SYFTE Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera hur kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga uttrycks över tid när en ung man på tidig utvecklingsnivå och med autism deltar i en dyad i sherbornebehandling. Frågeställningar: Hur utvecklas kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga över tid i behandlingssituationen? Hur utvecklas kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga i hemmet respektive skolan under samma tidsperiod?   METOD Denna pre-experimentella fallstudie rör en 18-årig man som under drygt ett år kom till habiliteringen för att delta i arton sherbornebehandlingar med en sjukgymnast med mångårig erfarenhet av sherbornemetodik. Sherborne är en rörelsemetodik där rörelser används för att utveckla rums- och kroppsmedvetenhet och skapa relationer till andra. Samtliga arton behandlingar videofilmades och data insamlades via observation. En detaljerad nedteckning av händelseförloppet i en videoinspelning i början av behandlingsperioden och en i slutet gjordes. Under arbetet med att analysera kommunikation och samspel i videoinspelningarna uppkom behovet av att komplettera Sherbornes samspelsskala med ett bedömningsmaterial för att kunna analysera kommunikation och samspel i detalj med personer på tidig nivå, ”Brandquists & Althoffs Samspelsskala: Analys av samspel med personer på tidig utvecklingsnivå - Sherborne”, bilaga 7. För att öka tillförlitligheten i resultatet inhämtades dels kommentarer från deltagande sjukgymnast och mannens förälder under det att de såg de båda videofilmerna, dels gjordes en översiktlig analys av tio övriga videoinspelningar från sherborneperioden. Förälder och lärare intervjuades före och efter behandlingsperioden om den unge mannens kommunikation och samspelsförmåga i hemmet och på skolan. RESULTAT Resultat visar på en positiv effekt på den unge mannens förmåga till kommunikation och samspel. Under sherborneperioden framkommer gradvis en förändring av hur mannen riktade sin uppmärksamhet: från att blicken var ”tom” eller att blicken svepte över rummet till att han allteftersom kroppsligen riktade sig mot sjukgymnasten och sökte blickkontakt. Sjukgymnasten anpassade sitt förhållningssätt för att få till stånd ett så bra samspel som möjligt. Från att hon i början var mer inlyssnande och använde beröring för att bekräfta hans reaktioner, till användandet av ett ökat verbalt inslag mot slutet. I slutet av perioden började den unge mannen ta egna initiativ till samspel genom att rikta sin hand mot sjukgymnasten. Även i hem och skola ökade hans intresse för omgivningen. Han tog initiativ till kommunikation (ett ökat antal handlingssekvenser) och var på gång att utveckla delad uppmärksamhet. Han började säga ifrån mer genom att använda sin röst. Det självskadande beteendet minskade både under sherbornebehandlingen och i hemmet. I övrigt märkte både förälder och sjukgymnast en ökad balans och stabilitet i hans kropp och en förbättrad rörelseförmåga i hans svaga högersida.   SLUTSATSER Fallstudien tyder på att sherbornemetodik kan ha bidragit till en positiv effekt på såväl kommunikation och samspelsförmåga som rörelseförmåga hos denne unge man på tidig utvecklingsnivå och med autism. / INTRODUCTION Caregivers perceive many of difficulties in interaction with persons at a presymbolic stage. In Sherborne Developmental Movement the theoretical issue is that movement experiences developing body and spatial awareness contribute to awareness of self. This gaining of body mastery is fundamental to the awareness of others, the ability to relate to others.   The aim of this study is to analyse how communication and interaction is expressed over a period of time as a young man in an early stage of language development (pre-intentional communication) and with autism participates in a dyad in SDM sessions. Research questions:1. How do communication and interaction skills develop over time in the SDM sessions? 2. How do communication and interaction skills develop at home and school during the same period? METHOD In this pre-experimental case study an 18-year-old man with profound autism spectrum disorder, a right-sided motor disorder and a severe language impairment is participating. Giving no responses in communication, caregivers rarely perceived successful interaction. He suddenly burst out in aggressive acts. Lasting over a year he participated in an intervention consisting of eighteen SDM sessions in a dyad with a physiotherapist, skilled in SDM, at Habilitation Centre. Sessions were based on a “caring” SDM-relationship and treatment focused on basic movements. All sessions were videotaped. Communication and interaction skills were thoroughly assessed at the first and last session. In the process of analysing data the SDM scale of type of relation had to be supplemented by scales showing abilities of communication and interaction of the leader and the participant. This scale named "Brandquists & Althoff Interaction Scale: Analysis of the interaction with individuals at an early stage of development - Sherborne”, was used in reporting the data obtained in the study. To increase the reliability of the data, comments from the participating physiotherapist and the father of the young man were registered while they individually watched the two video recordings. A somewhat simplified examination of ten of the video recordings was also made. Communication and interaction skills were also investigated at home and school through interviews and questionnaires before and after the SDM treatment. These data were then to be compare to the data of the SDM sessions.   