Battered Women Research Paper

Dance/Movement Therapy with Battered Women: A Paradigm of Action
Fern Leventhal Meg Chang

This article highlights the contributions that dance/movement therapy can make to the treatment of battered women. By motivating female victims of domestic violence to act, dance/movement therapy addresses patterns of helplessness, ambivalence, and inactivity. Dance/movement interventions help women internalize a positive self-concept as well as gain physical and emotional control. In keeping with the short-term, crisis-oriented nature of standard treatment of battered women, a psychosocial plan of intervention which addresses their isolation and immobilization is recommended. Lastly, implications for in-depth, dance/movement therapy are made.

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