| Abstract [eng] |
Title of the Thesis. Women’s Perimenopausal Body Experiences in the Group Art Therapy Process. Relevance of the Topic. Menopause and the perimenopausal period constitute a significant stage in a woman's life course, the relevance of which is increasing globally as life expectancy rises and the number of women reaching this stage continues to grow. Perimenopause, which occurs over several years prior to the final cessation of menstruation, is characterized by intense biological, psychological, and social changes. However, within scientific literature, it is still predominantly examined from a medical perspective, with limited attention given to women's subjective and embodied experiences. These experiences are often fragmented, difficult to verbalize, and shaped by social silence and stigmatizing cultural narratives. In Lithuania, research on perimenopause using creative and experiential methods remains scarce. Art therapy, as an approach grounded in creative and embodied experience, provides opportunities for subtle and difficult-to-express experiences to emerge through visual and material forms of expression, while the group setting creates an additional space for connection and shared recognition. Objective. To explore the embodied experiences of women experiencing perimenopause within a group art therapy process, drawing on the analysis of visual, written, and verbal forms of expression. Participants. Five women experiencing perimenopause who voluntarily responded to an invitation and participated in an eight-session group art therapy cycle. Methodology. The study was conducted using qualitative research methodology. Data were collected during a group art therapy process through participants' visual artworks, written reflections, in-depth interviews, and the researcher's reflective journal. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, arts-based research, and multimodal analysis, enabling a comprehensive examination of the interaction between verbal, visual, and embodied means of expression. Results. The findings revealed four interrelated meta-themes: loss of self and return to self, the body as a primary carrier of experience, transformation through embodied experience, and time as both a luxury and a constraint. Across all themes, a central phenomenon of duality emerged, characterizing the perimenopausal experience as a dynamic, spiral-like process unfolding between opposing yet coexisting experiential poles. The study also highlighted a transgenerational dimension of women's experience. In conclusion, group art therapy emerged as a meaningful and significant space for the expression, transformation, and integration of embodied experiences during the perimenopausal period. Conclusions. This study reveals that perimenopause is not merely a biological or symptomatic phenomenon, but a multilayered existential experience encompassing dimensions of identity, the body, transgenerational memory, and temporality, which group art therapy can address in a unique and meaningful way. The phenomenon of duality that emerged in the study—a spiral movement between opposing yet simultaneously existing poles of experience—proposes a dynamic understanding of perimenopause, in which the aim is not to “resolve” contradictions, but to learn to stay with them and integrate them. For the participants, group art therapy unfolded as a space where transformation occurred not solely through cognitive understanding, but through a lived, embodied process. This process extended beyond the therapeutic setting, reshaping women’s relationships with themselves, their bodies, and others in everyday life. |
