| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | O | P | Q | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Theme | Study title | First Author | Affiliation | Journal | Summary statement | Detailed comments / Description | Link to study | Year of publication | Metrics for success (eg X Wellbeing scale etc) | Area | Primarily Qual or Quant | Population studied | |||
2 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Effect of exercise for depression: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials | Noetel | University of Queensland, Australia | The BMJ | Goal: Meta-analysis examining benefits of different forms of exercise on depression on clinically diagnosed patients from randomized trial studies. Main Findings: Out of all the different exercise categories, dance showed the largest effect size/benefit. Types of dance included: 1) Guided square dance (exercise intensity was moderate, and movement arrangement was simple); 2) Dance Movement Therapy sessions designed around four major themes: (a) awareness of the body, the room, and the group; (b) movement expressions and symbolic quality of movement; (c) movement, feeling, images, and words; and (d) differentiation and integration of feelings. Each of these themes included various sub-themes: (a) setting limits and outer, inner, and personal space; (b) body language, the reflecting process, polarity, and inward and outward expression; (c) playing, drawing, and verbalization; and (d) the inner sense, quality of movement, and expression of feelings; 3) Zumba dancing (TUG) - See summary chart here | Caveats to keep in mind: Number of dance studies included was relatively small (N studies = 5; N participants total = 107) compared to other exercise categories. Skewed population (mostly women in their 30s) for dance studies, so unclear how these benefits generalize to other populations. Some concern for publication bias (meaning, a high tendency to report only data that shows benefits, so we're blind to the possibility that there were studies with no benefits that were never published). We also don't know the long-term benefits, if any. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GM7xw0dP0f-F4FxYeCQ-8c-7zuJ-mi4b/view?usp=drive_link | 2024 | 1) Depression severity index based on self-rated scale questionnaires; 2) plasma serotonin and dopamine levels; 3) measures of working memory (N-back task) and motor function | Dance | quant | Clinical | |||
3 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | The efficacy of Dance Movement Therapy group on improvement of quality of life: A randomized controlled trial | Bräuninger | University of Deusto | The Arts in Psychotherapy | Goal: Examine benefits of a 10-week Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) intervention on Quality of Life measures in individuals suffering from stress. Main Findings: At the end of the 10-week intervention, the DMT group reported benefits in psychological wellbeing, social relations/life, global value, physical health, and general life, relative to the control group. After six months post intervention, the DMT group continued to report benefits in psychological wellbeing and general life, as well as in spirituality engagement, suggesting that DMT offers long-term benefits. | Participant recruitment: Eleven DMT certified dance therapists were recruited throughout Germany (the location of the study). All dance therapists recruited participants suffering from stress on site through a press release with different DMT approaches participated in the study in eleven different locations. Exclusion criteria were currently psychological, psychotherapeutic and/or medical treatment on an outpatient or inpatient basis, psychotherapy treatment carried out within the previous 12 months, diagnosis of psychiatric illness, serious physical disability or limitation. Pros: Randomized controlled trial. Evidence supporting long term benefits. Groups were matched on several demographic variables (Age, Gender, Education level, Health status). Cons: Unclear whether all participants had a clinical diagnosis or not at some point in their life. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnyNL7ArSoZTzIWWKuUohzvDEy_22yS3/view?usp=sharing | 2012 | Two standardized measures on Quality of Life: 1) The World Health Organization Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-100) questionnaire; 2) The Munich Life Dimension List. Two measures of Stress: 1) Stress Management (SVF 120); 2) Psychological Distress and Psychopathology | Dance | quant | Subclinical | |||
4 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance Movement Therapy group intervention in stress treatment: A randomized controlled trial | Bräuninger | University of Deusto | The Arts in Psychotherapy | Goal: Examine benefits of a 10-week Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) intervention on Stress measures in individuals suffering from stress. Main Findings: At the end of the 10-week intervention, stress symptoms improved relative to controls. A long-term benefit (6-months after the intervention) was also found in measures of Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Thinking, Psychoticism, and Global Severity Index. | SAME AS ROW 54. Interesting author note: Previous studies using moderate physical activation programs do not find these benefits on mental health and well-being (only on body image perception). The author concludes that the combination of physical activation, movement, expressive psychotherapeutic work, plus the engagement of interpersonal and intrapsychic awareness, in DMT might account for the reduction of psychological distress and mental pathology. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-b8xmXlEBiwQ-z_hEGYaeP0wkKfLxPug/view?usp=drive_link | 2012 | SAME AS ROW 54 | Dance | quant | Subclinical | |||
