The current
research is a qualitative research that discusses the effect of
movement therapy with children as a means to coping with present and future difficulties and enhancing their "self".
This work is vital in a country like Israel, in which terror and death are almost a daily routine. The writer suggests that the movement therapy creates a safe place for the child to express feelings in unverbal ways, and teaches the child to connect movement to feeling and thought, and strengthens the child''s coping ability with traumatic experiences, in a healthy way that protects him from developing a chronic illness such as PTSD- post traumatic stress disorder.
The current research
presents a broad theoretical background, which explains the direct connection between PTSD and the body''s movement. It also presents
background on movement therapy especially with children, which includes play, symbolism and metaphors.
The practical part of the article describes a year of movement therapy which was conducted by the writer during her internship.
It presents the emotional and
physical process that Yahav, a 9 year old child who studies in a public scholl, went through.
The conclusions of the research illuminate the role of the physical experience in understanding the mental experience, and the contriburion of movement therapy to improving the child''s resilience.
More summaries about the movament therapy with children, at the begining of the new millenium