RehabMove 2018: COLLABORATION BETWEEN PSYCHOMOTOR THERAPY AND HUMAN MOVEMENT SCIENCES; A LITERATURE REVIEW IN MENTAL HEALTH CONTEXT

PURPOSE: In the multidisciplinary collaboration between human movement, rehabilitation and mental health sciences, psychomotor therapy (PMT) has clinical as well as research opportunities to offer. METHOD: PMT is a body and movement oriented therapy, well established in Dutch mental healthcare, rehabilitation practice, programmes for adapted physical activity, and intellectual disability nursing. PMT integrates physical activity and psychological meaning in observation and treatment of a wide variety of disorders. RESULTS: The current study shows an example of PMT research in mental health care for elderly with personality disorders, using expertise of Human Movement Sciences at the Groningen University. These disorders need more specific attention in cases where problematic personality traits persist with ageing. At the University Medical Centre Groningen an intervention has been developed combining a psychological and psychomotor approach, following the principles of Schema Focussed Therapy (SFT). Based on promising clinical experiences, a multicentre randomised controlled trial is ongoing to study the effectiveness of the intervention. Also, qualitative interviews are prepared to shed light on possible working mechanisms of PMT. DISCUSSION: In search for previous evidence, a narrative review has been conducted. The results indicate that very little is known about the effect of body and movement oriented therapy combined with psychological treatment for this target group. The sparsity of findings underlines the necessity of research and innovation in the treatment of elderly with personality disorders. Our hypothesis is that the ‘learning by doing’ approach of PMT enriches the experiential part of SFT, which may contribute to better and more sustainable treatment outcomes. Expanding the research collaboration between PMT and Human Movement Sciences may be a fruitful undertaking in finding new treatment directions in various fields of health care