Psychomotor intervention in intimate partner violence: Empirical support for preventive and therapeutic approaches

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence negatively impacts both the physical and mental health of victims. General impairments include chronic pain, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and eating disorders (WHO, 2021). There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of body-oriented interventions on most of those symptoms, namely through the work of interoception, (Weng et al., 2021) bodily awareness (Mehling et al., 2018) or connection to the body. (Price, 2007) By promoting awareness of the sensations of the body, and nourishing/ empowering the bridge between sensations, emotions and behavior, Psychomotor therapy (PMT) use afferent information to redefine neural circuits and efferent responses. PMT takes as a starting point the positioning of the body as a safe and owned space for one person to explore and take care of. Even though the therapeutic objectives can be individualized in PMT, it mostly enhances the structuring of a bodily Self, aiming to improve self-regulation, body awareness, and emotional awareness. Research demonstrates that victims of IPV report higher scores on body disownership and bodily dissociation than non-victims (Machorrinho et al., 2021). Also, the extent of the bodily dissociation represents a risk factor for the development of anxiety and depression among victims (Machorrinho et al., 2021). Accordingly, associations between violence and the levels of physical activity of female victims of IPV suggest an important role of movement autonomy on the recovery of trauma (Machorrinho et al., 2022). Based on the above-mentioned research and rationale, a PMT program was developed, targeting female victims of IPV living in shelters. Following a therapeutic and a preventive purpose, the PMT program comprises a three-step approach. Hence, the psychomotor therapist first (i) promotes awareness and acceptance of sensations, second (ii) promotes the integration of sensations and abilities into the senses of body ownership and agency, and finally (iii) enables opportunities to the participants to explore new ways of moving their bodies. The central aim of this chapter is to present the theoretical framework of a PMT specially designed for victims of IPV. That framework informs a case study of an adult female victim living in a shelter, which is explored below. The expected outcomes and possibilities for the intervention in both the prevention of IPV and therapy programs for victims are discussed.