CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 163Diversity and Impact of DanceArt Therapy and Mental HealthTreatment of Major Depression

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 119 of the 120 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Dance movement therapy for depression

Open access
Meekums, Bonnie, Karkou, Vicky, Nelson, E Andrea·2015·Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd009895.pub2PMC PMC8928931
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Depression is a debilitating condition affecting more than 350 million people worldwide (WHO 2012) with a limited number of evidence-based treatments. Drug treatments may be inappropriate due to side effects and cost, and not everyone can use talking therapies.There is a need for evidence-based treatments that can be applied across cultures and with people who find it difficult to verbally articulate thoughts and feelings. Dance movement therapy (DMT) is used with people from a range of cultural and intellectual backgrounds, but effectiveness remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of DMT for depression with or without standard care, compared to no treatment or standard care alone, psychological therapies, drug treatment, or other physical interventions. Also, to compare the effectiveness of different DMT approaches. SEARCH METHODS: The Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Review Group's Specialised Register (CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References) and CINAHL were searched (to 2 Oct 2014) together with the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) and ClinicalTrials.gov. The review authors also searched the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Dissertation Abstracts (to August 2013), handsearched bibliographies, contacted professional associations, educational programmes and dance therapy experts worldwide. SELECTION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria were: randomised controlled trials (RCTs) studying outcomes for people of any age with depression as defined by the trialist, with at least one group being DMT. DMT was defined as: participatory dance movement with clear psychotherapeutic intent, facilitated by an individual with a level of training that could be reasonably expected within the country in which the trial was conducted. For example, in the USA this would either be a trainee, or qualified and credentialed by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). In the UK, the therapist would either be in training with, or accredited by, the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy (ADMP, UK). Similar professional bodies exist in Europe, but in some countries (e.g. China) where the profession is in development, a lower level of qualification would mirror the situation some decades previously in the USA or UK. Hence, the review authors accepted a relevant professional qualification (e.g. nursing or psychodynamic therapies) plus a clear description of the treatment that would indicate its adherence to published guidelines including Levy 1992, ADMP UK 2015, Meekums 2002, and Karkou 2006. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Study methodological quality was evaluated and data were extracted independently by the first two review authors using a data extraction form, the third author acting as an arbitrator. MAIN RESULTS: Three studies totalling 147 participants (107 adults and 40 adolescents) met the inclusion criteria. Seventy-four participants took part in DMT treatment, while 73 comprised the control groups. Two studies included male and female adults with depression. One of these studies included outpatient participants; the other study was conducted with inpatients at an urban hospital. The third study reported findings with female adolescents in a middle-school setting. All included studies collected continuous data using two different depression measures: the clinician-completed Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D); and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) (self-rating scale).Statistical heterogeneity was identified between the three studies. There was no reliable effect of DMT on depression (SMD -0.67 95% CI -1.40 to 0.05; very low quality evidence). A planned subgroup analysis indicated a positive effect in adults, across two studies, 107 participants, but this failed to meet clinical significance (SMD -7.33 95% CI -9.92 to -4.73).One adult study reported drop-out rates, found to be non-significant with an odds ratio of 1.82 [95% CI 0.35 to 9.45]; low quality evidence. One study measured social functioning, demonstrating a large positive effect (MD -6.80 95 % CI -11.44 to -2.16; very low quality evidence), but this result was imprecise. One study showed no effect in either direction for quality of life (0.30 95% CI -0.60 to 1.20; low quality evidence) or self esteem (1.70 95% CI -2.36 to 5.76; low quality evidence). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The low-quality evidence from three small trials with 147 participants does not allow any firm conclusions to be drawn regarding the effectiveness of DMT for depression. Larger trials of high methodological quality are needed to assess DMT for depression, with economic analyses and acceptability measures and for all age groups.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/14651858.cd009895.pub2

