Dance movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Dance movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression.
J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Sep 23;57(18):8258-65. PMID: 16287635
Department of Physical Education, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Republic of Korea.
This study assessed the profiles of psychological health and changes in neurohormones of adolescents with mild depression after 12 weeks of dance movement therapy (DMT). Forty middle school seniors (mean age: 16 years old) volunteered to participate in this study and were randomly assigned into either a dance movement group (n = 20) or a control group (n = 20). All subscale scores of psychological distress and global scores decreased significantly after the 12 weeks in the DMT group. Plasma serotonin concentration increased and dopamine concentration decreased in the DMT group. These results suggest that DMT may stabilize the sympathetic nervous system. In conclusion, DMT may be effective in beneficially modulating concentrations of serotonin and dopamine, and in improving psychological distress in adolescents with mild depression.