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Body memory in those who experienced loss in childhood and adolescence: implications for dance/movement therapy
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Body memory in those who experienced loss in childhood and adolescence: implications for dance/movement therapy

Sara Anne Simpkins
Master of Arts (M.A.), Drexel University
May 2016
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-7326
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Abstract

Arts--Therapeutic use Dance therapy Bereavement
Continuing bonds with deceased persons is often discussed in grief literature, especially in children who are grieving the death of a parent or caregiver. The body is often described as important to the experience of grief, but few studies have investigated the bodily experience of grief or continuing bonds in children, outside the context of pathology. The objective of this phenomenological research study was to describe the experience of body memory in those who lost a parent or caregiver in childhood or adolescence. With a sample of three participants, the author conducted individual interviews that consisted of a movement elicitation process and a verbal interview. Analysis of the verbal interviews revealed nine universal themes. Five of these themes pertained to the nature of body memory: a sense of reliving the experience; body memory being foreign but familiar; the experience of age in body memory; embodying leads to understanding; and the immediacy and frequency of body memory. Two themes described specific body sensations: a sense of falling; and oscillation between opposing states. The remaining two themes connected the body to emotions: the emotional charge of body memory moves toward resilience; and the relationship between tension and emotion. The author discussed the implications of these themes for future study and for the use of dance/movement therapy in grief counseling.

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