Cites

119 of 119 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

2 retracted

Show all 120 references

Research works printed but not linked: 29

  1. Röhricht, 2013, An exploratory randomized controlled trial of body psychotherapy for patients with chronic depression, Journal of Affective Disorders, 151, 85, 10.1016/j.jad.2013.05.056 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Xiong, 2009, Influence of dance therapy on self-efficacy and rehabilitation of patients with depression, Chinese Nursing Research, 23, 3138
  3. Alpert, 2007, Modified jazz dance effects on balance cognition and mood in older women, Communicating Nursing Research, 40, 359
  4. Anonymous, 2007, Dance to beat depression, Working with older people, 11, 8
  5. Birks, 2007, Benefits of salsa classes in treatment of depression, Nursing Times, 103, 32
  6. Harden JAT Effect of movement group therapy on depression, morale and self-esteem in aged women Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Texas 1989
  7. Hautzinger, 1995, Athletic participation and psychological well-being. The effects of sports on depressive symptomatology, Zeitschrift fuer Gesundheitspsychologie, 3, 255
  8. Hilf Z Efficacy of Dance Therapy in the Treatment of Somatoform Disorders Unpublished Diploma thesis. Faculty for Sport and Health Sciences of the Technische Universität München, Germany 2009
  9. King E Jump for joy: Irish Ceili dancing with mental health patients Unpublished MA dissertation, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain 2010
  10. Konstantinidou M Effects of DMT program in the psychosocial health of elderly Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Komotini, Greece. 2005
  11. Krantz A Your dissertation E-mail correspondence
  12. Krantz AM Dancing out trauma: The effects of psychophysical expression on health Dissertation Abstracts International 1994
  13. Lauža S Dance movement therapy for decreasing symptoms of depression in the patients with chronic musculoskeletal pains Unpublished Masters Dissertation: Riga Stradins University, Latvia 2011
  14. Lopez-Rodriguez Mdel, 2012, Comparison between aquatic-biodanza and stretching for improving quality of life and pain in patients with fibromyalgia, Atencion primaria / Sociedad Espanola de Medicina de Familia y Comunitaria, 44, 641
  15. Lopez-Rodriguez, 2013, Effectiveness of aquatic biodance on sleep quality, anxiety and other symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia, Medicina clinica, 141, 471
  16. Rasa I Late maturity, depression, dance and movement therapy Masters dissertation, Riga Stadins University 2011
  17. Reichhart, 2010, The Psychosomatic Day Hospital for the elderly (PDH 55+) - A four year review [conference abstract - abstracts from the 13th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, EACLPP, 28th European Conference on Psychosomatic Research, ECPR Innsbruck Austria], Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 68, 657
  18. Reinemann D ROM dance: a treatment for symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults with mental retardation EdD dissertation, Northern Illinois University 1998
  19. Zemite SS Dance movement therapy for reducing depression symptoms of women prisoners Masters dissertation, Riga Stradins University, Latvia 2011
  20. Chaiklin, 1986, The Chace Approach to Dance Therapy, 1, 17
  21. Cruz, 1998, Dance/movement therapy is more effective than previously reported, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 25, 101
  22. Koch, (to be published 2016), (Dis-)Embodiment in Schizophrenia: Effects of Mirroring on Self-Experience, Empathy and Well-Being
  23. Mannheim, 2006, Dance/movement therapy with cancer patients: evaluation of process and outcome parameters, 61
  24. Meekums, 2012, Kinesthetic empathy and movement metaphor in Dance Movement Psychotherapy., 51
  25. Nelson, 2010, Experimental research, 199
  26. The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration Review Manager (RevMan) 2012
  27. Whitehouse, 1979, CG Jung and dance-therapy: two major principles, 1
  28. Whitehouse, 2000, The Tao of the Body
  29. World Health Organization, 2010, The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Meekums, B., Karkou, V., & Nelson, E. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • Edge Hill University (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015-02-19
Volume
2016
Issue
6
Pages
CD009895-CD009895
ISSN
  • 1361-6137 (ISSN-L)
  • 1465-1858
DOI
10.1002/14651858.cd009895.pub2
PMC
PMC8928931
OpenAlex
W1806900191
Cited by
163
References
120
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9
FWCI
2.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Edge Hill University Research Information Repository (Edge Hill University) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Edge Hill University (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Diversity and Impact of Dance
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Art Therapy and Mental Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
Keywords
dance therapy, depression, treatment effectiveness, psychotherapy, antidepressants, physical interventions, non-pharmacological treatment, standard of care, access to mental health care, cost-effectiveness, adverse effects, quality of life, long-term outcomes
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Antidepressive Agents, Dance Therapy, Depression, Empathy, Female, Humans, Male, Movement, Psychotherapy, Sensation, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review