Depression is a highly prevalent mood disorder that impairs a person's social skills and quality of life. Depressed patients have been shown to have difficulty in identifying, expressing, and regulating emotions, especially negative emotions, such as anger. Here, we present a study that investigates using body- and movement-based therapy intervention in the treatment of depression. Central to this study is the use of a short-term group form of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) intervention. The main research question was whether a short-term group form of DMT intervention could decrease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Depressed participants (N = 21, aged 18–60 years) received 20 sessions of group DMT, and measurements, including psychometric questionnaires, were taken before and after the intervention. The mean score of the primary outcome measure, the BDI, decreased significantly from the pre- (M = 21.67, SD = 5.26) to post-measurement (M = 10.50, SD = 5.50), t(17) = 10.40, p < .001. Thus, the short-term, group form of DMT intervention had a positive effect on patients with depression. However, further research using a control group, follow-up measurements and a larger sample size is needed to acquire more evidence supporting the efficacy of the intervention model described in this pilot study.
Depression is a disabling medical illness characterized by a persistent and all-encompassing feeling of sadness, loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities, and low self-esteem (Sobocki, Jönsson, Angst, & Rehnberg, 2006). In 2010, the World Health Organization reported that depression affects approximately 121 million people worldwide and is predicted to become the second most disabling illness in the world after ischemic heart disease within the next ten years (World Health Organization WHO, 2010). In Finland, depression has become a common reason for the inability to work (Lönnqvist, 2009) and is prevalent in 5–6.5% of the population (Tuulari, Aromaa, Herberts, & Wahlbeck, 2007). Depressed patients have been shown to have difficulty in identifying, expressing, and regulating emotions, especially negative emotions, such as anger (Joormann & Gotlib, 2010).
Medication, sometimes in combination with verbal psychotherapy or counseling, is the predominant method for treating depression. There is, however, some evidence that suggests that movement- and body-based interventions, such as Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT), can improve depressed mood (Jeong et al., 2005, Koch et al., 2007, Mala et al., 2012 and Stewart et al., 1994).
For example, Stewart et al. (1994) demonstrated that there was a significant reduction in depressed mood on the intervention days in five of the 12 subjects. None of the subjects demonstrated a significant increase in the depressed mood, while seven subjects showed no change in mood. In a study by Jeong et al. (2005), they examined and tracked the changes in the neurohormones linked to depression. A 12-week DMT program ran three times a week and was designed around the four following major themes: awareness; expression and symbolic quality; images and feelings; and the differentiation and integration of feelings. The results showed that there was a significant increase in the plasma serotonin concentration and a decrease in the dopamine concentration. Additionally, the negative psychological symptoms of distress had improved in the treatment group but not in the control group (Jeong et al., 2005).
Body movement is fundamental to the perception and production of emotion, and should be addressed more in the approaches and methods used for treating depression. Despite the studies described above, comparatively little is known about the potential and effects of DMT in treating depression and in developing emotion regulation skills. Furthermore, one motivation for studying the possibilities of DMT in treating depression comes from a recent study by Leinonen (2013) that investigated how depression affects the expression of emotions perceived in music through spontaneous movement. Movement data were collected using a motion-capture system, and the results revealed that typical symptoms of depression, such as slowness, passiveness and closed postures, were also reflected in the way the participants moved to music that was expressive of basic emotions (anger, fear, sadness, happiness and tenderness). The depressed participants move slower, with less energy, more passively, and with less overall movement than the non-depressed controls. The depressed and non-depressed groups differed especially in their bodily expressions of anger, happiness and fear (Leinonen, 2013).
