Traumatised refugees: An integrated dance and verbal therapy approach

Refugees often suffer from complex trauma including persecution in their home countries, flight, and disadvantaged conditions of life in the host country. The body is directly involved in these traumatic experiences. Dance/movement therapy allows for the treatment of complex psychological trauma (torture, rape, war experiences) and contributes to the healing process directly on a body level. The complex traumata in the life of refugees require creative therapeutic interventions on different levels. This article introduces work with traumatised refugees at the treatment center REFUGIO in Munich, Germany. The center offers a multifaceted therapeutic program and offers among other approaches an interface of dance and verbal psychotherapy. Individual and group cases illustrate how the connection of both therapeutic modalities can be employed in a facilitative and clinically meaningful way.