5 | Mindful movement | Dancing Mindfulness: A phenomenological investigation of the emerging practice | Marich | The institute for creative mindfulness | EXPLORE | Goal: To introduce the concept of Dancing Mindfulness and tie it to pre-existing studies on mindfulness and its benefits for treating emotional trauma. Performed a qualitative study (interview format) to identify main themes that characterize the experience of Dancing Mindfulness in members that practice it. Main Findings: Three overarching themes emerged out of the interviews: 1) Overall improvement in emotional and spiritual domains; 2) Participant emphasis on the importance of different experiential domains of Dancing Mindfulness (dance, yoga, music, facilitation, and venue); 3) Mindfulness benefits (acceptance, positive changes to self, and an increased application of mindfulness strategies to the real world). | Key Concept: Dancing Mindfulness is a wellness practice that organically emerged from clinicians' experiences with trauma/addiction patients (see paper on row 57 for its precedent). The idea is that a facilitator gently leads patients through a series of breathing and self-awareness exercises that include stretching, followed by "letting go" and spontaneous dancing to music of their choice. Key Points: Specific attitudes are cultivated in Dancing Mindfulness, such as acceptance, beginner's mind,letting go,non-judging, non-striving (being in the present), patience, and trust. The choice of music revolves around these themes. Emphasis on integrating breath, body, mind, spirit, sound, story. Participant selection: Individuals who practiced Dancing Mindfulness at a yoga studio in northeast Ohio were invited to participate. Participants must have attended at least two Dancing Mindfulness classes at the yoga studio. Pros: Converging qualitative evidence (from participants' perspectives) with quantitative research on the benefits of dance. Caveats: A small sample (N = 7) of women only. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rvoosDn2Qws0Yrdn1KBr98D7V1Hl8KvK/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | Semi-standard interview called "The Long Interview" (see Table 2). Used A.P. Giorgi's Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Method to code interviews. This method emphasizes scientific phenomenological reduction (rooted in the philosophical tradition of Husserl's phenomenology), emphasizing the role of basic motivations and not just whether something exists or not). | Dance | qual | Mixed | |||
6 | Mindful movement | Movement and Mindfulness: A Formative Evaluation of a Dance/Movement and Yoga Therapy Program with Participants Experiencing Severe Mental Illness | Barton | Movement, Mindfulness, Wellness Clinic | American Journal of Dance Therapy | Goal: A qualitative study of 10 participants implementing a 20-week program around the concept of Movement and Mindfulness, a body-based curriculum used in group rehabilitation programs for patients with psychosis. It uses a combination of dance/movement therapy techniques, yoga skills, and traditional group therapy. Focus on mindfulness & Eastern meditation. Main findings: The overall impression of the program was very positive. Six themes identified via interviews/surveys: 1a) Best liked aspects of program (freedom, comfort, peaceful, not self-conscious); 1b) Least liked aspects of program (fatigue, small room size); 2) Creative vs structured program movements (structured movements easier but creative movement more liberating); 3) Coping skills (improved stress management and relaxation, decreased anxiety, improved understanding of self and other, improved awareness of thoughts and feelings); 4) Independent skill use (voluntarily practicing yoga outside the program); 5) Differences between movement group vs.other program groups; 6) Suggestions for future programs. | Key concept: The major goals of Movement and Mindfulness are to increase skills of 1) stress management, 2) coping, 3) relaxation, and 4) communication among the participants. Program goals: To understand: 1) the participants’ use of movement-based coping skills in their daily lives, and 2) the effect of the group experience on the individuals’ abilities to manage stress and improve interpersonal communication skills. Program structure: In the beginning, the program emphasized basic yoga activities over more expressive processes to build comfort and safety with movement. As the group felt more comfortable with movement, more techniques were added until they became the predominant activity. Program examples: Structured experiences consisted of movement or experiences generally led by the facilitator. Examples of structured experiences included: 1) chair-based yoga postures, such as the pawan muktasana series, 2) pranayama, or breathing techniques, such as nadi shodhana, or alternate nostril breathing, 3) the defense, or dimensional scale, and 4) the diagonal scale. The diagonal scale is a full-bodied movement sequence that explores an individual’s diagonal reach within a self-contained invisible cube. Pros: Age range was substantial (20-60 yrs old), so benefits may not be age specific. Caveats: Participants were only Caucasian middle-aged women, so unclear how these results generalize to other populations. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1go4oUVPgsAI6GpY8UE3UyhJZDyHmuSzs/view?usp=drive_link | 2011 | Data, in the form of interviews and surveys, were collected during the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th weeks. Surveys: The surveys asked participants to recall some features of the material that they had learned in the group. the answers to the questions provided a view of how group experiences were translated into everyday social processes. Interviews: Two sets of open-ended questions were formulated based upon examples from literature on program evaluation and the author’s previous experiences | Dance | qual | Clinical | |||
