Dance/movement therapy impacts mood states of adolescents in a psychiatric hospital

• Retrospective study with 402 predominately white, non-Hispanic adolescents.
• Analysis of 671 measures shows dance/movement therapy impacts moods of adolescents.
• Dance/movement therapy integrates well into a pediatric psychiatry units.
• Dance/movement therapy impacts moods regardless of gender, ethnicity, or diagnosis.

Although dance/movement therapy (DMT) is often used in conjunction with traditional therapies for treating children with psychiatric disorders, the evidence base for this therapy is currently small. The goal of this retrospective research is to examine whether DMT, embedded within larger psychiatric therapeutic programs, affects changes in mood states of adolescents suffering from a variety of psychiatric illnesses. Participants include 402 predominately white, non-Hispanic patients (14–21 years old, with a mean age of 14.56 ± 1.70 years) who completed 671 mood measures between August 2010 and December 2011. Participants completed the Fast Assessment of Children's Emotions before and after a group DMT session. When controlling for pre-mood scores, there was a significant change in all mood states and a significant odds of a change in total mood score, per unit increase in pre-total mood score, after one DMT session (odds ratio = 1.84; p ≤ .01). There was no significant association between patient characteristics and changes in individual or total mood scores, indicating that DMT may be useful for a wide range of patients. The results from this formative study will help researchers develop prospective studies focusing on therapeutic effects of DMT for a wide range of patients.