Oxford Neuropsychoanalysis

Jane Clarke and Elisabeth Spight

Early relational wounding which drives narcissistic styles of relating, is often difficult to repair through primarily “talking” therapies, in part due to the role of implicit and neurobiological memory, which becomes activated in the therapy relationship. Movement based models work to engage the latter at a more primitive level than “purely speaking” allows, thus creating a bridge between bodily held trauma and meta cognition.

A case vignette will be used to not only exemplify the above but to introduce how masochism and submission can be a creative attempt to establish safety in connecting with others.

Sadly, however, where personal power and self agency are seemingly secured, corresponding neurobiological processes threaten to hijack the benefits, further reinforcing early trauma, and adding another layer of trauma in the form of addiction.

This is exactly where dance movement psychotherapy can find a way in, to slowly attach renewed positive, or at least initially non threatening body based experiences to the perception of self, self agency, boundaries and the relational level, so that over time, in conjunction with cognitive reflection, a “bottom-up” approach can renew a sense of freedom and change. Also, developmental movement restoration and the encouragement and inclusion of the implicit memory processes can lead the way towards neurobiological “rewiring”.