7 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Middle-age female depression in perimenopausal period and square dance intervention | Gao | The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, China | Psychiatria Danubina | Goal: An intervention study designed to examine how square dancing impacts depression in perimenopause women. Intervention consisted of guided 30-60 minute square dancing exercises, 5 times per week for 3 months. Main Findings: At baseline, all group's depression severity index fell within "mild-to-severe depression". For the square dancing group, significant reduction in depression index after the intervention, with scores falling within normal range. For the control group, depression severity index remained unchanged. | Additional findings: Only 22% of participants suffered from mild-to-severe depression. Younger, working married women presented a low rate of depression. Pros: Intervention and control group were matched on depressive index scores at baseline. Caveats: Control group did not perform any kind of activity. An ideal control group would have done some kind of activity that would be hypothesized to not impact depression. Still, it is a legitimate design, but it would have made it more of an apples-to-apples comparison. Sample limited to women. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u_iAY11S51kTll_Br2KkR99zKpDe35m1/view?usp=sharing | General situation questionnaire (basic demographic background); SDS (a self-rated questionnaire that covers four groups of specific symptoms of depression: spirituality–emotionality, corporality disorder, psychomotor disorder, and psychological disorder. | Dance | quant | Mixed | ||||
8 | Improvisation | Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: An fMRI study of Jazz improvisation | Limb | National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders | PLOS One | This study characterizes the neurobiological correlates of musical improvisation in musicians. Jazz improvisation was consistently characterized by patterns of brain activity that differed from rehearsed musical sequences (these are repeated twice and then participants are cued to replay the sequences): Maximal activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex for learned musical sequences. But maximal activation of the medial prefrontal cortex for improvised sequences. The implication is that medial prefrontal cortex is associated with creativity and FLOW STATES, whereas the lateral prefrontal cortex are associated with already learned sequences. | Limb study referenced in Your Brain on Art. Check out section in book: Reconnect to your creativity | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JEA9_vzsyOds8FA99JXMZ_1_zYLDS42O/view?usp=drive_link | 2008 | Music | quant | Typical | ||||
9 | Improvisation | Functional network connectivity during jazz improvisation | Vergara | Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science; Georgia State University; Georgia Institute Technology; Emory University | Nature Scientific Reports | Examined whole-brain functional network connectivity while jazz musicians either imagined or performed novel or pre learned vocal melodies. This study replicates a previous study from 2019 showing reduced functional connectivity between brain regions important for executive functions when musicians engaged in improvisation activities compared to prelearned melodies. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/13JW0mSWiPB5in73iiq6Iu8kFte4fpaZr/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Resting state functional brain connectivity (fMRI) | Music | quant | Typical | ||||
10 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression | Jeong | Wonkwang University, Iksan Republic of Korea | International Journal of Neuroscience | Goal: A 12-week intervention that examines the impact of DMT on mental health and hormonal changes in female high school students with mild depression. Main Findings: The DMT group showed significant improvements in negative psychological symptoms such as somatization, obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. There were also significant changes in serotonin and dopamine (though cortisol did not change). | Procedure: DMT sessions were designed around four major themes:(a) awareness of the body, the room, and the group; (b) movement expressions and symbolic quality of movement; (c) movement, feeling, images, and words; and (d) differentiation and integration of feelings. Each of these themes included various sub-themes: (a) setting limits and outer, inner, and personal space; (b) body language, the reflecting process, polarity, and inward and outward expression; (c) playing, drawing, and verbalization; and (d) the inner sense, quality of movement, and expression of feelings.Caveats: They didn't attempt to correlated the hormone levels with the self-reported questions on mental health. Sample limited to females. Control group was also passive (no active intervention incorporated). The effects on dopamine and serotonin were somewhat weak statistically. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfYnzPE1U66Eb_PVgBuPPik8nKRbgsJA/view?usp=drive_link | 2005 | A self-report inventory of emotional distress, the Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL-90-R); | Dance | quant | Clinical | |||