RESULTS Results show a positive effect on communication and interaction skills of the young man. During the period of sessions he gradually changed the way of directing attention. Initially his eyes were "empty" or his gaze swept across the room to him. Later he focused on the hands of the physiotherapist while rocking his leg and eventually he physically directed himself to the physiotherapist and searched eye contact. The physiotherapist was sensitive to his physical reactions adapting her approach in order to making him feel secure and achieve trust. In the beginning she used tactile methods in her communication, but seeing he felt more secure she introduced more verbal confirming towards the end.  At the end of the period he began to take communicative initiatives by approaching his hand and “pointing” at the physiotherapist.   At home and school caregivers reported an increasing interest in the environment. He used more initiative for communication (an increased number of action sequences) and was on his way to develop joint attention. He started to use his voice to protest. The number of self-destructive behaviours decreased during the Sherborne sessions and at home. Successively he gained greater stability and balance in his body and the mobility of the weak side improved. The data obtained in interviews with caregivers confirmed the results achieved in the study and strengthened the reliability of the results of SDM. CONCLUSIONS The result of the study implies that SDM may have contributed to a positive effect on the communication and interaction skills of this young man.

Bakgrund: Psykisk ohälsa har under de senaste åren gått om rörelseorganens sjukdomar som främsta orsak till långtidssjukskrivningar i Sverige. Psykisk ohälsa innebär en försämrad livs­kvalitet för de drabbade och leder till stora samhällskostnader. Forskning krävs för effektivare sjukgymnastiska behandlingsmetoder vid psykisk ohälsa. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka förändringar avseende ångest, depression, stress och kropps­liga symtom hos patienter som deltagit i gruppbehandling i Basal KroppskännedomTM (BK) i kombination med Mindfulness (MF). Metod: Studien genomfördes med ”single group design”. Mätningar av grad av ångest, depression, stress och kroppsliga symtom utfördes före och efter gruppbehandlingen med formulären HAD, SCL-90 och SCI-93. Sammanlagt behandlades åtta grupper under perioden 2008 – 2010. Behandlingarna omfat­tade mellan 10-12 tillfällen, en gång i veckan á 90 minuter.  De följde BK:s metodik och innehöll även sittande mindfulness och kroppsskanning ur Mindfulness-based Stress Reduc­tion (MBSR). Från dessa åtta grupper rekryterades 67 studiedeltagare. Resultat: Patienternas ångest, depression, stress och kroppsliga symtom minskade signifikant efter gruppbehandlingen. Resultatet i denna studie indikerar att grupp­behandling i BK i kombination med MF kan ha en positiv effekt på psykisk ohälsa. Vidare studier krävs för att närmare undersöka sambandet mellan kombinationsbehandlingen och psykisk ohälsa. / Background: Mental disorders have increased sharply during the last decades, and have surpassed musculoskeletal diseases as the prime cause of long-term sick leave. Mental disorders cause deterioration in quality of life and lead to significant costs for the society. Physiotherapeutic methods for treatment of mental disorders should be developed and evaluated. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in mental disorders with respect to anxiety, depression, stress and bodily symptoms in patients who had participated in a group-treatment combining Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BAT) and Mindfulness (MF). Method: The study was conducted with a "single group design" and measurements of the degree of anxiety, depression, stress and bodily symptoms were made before and after the group-treatment using the forms HAD, SCL-90 and SCI-93. In total eight groups were treated during the period 2008 - 2010. The group-treatment encompassed between ten and twelve sessions, once a week. The treatment was in line withe BAT methodology, and also included sitting mindfulness and body-scan technique in accordance with Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR). From these eight groups, sixty-seven study participants were recruited.                                                                                                                  Results: The patients’ self-rated degree of anxiety, depression, stress and bodily symptoms was significantly reduced after the group-treatment compared to before. The results of the study indicate that group-treatment in Basic BAT combined with MF can have a positive effect on mental disorders. Further studies are however required to further examine the indicated relationship between the combined treatment and mental disorders.

