Embodiment of experience-near attunement to a teen’s inner world: out of the frozen self

In this article, the author presents the case study of Chloe, a 12-year-old girl who sought dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) for anxiety, insomnia, digestive issues, and loneliness and feelings of not belonging. Through our work together, we strengthened her sense of self and supported her to find ways for positive social connections. The author incorporated the self-psychological framework of Heinz Kohut into the DMP to understand Chloe’s psycho-emotional needs and how best to meet them. The self-psychological concepts that enhanced the author’s attunement include ‘being experience-near’, nuclear self and twinship selfobject function. These will be discussed in the article.