11 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Zumba dancing and aerobic exercise can improve working memory, motor function, and depressive symptoms in female patients with Fibromyalgia | Norouzi | Urmia University, Iran | European Journal of Sport Science | Goal: To compare two 12-week interventions, aerobic exercise and Zumba dance, and their impact on working memory, motor skills, and depression symptoms in middle-aged females with Fibromyalgia. Main Findings: After the 12-week intervention, both the Zumba and aerobic exercise groups significantly improved their working memory (reaction time) performance and motor function, and significantly decreased depressive symptoms. No such benefits were found in the control group. The Zumba dancing group displayed the largest benefits statistically speaking. | Pros: MANY: 1) Having two types of intervention is a BIG plus, since it helps differentiate the effects of dance from other types of physical activities such as exercise. 2) All three groups matched on age, depression severity, duration of illness, and education level. 3) Included a processing measure of working memory, which also captures the scope of these benefits beyond self-reported data. 4) Control group underwent social interaction via regular group meetings. This helps rule out social interaction as a contributor to the benefits seen with exercise and zumba dancing. Cons: Does not speak to freestyle-based movements. Participants were only middle aged women with a specific chronic illness, which may limit generalizability. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TfOqtt4NeDkH7-umz1Jt4vIxj1evoq4a/view?usp=drive_link | 2020 | Working memory (N-back task); Motor function (The Timed Up and Go, or TUG, task); Self-reported questionnaire for depressive severity index (BDI-II) | Dance | quant | Clinical | |||
12 | Other | Body movement selectively shapes the neural representation of musical rhythms | Chemin | Université Catholique de Louvain, France | Psychological Science | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Oj15EMZ3PSGL0vqN_HOm4Ujc5gacdsN9/view?usp=sharing | Music | quant | ||||||||
13 | Other | Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly | Verghese | Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, US | The New England Journal of Medicine | Goal: Prospective study tracking the incidence of dementia over a 5 year period and its relation to leisure activities in older adults. Main findings: Over a quarter of cases developed some form of dementia (mainly Alzheimer's', followed by vascular dementia). Reading, playing board games, playing musical instruments, and dancing were associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Cognitive-based activities were consistently associated with reduced dementia risk and reduce rates of memory decline, even after excluding patients who were susceptible to dementia at baseline, whereas physical-based activities were not. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETdoyA6zZjwV9uXMFZlUyGLmugJR0XFL/view?usp=drive_link | 2003 | Two composite measures: 1) An index based on six cognitive-based activities (reading books or newspapers, writing for pleasure, doing crossword puzzles, playing board games or cards, participating in organized group discussions, and playing musical instruments); 2) An index based on 11 physical activities (playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, participating in group exercises, team games such as bowling, walking for exercise, climbing more than two flights of stairs, doing housework, and babysitting). Participants were asked how often they participated in these activities (daily, several days per week, once weekly, monthly, occasionally, or never). Each of these was given a score. The scores were aggregated across activities. | Other | quant | Clinical | ||||
14 | Mindful movement | Dance Movement Therapy as an intervention in breast cancer patients: A systematic review | Fatkulina | Vilnius University, Lithuania | Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine | Review paper examining the benefits of Dance Movement Therapy for breast cancer patients in six intervention studies. The mental health of the participants who received DMT intervention improved: they reported a better quality of life and decreased stress, symptoms, and fatigue. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/13FM8cB3O9pA1cJ4V92YJMSSZAJJr68nA/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Various questionnaires: 1) The Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire; 2) International Physical Activity Questionnaire. To evaluate participants’ psychological condition: 1) the Beck Depression Inventory; 2) Life Satisfaction Inventory; 3) Quality of Life-Breast Cancer; 4) Global Quality of Life; 5) Symptom Bother Scale; 6) Body Image, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; 7) Fear of Recurrence Scale; 8) Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; 9) Self-Compassion Scale; 10) Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; 11) Experiences Questionnaire; 12) Daily diary; 13) Perceived Stress Scale; 14) Brief Fatigue Inventory; 15) Brief Pain Inventory; 16) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; 17) Functional Assessment of Cancer 0erapy-Breast Scale; 18) Quality of Life SF-36; 19) Dyadic Trust Scale; 20) Dyadic Adjustment Scale; 21) Quality of Life Questionnaire C30–EORTC QlQ-C30; 22) Piper Fatigue Scale. | Dance | quant | Clinical | ||||
15 | Improvisation | Towards an embodied signature of improvisation skills | Coste | University of Montpallier, France | Frontiers in Psychology | Perspective piece on the role of embodiment to better understand improvisation and creativity. This is partly a critique to existing literature on creativity that doesn't take into account embodiment and movement. The main thesis is that improvisation skills are not purely cognitive products but are shaped and expressed through. body motion. Improvisation should be captured in the most naturalistic way possible (reference to the Mirror Game model). Incorporate the use of kinetic measures to infer people's creativity status. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cVTbMiKDdyrZoevlUUagFQwVH78nOZZk/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | Other | qual | Typical | |||||
16 | Improvisation | Higher node activity and less functional connectivity during musical improvisation | Dhakal | Georgia State University | Brain Connectivity | Musical improvisation (relative to prelearned melodies) displayed activity in left prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, lateral premotor cortex, supplementary motor area and cerebellum, but at the same time, lower functional connectivity between these regions. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2DV08Z6dGfRE3IfiDrxJLa9TNqjlSu4/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | Resting state functional brain connectivity (fMRI) | Music | quant | Typical | ||||
