Stress can be reduced with psychodrama, art, dance, and movement therapy

Psychodrama, art, dance, and movement therapist Assist. Prof. Dr. Gulnur Bayezid Şahin attended “Coping with Stress and Therapies Using Art” themed conference organized by European University of Lefke (EUL) Dr. Fazıl Küçük Faculty of Education.

Şahin: Stress stems from destabilising of routines.

In his speech Şahin stated that every living creature is genetically programmed or learned a balance which is needed for their system and in the event of destabilising this balance stress occurs and typically this creates a threat for physical and mental limits of the organism. Şahin said that this threat can be either physical or mental but in each situation one affects the other and underlined that body and soul are not two different systems but they are sole system that affects each other.

Şahin lined up the symptoms of fighting with stress as; feverish pulse, high blood pressure, direction of the blood within the visceral organs to the muscles and brain, increase in muscle tension,  dyspepsia, dilation of the pupil, sensitising, polycythaemia, and higher oxygen in the brain and muscles.

Şahin: Chronical diseases are one of the long term effects of stress

Şahin said that, death of a spouse, divorce, being imprisoned, death of a family member, important personal traumatisation or sickness, being retired, significant changes in health or attitudes of a family member are the incidents that causes most stress and pointed out that chronical diseases, anxiety, depression and thought and memory problems are some of the long term effects of stress. Şahin said that “While experiencing stress one can become anxious or perform a coping skill. They can develop a strategy which is adaptive or nonadaptive. Strategies that intend to solve the problem or reduce the emotions are adaptive”  and listed these strategies as; asking help from others, trying to solve the problem alone, talking about their feelings, not talking about the problem, staying away from reminiscences, evaluating problem as a positive thing, and  decline the responsibility or assuming the responsibility.

According to Şahin, in the case of deficient stress coping abilities, one starts to use unconscious defence mechanisms which are supress, denial, deflection, reaction formation and withdrawal and excessive use of these mechanisms can cause mental diseases, while deficient use can cause physical diseases. Şahin stated that in order to cope with stress, problem, emotion and thought based approaches are used and gave detailed information about these approaches.

Şahin said that, in reducing stress, psychodrama, art, dance, and movement therapy is efficient and he pointed out that with the help of arts person exposits their creativity and reaching to emotions helps to reduce stress, on the other hand dance, and movement therapy helps a person to gain body confidence and this leads to awareness of the problems reflected to the body and to express oneself with their bodies freely.

At the end of the conference Vice Dean of Dr. Fazıl Küçük Faculty of Education, Assit. Prof. Dr. Sibel Kaymakamoglu expressed her sincere thanks to Şahin and presented a certificate of appreciation.