| Abstract [eng] |
Research Topic: The integrative application of dance-movement therapy (DMT) and other art therapy tools in the experience of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). The chosen qualitative research method is autoethnography: the researcher analyzes personal experience using self-reflection and writing tools to connect it with the socio-cultural environment and expand the field of research. Research Problem: Long-term traumatic experiences significantly alter the physical, emotional, and mental health of those who experience them. Although C-PTSD could affect between 7% and 10% of the Lithuanian population, awareness of this disorder is still lacking in Lithuania, and scientifically based, specialist-provided services are virtually non-existent. Analyzing my own history through the prism of C-PTSD, I, as a researcher, hypothesize that DMT and other art therapy modalities significantly helped alleviate and manage C-PTSD symptoms and integrate the trauma experience. Research Objective: To reveal the autoethnographic narrative of the personally experienced impact of DMT and other integratively applied art therapy tools while living with C-PTSD. Research Object: The experience of symptoms in an individual with C-PTSD, and the change in trauma processing and personality integrity. Research Methods: The theoretical part utilizes scientific literature analysis; empirical research data is presented through a multilayered narrative; textual material (poems, song lyrics, notes, diaries, reflections) is analyzed using the qualitative narrative analysis method; movement is analyzed using the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) framework. Research Results: In the case of the researcher’s personal history, art therapy tools applied intuitively, and later consciously and comprehensively, significantly contributed to the integration of the trauma experience and the restoration of biopsichosocial functions. Utilizing the metaphors of home and journey – where the body is understood as a safe space for the self to unfold – the narrative of the researcher’s personal history is embedded within the socio-cultural contexts of trauma and trauma in post-Soviet Lithuania. Research Conclusions: The autoethnographic study of the researcher’s personal history confirms the insights of the latest scientific research, indicating that patient-centered, complex therapeutic and psychotherapeutic assistance can be effective in cases of C-PTSD. Therefore, deeper quantitative and qualitative studies on the application of DMT and other art therapies for C-PTSD are required to contribute to public psychoeducation and the development of new prevention, treatment, and postvention programs. Keywords: autoethnography, dance-movement therapy, therapeutic writing, integrative application of art therapies, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, embodiment, dissociation. |
