The utility of Dohsa-hou for counseling as a supplementary technique has recently been noticed because voluntary concentration and striving to client’s own body for relaxation or motoric manipulation by himself making his matter of concern to direct inside and make him to easily talk to himself. These clinical experiences have helped some pioneers to open a new way to the study of “Dohsa therapy” which is one kind of nonverbal psychotherapy, mainly using Dohsa-hou. Verbal tool is used only for supplementary help.
Ono (1983) and Konno (1978, 1993) applied Dohsa-hou to autistic and hyperactive children. The method improved their posture, movement, and affective life. Kamohara (1980) and Tsuru (1982, 1985) applied Dohsa-hou to schizophrenic patients and found the quality and the consistency of their walking improved. Konno, Ohno, and Hoshino (1990) found that perception of self and others improved through muscular relaxation and postural training by Dohsa-hou. Harizuka (1988, 1992) applied the method to cerebral palsy children, the treatment was effective and it was important for the subjects who had disability, to hold their sitting-posture by themselves as a result of the technique. Others indicated that as the sense of muscular relaxation and the sense of stability in standing posture increased, positive changes in external perception occurred (Hatakeyama, Etoh, & Konno 1994).
In the field of Sports in Japan, Since Rome Olympic to Tokyo Olympic, some Dohsa-hou techniques such as relaxation, mental rehearsal and mental training was introduced to champion athletes for treatment of stage flight and training for game strengthening by Naruse (1975). Dadkhah (1996, 1997) applied Dohsa-hou to disabled sportsmen and disabled students in elementary school in Iran. As a result of training, their public aspect of their body-consciousness changed the most by experiencing a new mode of motor action which was different from the one they experienced before the training, they gained a better balance on their body while walking and running, and they improved their sports record time. The results indicated that this training is a useful method for helping disabled sportsmen to improve their body-consciousness, to gain control over both their own bodies and minds, and, additionally, that it maybe useful in making training programs for them. In these studies, the suitability of Dohsa hou method was examined. The method has been practiced on different kinds of disability and the efficacy of it has been established in general.
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