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Specifically, our aim for the film is to create a wider understanding of people living with dementia and to highlight how engagement with the entangled relationship between dance and music can enhance affective and kinaesthetic responses – not only for those who live with dementia but also, crucially, for their network of carers. A sense of loss and disorientation is not uncommon in psychotic experiences generally and is a common feature of the advanced stages of dementia. This sense of loss exists in a tangled web of self–other relationships. 16 What happens when, inside the therapy room, we bear witness to a life’s unravelling? A body’s unraveling (snap – lost)? Loss of tangles and plaques – the ruthless biological process that biomedical science is labouring to impede. The root cause of these problems is trauma caused by shame. Many of us learn very early on that not conforming to gender expectations, let alone expressing our sexuality, is met with negativity, shame and sometimes even violence, from families, friends and wider society. For instance, I loved musicals and hated football – something that should not be a big deal but that attracted derision and bullying from those around me at school. When a child is told enough times that they are not OK, eventually they begin to believe and internalise it. And, of course, the stress of living in a prejudiced world as an adult can also take its toll. Another highlight of this issue for me is our ‘Experience’ piece, in which Max Marnau, a BACP senior accredited counsellor, shares the dilemma of whether to ‘come out’ to clients about her late diagnosis of autism. She also questions why therapy for autists still focuses on helping them conform to a neurotypical world.
In the US, leading bereavement researcher and psychologist Professor Robert Neimeyer has published several papers on the impact of COVID-related deaths on people and their risk of developing PGD. 2 Neimeyer R, Lee SA. Circumstances of the death and associated risk factors for severity and impairment of COVID-19 grief. Death Studies 2022; 46(1): 34–42. But they also take pains to stress that treatment method is important: ‘It remains a matter of judgment and methodology on how much each contributes, but there is virtual unanimity that both the relationship and the method (in so far as we can separate them) “work”. Looking at either treatment interventions or therapy relationships alone is incomplete. We encourage practitioners and researchers to look at multiple determinants of outcome, [and] particularly client contributions.’ As a helping profession, and as human beings, our instinct is to want to do something, which makes Anthea Kilminster’s article on providing culturally sensitive, trauma-informed counselling for displaced people, written before the recent events, seem all the more pertinent. She shares how the Yorkshire-based service, Solace, has supported displaced people from around the world, including Syria and Iraq. The thousands of people fleeing Ukraine will join the estimated 70 million already displaced worldwide, greater than the total population of the UK. A number will make their way to the UK, and counsellors like Anthea will be there to help them adjust.Eventually I came to realise that I was not alone. Of course, it’s not true for everyone, but a pattern of self-destructiveness seemed startlingly familiar among many LGBT people I have known. Shortly after I came out, one young friend told me, ‘I’m a piece of s***, Matt. I deserve to get HIV.’ Someone I knew through work killed himself. A boss of mine passed out high and drunk in the office one afternoon. A man I’d been on two dates with years before killed himself. A friend I’d known for years was sectioned.
Berrol C. Neuroscience meets dance/movement therapy: mirror neurons, the therapeutic process and empathy. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006; 33: 302–315. There is a generation of gay men still alive today who were criminalised and imprisoned. Being gay is still illegal in 70 countries and subject to the death penalty in around 11, and thousands of gay people still come to London from across the world for sanctuary. Even in the UK, it’s only in the past 20 years that legal inequalities have begun to significantly improve. And while we can eliminate laws, the shame and trauma inflicted on people over generations are not so easy to erase. Although young people today are growing up in a very different world to that experienced by previous generations, it is still hard to be different. Case studies make interesting and valuable reading. Try to include the client's voice wherever possible, either through first-person accounts or by using brief, anonymised case studies to illustrate your points. See guidelines on client confidentiality below. Figures What is it to step into the other’s world when they have lost their moorings? How can we be with this in our own bodies as counsellors and psychotherapists? Confronted by loss, carers and therapists can experience strong embodied counter/transferential feelings for the person with dementia. Butler is aware of this incorporation too: ‘I think I have lost “you” only to discover that “I” have gone missing as well.’ 17 How does the body of the other summon us to engage? It is the embodied relational engagement that sustains us in the living of everyday life. And, as Jonathan’s words vividly attest, relationships are made up of gesture, voices, spoken, soft, harsh, touch, skin, breath, embrace.It’s startling to read such a clear description of a phenomenon that is, arguably, besetting much of the Western world right now. We are seeing a greater prevalence of grief in extraordinarily grief-full times, and there is a growing realisation that maybe we need to come up with different ways to support those struggling with their grief, because current resources may not be enough. It can be painful when you have trained in an approach and someone comes along and says “actually, the evidence challenges that”,’ Cooper agrees. ‘It may not feel great. But I don’t think the evidence says “abandon person-centred practices”. It is saying some clients maybe would benefit from more of something else. Of course, we can only offer what we are trained in, but having the skills and willingness to refer on may be an important element of a therapist’s work.’
His research with a UK sample of 183 people found similar results – most reported PTSD symptoms (83.1%), psychological distress (64%) and functional impairment (56.8%), and 39.3% reported clinically significant symptoms of dysfunctional grief. Disrupted meaning was a key factor across all four findings, he found. Further analysis of these data showed that particular circumstances of pandemic loss – such as the inability to be with the loved one at the end of life because of hospital safety protocols or Government restrictions, and dissatisfaction with funeral arrangements – accounted for 59% of the variance in functional impairment and 71% of the variance in dysfunctional grief. 3 Start with a clear idea of the concepts and information you want to convey. Think about your audience - you need to capture their interest and be relevant to a range of practitioners. Read other articles from the specific journal to get a feel for the tone and style. However, she points out, ‘Ideally we would have a whole tranche of such studies to counterbalance the evidence amassed for CBT.’ And putting so much focus on comparative effectiveness means we tend to lose sight of the other learning to be gained from the trials, much of it hidden in the qualitative findings, which are st
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This issue also sees the introduction of two new columns. ‘My practice’ is a chance for you to share how you work. In the first column, Sarah Edge describes her work with postnatal clients. I am also delighted to introduce a new column from Therapy Today’s Editorial Advisory Board – the team of talented practitioners who are on hand to ensure the content of your magazine stays relevant and inclusive. I’d like to thank John Barton for agreeing to go first with a thought-provoking piece on ‘getting over ourselves’. You’ll hear from a different Editorial Board member each issue.
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