Dancing as an art form can help reduce feelings of depression, help people understand why they feel depressed, and help them become their best selves. This is what researchers at the University of Eastern Finland discovered.

Why Is This Important?

“Depression is a major public health concern, and there is an urgent need for additional treatment methods,” says Professor Tommi Tolmunen. “Strong evidence already exists that physical exercise helps depression. Adding expressive elements, like those found in dance, could make physical exercise especially appealing for many people.”

How Does Dancing Help?

Today, doctors see dance as a promising way to help treat many conditions, including depression. Dance movement therapy has been shown to help with both depression and anxiety.

Dancing may help in several ways:

• It may reduce stress hormones like cortisol and noradrenaline

• It increases dopamine, a chemical linked to pleasure (just like exercise does)

• It improves awareness of your body

• It offers a creative way to express yourself without words

• It helps process emotions that are hard to explain

Through dance, people can work through feelings that may be difficult to put into words or that go beyond language.

What Did the Study Find?

The study included seven teenagers diagnosed with mild-to-moderate depression. During the study, they created a digital dance piece showing their desired future. They used dance improvisation and a special 3D motion capture method with cameras.

The results showed that dance helped with mental and social health, including:

• Better self-esteem and self-awareness

• Improved ability to process feelings in the body

• A sense of being accepted

• The importance of peer support

Participants felt especially helped by the accepting and trusting atmosphere. They felt a sense of belonging and community. This helped them develop their relationship with their own body through better body awareness.

Understanding Depression Through Dance

“Depression can affect interoception—that’s how we sense what’s happening inside our bodies,” says Senior Researcher Dr. Hanna Pohjola. “Problems with interoception are common in depression, anxiety, and alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions). Also, how someone experiences their body can be negative in many ways.”

For participants, an important part of the research was making their experience of depression and their desired future visible through dance using 3D motion capture. This gave them:

• A concrete way to perform dance anonymously to a wider audience

• A chance to watch their own movement from outside their body

• A way to think about personal values and attitudes

• A path to confront the root causes of depression

“For participants, this opened a path to self-actualization,” Dr. Pohjola notes. “That means doing meaningful activities that bring joy and satisfaction, and experiencing a sense of purpose.”