Background
Dance movement psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy, often associated with the wider creative arts therapies family, i.e. music, drama and art psychotherapy. It uses the body and movement “as vehicles for non-verbal and symbolic communication within a holding environment, encouraged by a well-defined client-therapist relationship, in order to achieve personal and/or social therapeutic goals appropriate for the individual” (Karkou & Sanderson 2006).
Dance movement psychotherapists often work in different settings including hospitals, schools, community organisations or in private practice to support people such as:
- Mental health clients or those at risk of developing mental health problems
- Those with learning disabilities or autism
- People with dementia or medical conditions
Some outcomes from dance movement psychotherapy include:
- Reduction of scores of depression, anxiety or stress
- Improvement of wellbeing, quality of life or self-development
Researchers have typically assessed psychological outcomes through randomised controlled trials that rely extensively on observational or self-reported measures without triangulating any impact of this intervention with one’s neurophysiology. There is therefore a need for combining research approaches that bring together physiological and neurophysiological data with observational and self-reported data.
By combining contemporary neuroscience with common approaches to researching dance movement psychotherapy, we may be able to establish if kinaesthetic empathy does indeed improve one’s mood, and whether mindful movement improves body awareness and one’s ability to listen to internal body signals. We may also be able to clarify the mechanisms of dance movement psychotherapy, disentangling the specific cognitive, emotional, social or physical mechanisms targeted through this intervention.
Our Aims
- To bridge contemporary neuroscience of dance, performing arts and creative therapies in identifying key concepts and mechanisms of brain change during dance.
- To challenge and overcome current methodological limitations in research in performing arts by embedding well-established psychophysiological and neural measures into the study of dance movement psychotherapy.
- To disseminate and advertise the work of the network to mental health practitioners and service providers, educators and policymakers interested in arts and wellbeing, in the UK and beyond.
Events
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Meet the Committee
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