Ce travail de recherche s’inspire de l’approche d’énaction élaborée par F.-J Varela lorsqu’il développa sa théorie de la cognition incarnée. Pour qu’une propriété cognitive soit incarnée, il faut que l’organisme vivant s’engage perceptivement dans un processus dynamique avec le monde environnant. Afin de développer les moyens musicaux pour motiver les auditeurs à s’approprier leurs expériences vécues, nous proposons le terme « d’espace sensible » dans le but d’articuler le jeu d’écoute musicale et de l’expérience inter-sensorielle et corporelle. Cette dernière consiste en l’expérience d’interaction sensorielle entre l’extéroception et la proprioception. De même, nous spécifions l’expérience corporelle sur ses deux aspects : le corps physique et le corps virtuel – leschéma corporel et l’image du corps. La relation inharmonieuse de ces deux aspects du corps entraînera chez un sujet-percevant une tension, voire une souffrance, physique et psychique. Pour entraîner le sujet-percevant à prendre conscience de cette discordance, différentes méthodes de rééducation somatique sont développées. Dans ce contexte, émettons l’hypothèse que l’utilisation de dispositifs musicaux interactifs peut contribuer à l’exploration de l’espace sensible et ainsi exercer un impact bénéfique dans le cadre de la rééducation somatique. Les moyens de démonstration consistent en la construction et le test de protocoles de jeux d’écoute, à exposer le public à des dispositifs multimédia interactifs ainsi que l’étude de cas propre aux enfants atteints d’autisme. Nous nous approprions plusieurs techniques pour mettre en place des dispositifs musicaux interactifs : l’improvisation collaborative, la synchronisation spontanée de la posture et du mouvement corporel, l’empathie kinesthésique réciproque. Enfin, nous mettons en évidence les effets bénéfiques de l’introduction des dispositifs musicaux numériques dans le cadre du soin somatique. A la vue de ces résultats expérimentaux, nous sommes autorisés à affirmer que l’exploration de l’écoute peut avoir un impact bénéfique dans un contexte de rééducation somatique à condition que l’écoute soit en acte et vécue musicalement. / This research was inspired by the enactive approach elaborated by F.-J Varelawhen he developed the embodied cognition theory; a living organism has to be involved physically and perceptually in a dynamic process with its surrounding environment so that a cognitive property can be embodied. To develop musical possibilities to motivate the listeners to appropriate their real life experiences, we are proposing the term "sensitive space" to articulate two practices of inter-sensory and physical experience : gameplay of musical listening and somatic exercise. This inter-sensory experience consists of the sensory interaction between exteroception and proprioception. We also focus on two specific aspects of this physical experience: the physical body and the virtual body - the body schema and the body image. The inharmonious relation of these two aspects will lead to a tension, sometimes to physical and psychic pain. To help the perceiving subject to become aware of this conflict, various somatic techniques are developed. We emit the hypothesis that the use of interactive musical devices can contribute to the exploration of the sensitive space, and thus bring a beneficial impact in somatic learning and rehabilitation. Several ways of demonstrating are: 1) the construction and tests of listening gameplay protocols, 2) the public exhibition of interactive multimedia devices 3) the case study on children affected by autism. We use different techniques to set up interactive musical devices: collective improvisation, spontaneous synchronization of the posture or the physical movement, kinesthetic empathy, etc. Finally, we highlight the beneficial aspects of introducing the interactive musical devices within the framework of healthcare. With these experimental results, we can then assert that the exploration of musical listening can have a beneficial impact in the context of somatic learning, on the condition that the listening is an act and lived musically.