17 | Improvisation | Neural correlates of lyrical improvisation: an fMRI study of freestyle rap | Liu | National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders | Nature Scientific Reports | Used fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of spontaneous lyrical improvisation by comparing spontaneous freestyle rap to conventional rehearsed performance. There was a dissociated pattern of activity within the prefrontal cortex: increased activity the MPFC but decreased activity in the DLPFC (a region important for executive functions). In addition, improvisation was associated with functional interconnections between medial prefrontal cortex, IFG, medial premotor areas and the amygdala. Suggests that spontaneous lyrical improvisation is associated with the emergence of a network that integrates motivation, language, emotion and motor function. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbxYdOia8TZYOiVMi8E8fs_4H97pIoqo/view?usp=drive_link | 2012 | Music | quant | Typical | |||||
18 | Improvisation | The neuroscience of improvisation | Landau | Harvard University (may be outdated) | Music Educators Journal | Review paper outlining the neuroscientific literature on musical improvisation and the benefits of musical creativity. The conclusion is that the literature supports the idea that musical improvisation is a powerful means for self-expression, communication with others, facilitating self-actualization and deeper connections with peers. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yzjmCp_tzJqeYAZzlndO6hRhq9Ofy-xw/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | Music | qual | Typical | |||||
19 | Creativity | The effects of creative dance and movement program on the social competence of headstart preschoolers | Lobo | George Mason University, VA, US | Social Development | Low SES preschool children participated in an 8-week program in creative dance/movement. Blind ratings from teachers and parents indicated positive gains in children's social competence and behavior difficulties in the treatment group compared to the control group of children (who did not participate in the program). | During 8-week program, children met twice a week for 35 minutes per session. The dance program was designed by the first author and was meant to offer structured movement opportunities that would allow children to invent movements following six concepts (Body, Movement, Space, Force, & Form). The control group simply engaged in regular curriculum activities (toys, puzzles, balls). | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kvul-Vbj3xupF10gJCH56TZSGTHgQQyq/view?usp=drive_link | 2006 | Social competence assessed using Social Competence Behavior Evaluation: Preschool edition. | Dance | quant | Typical | |||
20 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Effects of Dance Movement Therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: A meta-analysis | Koch | University of Heidelberg, Germany | The Arts in Psychotherapy | Goal: Meta-analysis examining the effects of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) on health outcomes. These are all intervention studies (N = 23) between 1993-2014. Main findings: DMT was found to improve the following: 1) well-being, mood, and affect (small effect); 2) body image (smallest effect); 3) clinical outcomes (large effect); 4) depression and anxiety (moderate effect); 6) interpersonal competence/values (moderate effect) | Cons: A relatively small sample of studies included in the meta-analysis (N = 23). Pros: Effects seemed to apply to both randomized and non-randomized study designs (meaning, they may generalize). Benefits only apply to intervention timeline (we don't know the long-term benefits, if any). No evidence for publication bias (meaning, that authors have been publishing both positive and null results in this body of literature). | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rlbed5jL_xdCuQbJ29ZGQon4DC22TAf3/view?usp=drive_link | 2014 | A variety of scaled-based questionnaires, such as: 1) World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire 100; 2) Parkinson Disease Questionnaire 39; 3) Visual Analog Scales (an index of body pain); 4) Nurses’ Observation Scale for Geriatric Patients (assessing self-care and day-to-day activities); 5) Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (wellbeing); 6) Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale; 7) Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale; 8) Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life; 9) Profile of Mood States; 9) Heidelberg State Inventory (mood); 10) | Dance | quant | Clinical/subclinical | |||
21 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Effects of a 6-week aerobic dance intervention on body image and physical self-perceptions in adolescent girls | Burgess | Manchester Metropolitan University; Manchester Institute of Sport and Physical Activity, | Body Image | Goal: A 6-week aerobic dance intervention program in middle school girls (N = 50). Based on Harter’s (1985) competence motivation theory, it was predicted that female adolescents who participated in 6 weeks of aerobic dance would report significant improvements in body image dissatisfaction and physical self-perception scores in contrast to a conventional British physical education swimming program. Main findings: After the 6-week intervention, participants reported experiencing reduced body image dissatisfaction (Attractiveness, Feeling Fat, Salience and Strength and Fitness) and enhanced physical self-perceptions (Body Attractiveness and Physical Self-Worth), although these improvements were not sustained after 12 weeks of the intervention. | Participants: UK female students, predominantly Caucasian from a lower working class background with several areas of