Multicultural Dance/Movement Therapy to address Adolescent Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

Depression and anxiety in the United States are becoming more prevalent in the youth population in recent decades and have been exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic. Rates of poor mental health outcomes are also more prevalent within gender and racial minorities. Current effective interventions to improve adolescent mental health is limited to individual CBT Therapy and some arts programs. Dance Therapy is a well known alternative arts program that has shown to have physiological, mental, and social benefits. However, traditional group dance therapy programs based on Western culture and ideals neither include the unique experiences of the diversifying student population nor do they wholly address students’ mental and social needs. Cultural dances, in the context of the Western world, are traditional dance practices that serve different functions within the local culture. Many are ancient practices that have shown to have deep psychological and social benefits. Our paper proposes a new school-based multicultural dance therapy program that incorporates international cultural dances to improve physical, mental, and social health. Further research is needed to prove that physical, mental, and social health issues may be resolved through the therapeutic effects of multicultural dance therapy.