Globally, psychological health problems are currently among the most serious public health challenges. Adolescent girls suffer from internalizing problems, such as somatic symptoms and mental health problems, at higher rates than in decades. By age 15, over 50 % of all girls experience multiple health complaints more than once a week and one in five girls reports fair or poor health. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the effects of and experiences with an after-school dance intervention for adolescent girls with internalizing problems. The intervention comprised dance that focused on resources twice weekly for 8 months. Specifically, this thesis aimed to: I) investigate the effects on self-rated health (SRH), adherence and over-all experience; II) evaluate the effects on somatic symptoms, emotional distress and use of medication; III) explore the experiences of those participating in the intervention; and IV) assess the cost-effectiveness. A total of 112 girls aged 13 to 18 years were included in a randomized controlled trial. The dance intervention group comprised 59 girls, and the control group 53. In paper I, the dance group showed increased SRH scores compared to the control group (p = .02). Girls in the intervention group showed high adherence and a positive overall experience. In paper II, the dance group exhibited a decrease in somatic symptoms (p = .021), emotional distress (p = .023) and use of medication (p = .020) compared to the control group. In paper III, a strategic sample of 24 girls was interviewed. Qualitative content analysis was performed, and five generic categories emerged. Two were “An Oasis from Stress” and “Supportive Togetherness”, which was shown to represent the fundamental basis and setting of the intervention. The main category, participants’ central experience, was understood as “Finding embodied self-trust that opens new doors”. Paper IV revealed that, due to decreased number of visits to the school nurse and an increase in health related quality of life; the intervention was considered to be cost-effective (combined with the usual school health services). In summary, the results of this thesis show that this dance intervention for adolescent girls with internalizing problems generated positive health effects and proved to be cost-effective. For this target group, a non-judgmental environment and supportive togetherness proved to be of importance for participation. The results of this study may provide practical information for school health care staff and caregivers in designing future interventions.

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Bakgrund: Ätstörningar är allvarliga tillstånd och orsakar stort lidande för drabbade. Patienterna har störda uppfattningar om kropp och ätande samt upplevs svårbehandlade. Basal kroppskännedom utgår från kroppens rörelser, där kroppsmedvetenhet övas, tankar och känslor integreras. Vetenskapligt finns begränsad kunskap om hur patienter med ätstörning ska bemötas, men den terapeutiska alliansen påverkar följsamhet och behandlingsresultat. Syfte: Att beskriva fysioterapeuters erfarenheter av vad som påverkar skapandet av en terapeutisk allians vid behandling med Basal kroppskännedom vid ätstörningsproblematik. Metod: Studien har kvalitativ, deskriptiv design i åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med fysioterapeuter som rekryterades genom ändamålsenligt- och snöbollsurval. Data analyserades med induktiv ansats.  Resultat: Fem kategorier och elva underkategorier identifierades. Huvudkategorierna är “Metoden bjuder in till helhetssyn och tillitsfull relation”, “Yrkesskicklighet och personlighet en tillgång i komplexa mötet”, “Kroppslig och verbal kommunikationsförmåga ger samarbetet fler dimensioner”. “Arbetet siktar mot självständigt och hållbart tillfrisknande” samt “Terapeutiska miljön påverkar trygghet och fokus”. Slutsats: Alliansskapandet genom Basal kroppskännedom är mångfacetterad i mötet med patientgruppens komplexa sjukdomssituation. Faktorerna som utkristalliserades påverkar både enskilt och gemensamt, skapandet av en fysioterapeutisk allians. Genom resultatet framträder en början till beteendeförändringsstrategier med hjälp av beteendemedicinskt förhållningssätt, socialkognitiv teori samt stress-copingteori

! Title of thesis : Influence of laterality in somatognostic functions of floorball players Demarcation of the issue : This thesis is dedicated to the influence of laterality in somatognostic functions of floorball players and it rates relation between these two phenomenons. It is a first research in this branch and sport, also, it informs about the coherence of these two phenomenons, from the point of view as a cause of sports injuries and also as a prevention of sports injuries. Justification : Athletes get injured frequently in many different situations. Often, we are dealing with an injury as a consequence, but not the real cause. Physical therapist should get oriented in this problematics to be more effective in the healing process of the athlete. To avoid such problems in adulthood, we should be more focused on the prevention just at the beginning of a sports career of a small athlete. No matter what sports level the athlete had achieved, we are focusing especially in one-sided sport activities. Aim of the thesis : The aim of thesis is to find out any coherence of the effect of one-sided sports, as floorball, to somatognostic functions of players at the age between 6 - 14 years old. Methodology of the thesis : Research is created in a form of descriptive - associative academic method. It is...

The aim of this thesis is to introduce BMC approach in relation to other body-oriented psychotherapies, to characterise its principles and techniques, the format of therapy and to analyze and assess it from a point of view of the basic questions of scientific validity of a psychotherapeutic modality. Further in this thesis we summarize the bodily anchored experiencing theory. The empirical part of this thesis is a quantitative study of relation of body awareness, depressive experiencing and the satisfaction with life. We also studied a relationship among body awareness and socio-demographical characteristics of respondents. We ascertained some statistically significant correlations pointing towards a link between the ability of body awareness and depressive experiencing and also with satisfaction with life. The findings of this empirical study point towards the usefulness of further systematical developing of the body awareness construct.

