Trudi Schoop: Innemost Fantasy

 

I
 
Unit: Body Integration
Theme: Innermost Fantasy 
 
Introduction
 
Trudi Schoop believed in exploring, through dance/movement, the fantasy life of clients diagnosed as psychotic. In order to bring the client to the world as others saw it, Schoop believed in the importance of engaging the patient in understanding and temporarily joining the client in his/her delusions, hallucinations and ideations.

II

Learning Objectives

 

  • Understand the role of the dance/movement therapist in helping patients with schizophrenia
  • Explain  the therapist approach when working with patients diagnosed with schizophrenia
  • Gain an awareness of how joining the clients' innermost fantasy positively affects the clients' well-being
  • Experience the therapeutic process through a personal recollection on one's own innermost fantasy


 III

 Check In

 

 

IV
 
Main Lesson
 
1 

 John Nash

Videos 1 & 2
 
 

 Question 1

In video 2, which would you say is John Nash's vision?
 
 
Videos 3 & 4
 

 

Question 2

 

In video 4 (min 1:40 - 2:43) what did John Nash mean when he said " I was forced to accept normal thinking"? 

 

Question 3

In video 4, (min. 6:00 - 7:00), what does Johny Nash (John Nash's youngest son), mean when he says "too bad" in reference to his parents not wanting to intrude on his life (as suggested by the psychiatrist)?

 

2

Trudi Schoop

 

 
The Un-Understandable

“When I am intensely present in all my multifaceted totality, I feel that I am in balance.  Thus, my approach to my work becomes an ‘attitude’ rather than a ‘treatment.’  The application of any one ‘treatment form’ would get in the way of my trying to understand the un-understandable.  If I face a patient with the freedom of all my capabilities intact, I can more readily detect in him the parts that seem to be intact, as well as those that seem to be different. I can more easily assess the patient’s strengths as well as his weaknesses.  I can appreciate the fact that he is always saying something, even when he’s saying nothing. I can feel assured that the patient contains all the same elements or possibilities that we all have; they merely differ in duration, intensity, and arrangement.”

Schoop, T. (2000). Motion and Emotion. American Journal of Dance Therapy. 22 (2), 91-101.  (Original work presented in 1978.)

Question 4

What is Schoop's message for the dance/movement therapist?
 

 
 3
 
Innermost Fantasy
 
 
Another important idea developed by Schoop was the exploration of the patient’s inner most fantasy (or the most intimate vision) to try and see it from their point of view.  Often looked at and frowned upon, the use of the person's inner most fantasy, became a progressive way of bridging the gap between the patient's psychotic and ‘normal’ realities.  
 

TEXTBOOK:
(Chapter 5 - The Inner-Fantasy)


 
Question 5
 
How could the exploration of Andy's inner most fantasy help him cope with his situation?
 
 
 
 
 
4
 
 
 
Conclusions from Previous Experiences

a) Inner fantasies range from the very concrete to the very abstract, from the very poetic to the very literal. 

b) Degrees of expressive movement describe how open, how able, how comfortable the person is with moving to their inner thoughts; this may take time. It helps client to get out of their mind and inhabit their bodies.

c) Rhythm seems to work as a transitional catalyst from fantasy into the present moment. It energizes their bodies, it makes their thought process sharper; it shifts the mood.

 d) Mirroring exaggeration seems to bring people to the present and out of the fantasy as they focus on the other. It also brings attention to the meaning of their moves as they are mirrored, changing their meaning.

 e) Partnering is a good way to end the session when accompanied by a talk at the end. Verbalizing the possible meanings of the movement and receiving feedback is a great way of closing. 
 
 
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
V
 
A Note to Remember
 
Trudi Schoop was a comedic dancer who pioneered the treatment of mental illness with dance therapy. She was born in 1903, Zurich, Switzerland.   She died in 1999 in Los Angeles, California.
Perhaps. influenced by her miming skills, Trudi Schoop used exaggerated posture/ alignment exercises and split body exaggeration, in order to provide the schizophrenic client who had limited movement, with an image of their body's potential range of motion.
 
VI
 
  Case Study

 

Verbal Therapy
 

 
 Question 6
 
What is Andy's main challenge?
 
Question 7
 
What is the therapist's approach in regards to Andy's story? 
 
 
VII 
 
 
 

FANTASIES, MOVEMENT, RHYTHM & MIRRORING EXAGGERATION
 
Activity

1. Writing about one’s innermost fantasy; 
2. Exploring expression of innermost fantasy in movement; (Write about the experience)
3. Movement formulation (choosing 8 relevant movement from exploration and creating a                 structure in order to repeat phrase in a continuum); (Write about the experience).
4. Add rhythm to the sequence/structure; (Write about the experience)
5 Use exaggeration to expand movement expression.
6. Choose a partner, witness each other's movement.
7. Mirror your partner and exaggerate his/her movement
    Prompt each other to exaggerate
9. Give each other feedback
  (Write about your experience with the exercise)
 
 
 
 Question 8
 
Choose one of the conclusions listed above and comment on it based on your experience with your own inner most fantasy.
 
 
VIII
 Journaling
 
 
IX
Glossary

Psychosis: A mental disorder characterized by a disconnection from reality.
 
MI5: The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service, Government Communications Headquarters, and Defense Intelligence.
 
 
 X
Sources
 

Blanche Evan, 73, a Pioneer In Dance Therapy Techniques.
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/obituaries/blanche-evan-73-a-pioneer-in-dance-therapy-techniques.html

Berstein, Bonnie. Dancing Beyond Drama: Women Survivor of Sexual Abuse.
Dance and Other Expressive Art Therapies: When Words Are Not Enough (Editor Fran J. Levy). Routledge, 2014. 

 




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