Demystifying Therapy: Other Therapeutic Approaches
A reader wrote to ask why I did not include Drama Therapy or Expressive Arts in my Theoretical Orientation post. My honest answer is that I have encountered these approaches less often than the others included in the first post. However, you may find practitioners who use these approaches, along with Hakomi. Thus, I’m adding descriptions for these different therapeutic paths.
Drama therapy
The National Association for Drama Therapy is probably the best place to find information about drama therapy. In brief, practitioners who use this approach utilize theater processes in order to help clients achieve growth and healing. Client and therapist may improvise, tell stories, engage in theater games, and enact scenes to promote healing and new ways of thinking about conflicts.
Expressive arts therapy
People who use Expressive arts therapy use different artistic avenues (visual arts, written expression, drama, movement, or music) in order to help their clients to grow and heal. Expressive arts therapists may conceptualize their cases from a number of different theoretical orientations, and you may wish to ask your therapist what theory she uses. However, despite their theory, they use the arts as an integral part of the work. You can learn more at the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association.
Hakomi method
I had never heard of the Hakomi method until last year when I discovered that nearly all of the therapists who work in my office are trained in this approach. According to the Hakomi Institute, the method is an experiential, body-centered, somatic approach that combines the Eastern tradition of mindfulness and non-violence with Western methologies. A Hakomi therapist will help the client to identify the body’s habitual patterns in order to bring unconscious material to the forefront.
That’s my brief addition for the day. As always, I welcome people’s questions and requests for more information. And thank you to the reader who asked me to write more about this!