Body Consciousness in Dohsa-Hou, a Japanese Psychorehabilitative Program

Abstract

To seven cerebral palsied children in a special elementary school, Dohsa-hou, a Japanese psychorehabilitative program, was introduced in a pre-post design. With the help of their mothers in writing they rated on a 5-point scale changes in their body consciousness by applying 8 1-hr. sessions of Dohsa-hou training to each child. Analysis suggests a significant positive change after training in body consciousness of these children especially for private as compared to public body consciousness.

A Comparison of Effectiveness of Dohsa‐hou and the Alexander Technique on Happiness, Social Adjustment, Hope, Mental Health, and Quality of Life in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

“…So, the approach to Dohsa‐hou assumes that when an individual's body moves falsely, it influences the individual's mental image of their movements. Therefore, the treatment is aimed at these erratic images and step‐by‐step targets are set for the individual and are attained by focusing on the correction of motor images and psychomotor relaxation techniques (Dadkhah, ).…”

Promoting Self-Regulatory Management of Chronic Pain Through Dohsa-hou: Single-Case Series of Low-Functioning Hemodialysis Patients

“…OK. You can release your muscle tension”). Studies of Dohsa-hou in Japan have indicated that it is important to provide patients with positive feedback in regard to the awareness of their physical condition so as to improve their mental situation (Konno and Ohno, 1987; Dadkhah, 1998; Shirouzu and Koshikawa, 2011). When further questions were necessary, either the supervising clinical psychologist or the onsite clinical psychologist with a trainer license in Dohsa-hou who worked full time at the hospital visited the dialysis unit and supported or supervised the staff accordingly.…”

“…Naruse formulated the clinical observations of change into an underlying theory for Dohsa-hou, in which a coherence between the psychological and physiological process of movement is achieved when the client intends to move a body part, strives toward that goal, and realizes the movement they intended (Naruse, 1988, 1997; Kabir et al, 2018). Similar to other contemplative and bodymind approaches that target improvements in body movements, self-consciousness, mood, and decentering, Dohsa-hou increases awareness about the body through attention to bodily sensations and processes thought to confer motor resonance (Konno and Ohno, 1987; Dadkhah, 1998; Shirouzu and Koshikawa, 2011; Chervenkova, 2017; Kabir et al, 2018). The “Dohsa process” is designed to enhance a sense of agency over the body and is stipulated as a psychological activity.…”

Self-Active Relaxation Therapy (SART) and Self-Regulation: A Comprehensive Review and Comparison of the Japanese Body Movement Approach

“…An original psychotherapy from Japan known as Dohsa-hou , or the “body movement method,” emerged from research in rehabilitation and extends the repertoire of these approaches as it focuses on universal bodily responses as nonverbal indicators of internal states (Dadkhah, 1998 ; Kubota, 2000 ; Fujino, 2012 ; Konno, 2016 ). Dohsa-hou was developed in 1966 by Gosaku Naruse from his work with youth dealing with cerebral palsy.…”

“…This discovery of a psychological component to the experience of body rigidity from cerebral palsy was a cornerstone for studies in the field and spurred new applications of “motor action training” tasks to various developmental and psychological conditions, to include schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and others (Naruse, 1997 ; Kubota, 2000 ; Imura et al, 2016 ; Konno, 2016 ). It has been used to bolster self-control processes for athletes in Iran (Dadkhah, 1998 ), taught in workshops to facilitate post-traumatic coping for adults in Cambodia (Imura, 2016 ), pilot tested at a daycare center for children in Bulgaria (Chervenkova, 2015 ), and demonstrated in accredited camps held in South Korea, India, Malaysia, and Thailand (Harada, 2016 ; Harada and Teruta, 2016 ). These training camps have produced dramatic results in those with movement disorders, as they temporarily become able to perform intended movement tasks such as kneeling or standing after weeklong cooperative efforts with their certified trainer (Harada, 2016 ; for review: Chervenkova, 2017 ).…”