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Dance movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression.

Jeong YJ, Hong SC, Lee MS, Park MC, Kim YK, Suh CM

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.

Published 18 November 2005 in Int J Neurosci, 115(12): 1711-20.
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