Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is a unique healing approach that uses expressive movement to connect the mind and body. By tapping into the power of body language, DMT helps individuals explore emotions and improve mental and physical well-being. Let’s explore how dance movement therapy works and the many benefits it brings to both the body and the mind.
What is dance movement therapy? What are its goals?
You may be asking yourself, “What is dance movement therapy, exactly?” According to the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia Inc., it’s the therapeutic use of dance and movement to boost a person’s physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and cultural well-being (1). Essentially, this form of therapy aims to connect with you on a deeper level by tapping into your feelings through your body.
Dance (and movement) therapy attempts to reach the patient and access their feelings through their body. It is a holistic therapy that brings body, mind and soul into harmony and tries to find the true cause of feelings and behavior in order to give the patient the opportunity to determine their own actions and reactions instead of being unconsciously guided by “old” patterns.
If a person knows the causes of their feelings and behavior, they can look at them more consciously, understand them and act accordingly (differently than before). Dance movement therapy aims to promote, maintain and achieve a person’s health, improve their quality of life and alleviate or eliminate any symptoms that may exist, e.g. of psychiatric illnesses such as depression or phobias.
The primary goals of dance movement therapy are to enhance your overall health, improve your quality of life, and help alleviate symptoms related to conditions like depression and anxiety. It’s also a wonderful way to process emotional experiences, resolve inner conflicts, and improve relationships. You might notice some quick changes, such as:
- Increased joy and motivation.
- Enhanced body awareness, helping you identify where you feel pain and where you don’t.
- A more realistic body image, which is especially beneficial for those dealing with issues like anorexia.
- Boosted self-esteem from developing a positive body image.
- Building connections with like-minded individuals and cultivating a sense of community.
- A newfound ability to express yourself authentically through movement.
When is dance movement therapy an option?
As the above points show, dance movement therapy could be suitable for everyone, whether they are sick or healthy. Who wouldn’t want more joy, better self-awareness, and increased confidence?
According to the Professional Association of Dance Therapists, dance movement therapy can of course also be used in many areas of psychiatry, psychosomatics and psychotherapy, as well as in somatic medicine and curative education – as a building block of a holistic concept – for example, in the following problems:
- Behavioral and emotional disorders in children and teens
- Psychoses
- Fears
- Social phobias (fear of embarrassing oneself in front of other people, so that groups of people or other people in general are avoided – if possible.)
- depression
- Post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Somatoform disorders (physical complaints that cannot be traced back to an organic disease)
- Stress
- Burnout syndrome
- Eating disorders
- Personality and behavioral disorders
- Dependence and addiction
- Gerontopsychiatric disorders (mental disorders in old age, e.g. dementia)
- Oncological diseases (cancer)
- Rheumatic diseases
- Neurological diseases, e.g. migraines or tension headaches
- Speech impairments, e.g. speech impairments and speech loss due to strokes
- Sensory impairments, e.g. visual impairments
- Learning disabilities
- Physical disabilities
- Intellectual disabilities
Can dancing help with depression?
Depression is the most common cause of mental illness worldwide. Most sufferers take antidepressants or go to traditional psychotherapy – often with only moderate success. Dance movement therapy can be integrated very well into psychotherapy and has been proven to achieve very good results.
In 2007, Koch and colleagues compared the effects of dancing, listening to music and using an exercise bike on the reduction of depression and the improvement of vitality in 31 psychiatric patients with the primary or additional diagnosis of depression.
It was shown that those treated with circle dancing – i.e. dancing in a circle formation – were significantly less depressed and significantly more vital than participants in the groups listening to music or riding exercise bikes.
A review of eight studies conducted by scientists at Edge Hill University in Great Britain confirmed that dance movement therapy is an effective treatment for adult depression. The results indicate that moving to music can lead to genuine improvements in mood.
Does dancing help with stress?
Absolutely! Regular dance meetings can help significantly reduce stress, according to a study by the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich (2). The stress-reducing effect can even be measured by a falling cortisol level in the saliva..