How can vibrotactile stimuli be used to create a technology-mediated somatic learning experience? This question motivates this practice-based research, which explores how the Feldenkrais Method and cognate neuroscience research can be applied to technology design. Supported by somaesthetic philosophy, soma-based design theories, and a critical acknowledgement of the socially-inflected body, the research develops a systematic method grounded in first- and third-person accounts of embodied experience to inform the creation and evaluation of design of Haplós, a wearable, user-customisable, remote-controlled technology that plays methodically composed vibrotactile patterns on the skin in order to facilitate body awareness—the major outcome of this research and a significant contribution to soma-based creative work. The research also contributes to design theory and somatic practice by developing the notion of a somatic learning affordance, which emerged during course of the research and which describes the capacity of a material object to facilitate somatic learning. Two interdisciplinary collaborations involving Haplós contribute to additional fields and disciplines. In partnership with experimental psychologists, Haplós was used in a randomised controlled study that contributes to cognitive psychology by showing that vibrotactile compositions can reduce, with statistical significance, intrusive food-related thoughts. Haplós was also used in Bisensorial, an award-winning, collaboratively developed proof-of-concept of a neuroadaptive vibroacoustic therapeutic device that uses music and vibrotactile stimuli to induce desired mental states. Finally, this research contributes to cognitive science and embodied philosophy by advancing a neuroscientific understanding of vibrotactile somaesthetics, a novel extension of somaesthetic philosophy.

In the last decade, neuroscience and psychology alike have paid increasing attention to the study of affective touch, which refers to the emotional and motivational facets of tactile sensation. Some aspects of affective touch have been linked to a neurophysiologically specialised system, namely the C tactile (CT) system. While the role of this system for affiliation, social bonding and communication of emotions have been investigated, less is known about the potential role of affective touch in the awareness of the body as our own, i.e. as belonging to our psychological 'self'. This thesis attempted to contribute to the knowledge on affective touch and its relation to body awareness, by exploring the potential role of this modality to the way we perceive and make sense of our body as our own. Specifically, this work aimed to advance the current state of knowledge by investigating: 1) the effect of affective touch on the sense of body ownership, which is a fundamental aspect of body awareness; 2) the relation between interoceptive modalities, originating both internally (i.e. cardiac awareness) and peripherally (i.e. affective touch), and exteroception in body awareness; 3) the effect of intranasal oxytocin on the perception of affective touch and bodily awareness; 4) the perception and social modulation of affective touch in psychiatric patients who show difficulties in body awareness, namely patients with Anorexia Nervosa, and 5) the modulating role of self-other distinction and of self-other relation in the perception of affective touch and body awareness. In a first experiment (N = 52) the rubber hand illusion paradigm was used to investigate the role played by CT-optimal, affective touch in the sense of body ownership. The results showed that slow, pleasant touch enhanced the experience of embodiment in comparison to faster, neutral touch, suggesting that affective touch might uniquely contribute to the sense of body ownership. The following study (N = 75), used a similar methodology to test whether interoceptive sensitivity as measured by a heartbeat counting task would modulate the extent to which affective touch influences the multisensory process taking place during the rubber hand illusion. The results could not confirm a systematic relation between interoceptive sensitivity and the perception of affective touch, nor its influence on body ownership. The next study (N = 41) included a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, cross-over design testing the effect of intranasal oxytocin on the perception of affective touch and body ownership, as measured by means of the rubber hand illusion. There was no evidence supporting the hypothesis that intranasal oxytocin could influence the CT system as tested in this study. The next study (N = 55) applied some of the above methodologies to investigate the perception of CT-optimal touch in patients with anorexia nervosa and its emotional modulation by top-down factors. The results confirmed the hypothesis that people with anorexia nervosa show a reduced perception of affective touch compared to healthy controls, but its perception was not influenced by top-down affective modulation, in the sense that both patients and healthy controls perceived touch as more pleasant when presented concurrently with positive facial expressions compared to neutral and negative faces. Finally, the last two studies (N = 76 and 35 healthy volunteers, respectively) focused on the relationship between affective touch and body awareness in the context of social cognition. These studies used both online and offline social modulation paradigms to investigate the role of self-other distinction and of self-other relation in the perception of affective touch. The results showed that positive top-down social information can enhance the perceived pleasure of tactile stimulation. Taken together, these studies point to the central role of affective touch in body awareness and social cognition. Finally, they also pave the way for future studies examining the role of disruptions of the CT system in the development of neuropsychiatric impairments of body awareness and social cognition.