social deprivation. Design: cross-over intervention (a subset started with physical education > aerobic dance, and the other subset aerobic dance > physical education). Procedure: The aerobic dance classes were performed twice a week for 6 weeks. Each training session lasted 50 min and consisted of: (a) warm-up; (b) aerobic dance workout; (c) cool down and stretch. The physical education classes involved 6 weeks swimming twice a week for 50 min. Cons: Study lacking a true (no activity) control group, making it difficult to pinpoint the source of the dance benefits. Unclear if effects generalize to other populations since participants were selected based on specific demographics and attitude criteria. Poor description of statistical analyses make it difficult to understand where/when the benefits are taking place. Pros: Positive benefits of dance with no changes in BMI (meaning, effects were likely not due to physical weight loss). | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EjLM8tWNNDlthfcYlJ_XjEpnKwRVfxZq/view?usp=drive_link | 2006 | Three self-rated scaled questionnaires: 1) The Body Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ) includes six constructs (Global Self-Esteem, Physical Self-Worth, Sport Competence, Physical Condition, Body Attractiveness and Strength Competence; 2) Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) includes six aspects of body experience (Attractiveness, Disparagement, Feeling Fat, Salience, Lower Body Fatness and Strength); 3) The Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (LTPAQ) to monitor to self-reported physical activity levels. | Dance | quant | Typical | |||
22 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Argentine tango dance compared to mindfulness meditation and waiting-list control: A randomised trial for treating depression | Pinniger | University of New England, Australia | Complementary Therapies in Medicine | Goal: To determine whether tango dancing is as effective as mindfulness meditation in reducing symptoms of psychological stress, anxiety and depression, and in promoting well-being, in participants who self-diagnose as having depression. Main findings: After completing a 6-week intervention program, (1.5 hrs per week of either tango or mindfulness), depression levels decreased in both tango and mindfulness groups relative to a control group. However, stress levels were only reduced in the Tango group. Moreover, Tango attendance significantly predicted increased levels of mindfulness. | Intervention format: Meditation classes were based on the mindfulness exercises. Tango lessons were based on the Argentinean close-embrace tradition, requiring trained tango-helpers who also volunteered their time. 1) At the start of every meditation and tango session: 10 minutes: participants encouraged to leave the world behind and relax so as to pay full attention in class. Emphasis on enjoying the experience rather than achieving a particular outcome. 2) 10 minutes of warm-up (low-intensity stretching); and 3) the 1-h class. Each class introduced new activities; for example, the first meditation session focused on breathing, and later sessions on the mindfulness of eating, body scan, walking meditation, and music meditation. In tango dance, each session focused on a different aspect of the dance; for example, the consciousness of walking, awareness of one’s own and partner’s body, resistance and transference of weight, and close-embrace. Important implication: Tango may be a mindfulness activity more suitable for certain individuals than the benefits of traditional meditation. Pros: Randomized controlled trial; thorough description of intervention. Caveats: These are self-diagnosed participants, so benefits may or may not apply to clinically diagnosed patients. Relatively small sample size (N tango group = 21; N mindfulness group = 16), though power analyses suggest the statistical effects were appropriate. We don't know the long-term benefits, if any. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/143VbAe9TSAQkKi9mA_6vVGXzI07WO01v/view?usp=drive_link | 2012 | 1) Stress. anxiety, and depression assessed with The DASS-21 scale; 2) Mindfulness assessed using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; 3) Life satisfaction assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale; 4) Self-esteem assessed with Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. | Dance | quant | Subclinical | |||
23 | Creativity | Mind full of ideas: A meta-analysis of the mindfulness-creativity link | Lebuda | The Maria Grzegorzewska University | Personality and Individual Differences | Meta-analysis: Moderate correlation between mindfulness and creativity | meta-analysis; effect size depended on the type of mindfulness | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cF_SsHLgN9AUVme2EME9eraa90wIrsGs/view?usp=drive_link | 2016 | Other | quant | Typical | ||||
24 | Mindful movement | Mindful movement and skilled attention | Clark | UC Berkeley | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | Review paper. Main argument: Mindful movement practices may be beneficial for ADHD. The main idea is that mindful movement (its intentions and consequences) is closely linked to attention and should engage other forms of mental activity. Mindful movement is not dependent on effort. | Following the Feldenkrais method | https://drive.google.com/file/d/14E5tDON2A5UZbIGDSFiL3JBchZ-tts4a/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | N/A | Other Arts | qual | Clinical | |||
25 | Mindful movement | Mindfulness, movement control, and attentional focus strategies: Effects of mindfulness on a postural balance task | Hwa Kee | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore | Journal of Sport & Exercise psychology | Group that underwent mindfulness induction (mindfully moving hands in a water filled basin) displayed better postural control (using a one leg balancing task) and self-reported increased awareness of the surrounding environment (e.g., higher rating for statements like "I try to look at a fixed spot in front of me while I balance") | Measure of postural balance could be of interest | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R09jwN5UK7jSER-w0Ay-6_o6Bjcz9MrP/view?usp=drive_link | 2012 | Wellbeing scale | Other Arts | quant | Typical | |||
