Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Final Literature Review
Final Literature Review
Literature Review
Amanda Neve
Dec 4, 2020
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Introduction:
In the United States the health and wellbeing of the people living here is a priority. There
is a large focus on public health. Hundreds of programs are put together to inform the public of
potential health concerns, as well as programs for those who have limited access to care. The
focus is mostly on wellbeing and keeping people healthy. I have noticed a lack in the care of
each person as a whole. With advancements in technology and biogenetics it seems as if we are
running down the path of curing people, but not as focused on healing. Dance therapy is not
often used within the medical community. My question is can the use of dance therapy create a
better quality of life for patients, and strengthen the treatment plans already in place?
Review Articles :
My first introduction to the use of dance as a therapy was when I was introduced to the
public health program “Dance to be Free.” This is a dance program that is implemented within
prisons. This program is currently in use at 13 prisons within the United States. What really
stood out to me is when the author Janic Ross quotes Michel Foucault in the book Dance, human
rights, and social justice : dignity in motion as saying “[it] has [been] argued that modern
prison’s main purpose has never been rehabilitation or even punishment, but rather the exercise
of discipline; the management of the undisciplined” (Ross, 2008, pp. 270–284). Prisons were
not merely created to lock up those not following the rules, but a place where people could be
taught, or re-taught, the correct way to live within a society. Discipline, managing actions or
thoughts, are a few of the concepts that are reiterated again and again within the walls of prison.
Dance is an art that focuses on teaching discipline. Discipline of the body, discipline of the
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minds, as well as endurance. It is no wonder that dance therapy is able to teach these same
concepts to those struggling. If dance can help teach discipline and emotion management, what
Dance therapy has been used since the 1940’s, but the use is not well known amongst the
public (Brooklyn Levine & Land, 2016). Studies have been trying to find a way to prove its
effectiveness for those dealing with trauma or disabilities, but it has proven to be difficult. Many
studies are case studies that depend on the participants to provide information to how they feel
after the therapy, this causes a whole within the research. There are inklings of the use of therapy
even within our daily lives. Recently it has been shown that dance can help reduce stress and
anxiety, but also ”develop new neural connections in the regions of the brain controlling
lacking is the research showing this change in the neural makeup of the brain post treatment. If
this was able to occur a guide for medical professionals could be composed for medical use. The
final step would be to create a culture where the public embraces dance not only as a sport, or
The mention of therapy often causes an individual to think of laying on a couch, talking
about all the things he or she feels. This traditional idea of therapy has proven useful in many
different areas. It may not always be enough. In the article “Her Body Speaks: The Experience of
Dance Therapy forWomen Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse” Judith Mills poses the idea that
when dealing with trauma to ones body, therapy of the mind may not be sufficient. She explains
that “The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can repress it, we
can never alter it. Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings manipulated, our perceptions
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confused, andour body tricked with medication. But someday the body will present its bill”
(Mills & Daniluk, 2002, p.316).Mills conducts interviews of 5 different women who were
victims of child abuse. Often when interviews are used in scientific studies they can create bias
in the answers. This particular study had a dependent observer who was trained in qualitative
research to make sure the participants were not being led in any way. The study concluded that
dance therapy helps these women collectively in six different ways; sense of spontaneity,
permission to play, struggle, freedom, intimate connection, and bodily reconnection. One
participant said that the dance therapy helped her “reclaim her right to be in charge of her body
and her experience.” Another noted that the “freedom not to talk” was the most significant part
of her dance therapy, she was tired of trying to express the way she felt, having a way to
communicate differently allowed her to express emotions she had not been able to previously
(Mills & Daniluk, 2002, p.82). I have seen the importance of science and medicine in treating
disease, but also in prevention. Dance therapy is not about replacing these tried and true
methods, but to be an additional tool to improve the methods. The focus changes to caring for the
entirety of each individual. This study provides important information on how to treat physical
traumas, more research could be done to understand the effects dance therapy could have on
Dance therapy is getting some interest within the medical community. Dancing with
Parkensons is a program that was developed to help those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
This therapy does not heal participants from the disease, but has shown that it “can facilitate a
positive change in perspective and attitude toward a PD diagnosis, thereby increasing feelings of
self-efficacy and improving self-management of the disease” (Bognar et al., 2017). Using dance
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as a strategy to address the physical and psychosocial effects of Parkinson's disease is still a new
concept. There hasn’t been much research, or time spent on understanding all the effects it could
have. In a medical journal titled Disability and Rehabilitation there is a study focused on the
change seen in PD patients once dance has been introduced. Although this study More than just
dancing: experiences of people with Parkinson’s disease in a therapeutic dance program only
evaluated 10 participants, the change in the quality of life for these participants is enough to
cause wonder if dance therapy could become more popular in the coming years. This study is a
stepping stone to understand how the importance of dance therapy combined with other
A main public health concern in the United States is cardiovascular health. In Volume 2
of Health Affairs George A. Mensah and David W. Brown reported that cardiovascular disease
“accounted for 34.4 percent of the 2.4 million deaths in 2003 and remain a major cause of health
disparities and rising health care costs” (Mensah & Brown, 2007). With the growing baby
boomer population it can be assumed these numbers will only increase. Dance therapy may be
another method that can be used to not only help decrease blood pressure in the older generation
but give them a change to create new relationships with people in their same demographic. A
small study was done in 2016 evaluating the effectiveness of dance therapy in decreasing high
blood pressure in 67 women. The results were that dance therapy not only improved blood
pressure it also showed improvement in sleep and quality of life in middle aged women. The
studies on dance therapy are small, however are creating an interest in funding larger-scale
Now that we have a more clear understanding of how dance therapy can be used across
the board, is it a missing link in improving quality of life? Quality of life usually peaks around
the age of 65. Factors such as depression, finances, trusting relationships, and limiting disease
play a big part in the quality of life (Netuveli, 2006). Dance therapy won’t help people with their
finances but it can help to create trusting relationships, as well as help with limiting diseases.
There is evidence it can help people suffering from Parkinson's disease, as well as heart disease.
It can help strengthen relationships and create a pathway to happiness after experiencing trauma.
Dance therapy has proven effective when used with other treatment plans to increase quality of
life in individuals as well as improve the outcomes of already implemented treatment plans.
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References
Bognar, S., Anne Marie DeFaria, O’Dwyer, C., Pankiw, E., Jennifer Simic Bogler, Teixeira, S.,
… Evans, C. (2017). More than just dancing: experiences of people with Parkinson’s
https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2016.1175037
Dance/Movement therapy for individuals with trauma. Qualitative Health Research, 26,
330–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315589920
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10465-020-09321-y
dance therapy programme on quality of life, sleep and blood pressure in middle-aged
334–339. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medcle.2016.11.016
Mensah, G. A., & Brown, D. W. (2007). An Overview Of Cardiovascular Disease Burden In The
Mills, L. J., & Daniluk, J. C. (2002). Her body speaks: The experience of dance therapy for
women survivors of child sexual abuse. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80,
77–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2002.tb00169.x
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Netuveli, G. (2006). Quality of life at older ages: evidence from the English longitudinal study of
aging (wave 1). Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 60( 4), 357–363.
https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2005.040071
Ross, J. (2008). Dance, human rights, and social justice : dignity in motion (pp. 270–284; N. M.