And in a 12-week intervention study from 2005 to examine the effects of dance movement therapy on psychological distress (negative stress) and neurohormonal changes in adolescents with mild depression, researchers showed in 40 Korean girls that a significant improvement in negative stress as well as an increase in serotonin and a reduction in dopamine can be achieved through dance movement therapy.
Cortisol levels were also slightly reduced. Serotonin, dopamine and cortisol are hormones that are indirectly or directly associated with depressive fatigue, stress, insomnia and psychological symptoms.
From the results, the authors concluded that the sympathetic nervous system can be stabilized through dance movement therapy. Dance movement therapy is therefore an effective treatment method for mild depression in adolescents and for improving negative psychological stress (3)(4).
Can DMT help victims of violence?
Yes, it can! A two-year research project at the University of Oldenburg on alternative treatment for 16 traumatized women affected by domestic violence showed that dance movement therapy reduced the need for medication. Stress, pain and depression were also reduced. The women’s body image, self-perception, and self-confidence also improved noticeably (5).
Where can you receive dance movement therapy and who is dance movement therapy suitable for?
Dance movement therapy isn’t just for those seeking treatment; it’s also used in preventive and rehabilitative settings. You can find dance therapists in various institutions, including:
- Hospitals focused on psychiatry and neurology
- Psychosomatic medicine clinics
- Addiction treatment centers
- Therapeutic education institutions
- Private dance therapy practices
Thanks to its diverse methods, dance movement therapy can be beneficial for all ages—from toddlers to older people. To find a private dance therapist, check the website of the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia (DTAA).
How does it work?
It’s essential to note that there isn’t just one way to conduct dance movement therapy. Instead, it encompasses various therapeutic methods tailored to the individual needs of patients. Sessions can be conducted one-on-one or in groups.
According to psychotherapist and dance therapist Dr. Elke Willke, integrative dance movement therapy is mainly practiced today. “Integrative dance movement therapy represents an integration of several streams of professional and personal development, psychotherapeutic theoretical backgrounds, and dance approaches.”
Dr. Willke emphasizes that in integrative dance movement therapy, the verbal medium of language and the nonverbal medium of dance play an important role and interact with each other.
Dance movement therapy can therefore take a variety of forms. For example, a dance movement therapy process can begin with a conversation, which then leads to movement experiments, i.e. after or during the conversation, the dance therapist asks the patient to move. Afterwards, the movements performed are discussed again.
It may be that the dance therapist announces an exercise or movement that the patients then carry out. And there is the possibility that the therapist verbally guides the patients from one movement to the next, i.e. she describes movement sequences and the patients are allowed to carry them out directly—just as in various forms of yoga or in Feldenkrais group therapy, for example.
This method is often combined with attention control, where the patient is asked to direct their awareness to a specific thing, such as a feeling, the body or the room. Or the dance therapist invites her patients to imitate movements that she demonstrates while she talks to the patients in between.
In free improvisation, the patient is allowed to move as he wants, as he feels comfortable, as he is stimulated by external stimuli, without the therapist giving any instructions.
Does health insurance cover dance movement therapy?
Yes and no! According to the Federal Joint Committee of Health Insurance Funds, dance movement therapy is not a prescription-based medical treatment, which means that statutory health insurance funds generally do not cover the costs of outpatient dance movement therapy, even though therapeutic effects have been proven by several scientific studies.
However, private health insurance or supplementary insurance sometimes reimburses services that go beyond the list of services provided by statutory health insurance companies. It is therefore worth asking them.
You can find out whether dance movement therapy is offered and covered during hospital, spa or rehabilitation stays directly from your health insurance provider or from other service providers who cover the costs of the stay and treatment (6).
How much does dance movement therapy cost?
The costs for private dance movement therapy can vary greatly depending on the therapist and the offer. For instance, participating in an open dance group in Australia might range from $100 to $150 for a 60-minute session (7). It is best to ask the therapist of your choice directly about the costs.
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