26 | Mindful movement | Physiotherapy student experience of a mindful movement and a mindful stress-reduction intervention: A qualitative study | McConville | Latrobe University, Australia | New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy | Study explored the lived experience of physiotherapy students participating in a mindfulness intervention consisting of a two-hour lecture outlining the science of mindfulness, and then either a six-week programme based on either sitting meditation or mindful movement. Participants in both programmes reported increased self-awareness by explicitly focusing on body awareness (for instance, some participants reported the increased awareness of movement in themselves led to a better appreciation of movement in others: “The better you understand your body, the better you're going to be able to understand someone else’s body”). Both groups also showed improvements in mental health, self-care, communication and study engagement. The movement participants also reported applying the experiential learning from the movement awareness activities into their practice as trainee physiotherapists. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cHJEuEcTSTjQapx9X0AL5onXRllMmcrI/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | Transcribed interviews (6 identified themes) post intervention (sitting meditation vs mindful movement) | Interaction | qual | Typical | ||||
27 | Trauma | From fight or flight, freeze or faint, to "Flow": Identifying a concept to express a positive embodied outcome of trauma recovery | Seng | University of Michigan | Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association | Used a concept identification method to describe "flow", an embodied recovery process from trauma that leads to a positive outcome. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BLcG6LRsgOqIPK_A2UKovZM7JalykbgB/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | N/A | Other | qual | Typical | ||||
28 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Conscious dance: Perceived benefits and psychological well-being | Laird | Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior | Complementary Practices in Clinical Practice | Dancers with long-term dancing experience (+5 yrs) and recurrent dancing practice were associated with higher mindfulness and satisfaction. Therapeutic effects reported by most individuals with depression or anxiety, trauma history, chronic pain, and history of substance abuse or addiction. Therapeutic effects were also associated with greater experiences of psychological flow during dance. | Large effect size for therapeutic effect and its relation to flow state engagement during dance. Compelling from a statistical point of view. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dw0Rk79iHgwBgvbq_5mlwKZEh__tgDIf/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Wellbeing scale | Dance | quant | Typical | |||
29 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance as a moving spirituality: A case study of Movement Medicine | Kieft | None | Dance, Movement, & Spiritualities | An overview/characterization of movement medicine and how it enables cognitive states that afford meaning, wisdom, and connectedness. | Perspective piece. I really enjoyed reading this paper. Great if you need to cite a rich take on movement practices and their relation to meaning, transformation, and spirituality. | https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/dmas.1.1.21_1 | 2014 | N/A | Dance | qual | N/A | |||
30 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Embodied concepts of neurobiology in dance/movement therapy practice | Homann | None | American Journal of Dance Therapy | Explores the neurobiology of dance/movement therapy with respect to: 1) arousal and rest; 2) emotional regulation; 3) implicit/explicit memory systems; 4) mirror neurons; 5) hemispheric integration | A relevant piece if we want to consider neurobiological aspects of dance therapy | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7CRlZMiCv3DYCsexGXToFNhyAifTHyH/view?usp=drive_link | 2010 | N/A | Dance | qual | N/A | |||
31 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance Therapy as a psychotherapeutic movement intervention in Parkinson's disease | Michels | Northwestern University, US | Complementary Therapies in Medicine | Parkinson's Disease patients who underwent a 10-week dance therapy intervention displayed (numerical) improvements in several motor and non-motor measures of wellbeing | Pilot study with small N; Lacking statistical significance tests | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h-5-7ckrxXiC-jKU_DwPsqMVCv8NEFCV/view?usp=drive_link | 2018 | Multiple well being scales: Hoehn and Yahr Scale (H&Y), Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Timed Up and Go, Berg Balance Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Fatigue Severity Scale, Visual Analog Fatigue Scale, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39, and an exit satisfaction survey. | Dance | quant | Clinical | |||
32 | Mindful movement | A systematic review of the health benefits of Tai Chi for students in higher education | Webster | University of Auckland, New Zealand | Preventive Medicine Reports | Review paper examining 76 studies on the benefits of Tai Chi in college students. Tai Chi is associated with both psychological (depression, anxiety) and physiological (balance, lung capacity, and flexibility) benefits. | Review paper | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VHA6ndGEAzSUJF95MBeYDN755xUHatlS/view?usp=drive_link | 2016 | Other Arts | mix | Typical | ||||
