic movement: Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar
  48. Persson, A., & Richards, W. (2008). From closet to heterotopia: A conceptual exploration of disclosure and ‘passing’ among heterosexuals living with HIV. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 10(1), 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Quinn, D. M. (2006). Concealable versus conspicuous stigmatized identities. In S. Levin & C. van Laar (Eds.), Stigma and group inequality: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 83–103). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar
  50. Quinn, D. M., & Chaudoir, S. R. (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(4), 634–651.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  51. Quinn, D. M., & Earnshaw, V. A. (2013). Concealable stigmatized identities and psychological well-being. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(1), 40–51. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12005.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  52. Reicherzer, S. (2005). Coming out and living out across the life span. In D. Comstock (Ed.), Diversity and development: Critical contexts that shape our lives and relationships (pp. 161–184). Belmont: Thomson Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
  53. Ritter, M., & Low, K. G. (1996). Effects of dance/movement therapy: A meta-analysis. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 23(3), 249–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Romero, E. F., Hurwitz, A. J., & Carranza, V. (1983). Dance therapy on a therapeutic community for schizophrenic patients. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 10(2), 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Schmais, C. (1985). Healing processes in group dance therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 8(1), 17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Schmais, C. (1998). Understanding the dance/movement therapy group. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 20(1), 23–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Sedlovskaya, A., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Eibach, R. P., LaFrance, M., Romero-Canyas, R., & Campu, N. P. (2013). Internalizing the closet: Concealment heightens the cognitive distinction between public and private selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 695–715. doi: 10.1037/a0031179.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  58. Silberstein, S. (1987). Dance therapy and schizophrenia: Vision of the future. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 14(2), 143–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Smart, L., & Wegner, D. M. (1999). Covering up what can’t be seen: Concealable stigma and mental control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 474–486. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.474.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  60. Stern, D. N. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant: A view from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology. New York: Basic Books Inc.Google Scholar
  61. Thomas, M. (1998). Estranged bodies and Vietnamese identities. Australian Journal of Anthropology, 9(1), 74–88.Google Scholar
  62. Thomson, D. M. (1997). Dance/movement therapy with the dual-diagnosed: A vehicle to the self in the service of recovery. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 19(1), 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Whitehouse, M. S. (1999). Physical movement and personality. In P. Pallaro (Ed.), Authentic movement: Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow (pp. 51–57). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© American Dance Therapy Association 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Naropa UniversityBoulderUSA

Personalised recommendations