33 | Mindful movement | Tai Chi as an alternative and complementary therapy for anxiety: A systematic review | Sharma | Jackson State University, US | Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine | Review paper examining 17 studies on the effects of Tai Chi on anxiety. 12 of the studies showed statistically significant benefits using different Tai Chi interventions. | Review paper worth checking out more carefully if we want look into the empirical studies that were included | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UdMLCXM0fb_bcbJSdMZqln5UVumVb12x/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | Other Arts | mix | Typical | ||||
34 | Mindful movement | Tai Chi Chuan vs General Aerobic Exercise in Brain Plasticity: A Multimodal MRI Study | Cui | Beijing Normal University, China | Nature Scientific Reports | College students who underwent an 8 week Tai Chi Chuan training program showed increased grey matter volume in regions important for perception (object recognition, multisensory integration, and sound/language processing) and increased functional connectivity between areas important for attention and working memory. These benefits were observed in comparison to a group that did aerobic exercise. | Published in high tier journal and includes a neuroscience component that may be worth checking out. Would have been interesting if they included another control group that did some kind of passive mindfulness training. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xVoUeqZDJsAG65ge75f2yBTLl5jwR18r/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | MRI (volume) and fMRI (functional connectivity) | Other Arts | qual | Typical | |||
35 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance and Parkinson's: A review and exploration of the role of cognitive representations of action | Bek | University of Manchester, UK | Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews | Review paper examining the physiological and cognitive benefits of dance practices for Parkinson's Disease. Most studies report sensorimotor benefits, but a few studies also report cognitive and social benefits. | Includes several studies looking at dance improvisation that can be pulled out. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/125-kooXd2VG_6lqzRyYShSigBsQ_zZb3/view?usp=drive_link | 2020 | N/A | Dance | qual | Clinical | |||
36 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | The dancing brain: structural and functional signatures of expert dance training | Burzynska | Colorado State University | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | Expert dancers showed improved behavioral performance in measures of dancing and balancing tasks and showed greater activation of the action observation network while viewing dance sequences, relative to non-dancers. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bRiBCz1GlbytJ4MOKXUhE0eix1TwnlWm/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | Dance video game; balancing tasl; MRI and fMRI | Dance | quant | Typical | ||||
37 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance and the brain: A review | Karpati | International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Canada | Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences | Review article synthesizing how dance changes brain structure and function. | This is a good review article that is very welcoming to the idea of further exploring the neuroscience of dance. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1udBTVkUM0jpgEK4-yj7GnIYQagtE4CFe/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | MRI/EEG | Dance | qual | Mix | |||
38 | Creativity | Creative cognition and brain network dynamics | Beaty | University of North Carolina at Greensboro | Trends in Cognitive Science | Review paper on the brain networks involved in creativity (includes section on improvisation in music). Main take home is that creativity engages brain regions that are important for executive functions. This suggests that creativity is not just a spontaneous process, but requires cognitive effort. | Roger Beaty's work is indirectly referenced in Your Brain on Art. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1svDDbWmvufgCNNtTK0pZ59-TGbLVULPu/view?usp=drive_link | 2016 | Other Arts | qual | Typical | ||||
39 | Improvisation | Improvisation facilitates divergent thinking and creativity: Realizing a benefit of primary school arts education | Sowden | University of Surey | Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts | Comparing children taking part in an improvised versus non improvised class on their subsequent performance on various tasks that involved creativity (e.g., a toy task or verbal and acting improvisation games). Children who took part in the improvisation interventions showed better divergent thinking and creativity after the intervention | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m27SKWTmPzxeoscil_LF2zCKvKO60Fhx/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | Interaction | quant | Typical | |||||
40 | Improvisation | Classical creativity: A functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) investigation of pianist and improviser Gabriela Montero | Barret | UCSF | NeuroImage | Examines brain activity of pianist Gabriela Montero while playing scales by repetition, playing melodies by memory, or via improvisation. All three conditions resulted in activation of similar brain regions, but the improvisation condition also uniquely engaged frontal/executive control regions (authors mention her improvisations were very structured), auditory and motor areas, limbic areas, and visual areas (using visual imagery). This suggests that improvisation is a multimodal process. | Study not directly referenced in Your Brain on Art but author alludes to a few follow up studies from Limb and this is one of them. Check out section in book: Reconnect to your creativity | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d4rrdqdzT9lOlIp-8at7hvsqlo703SJo/view?usp=drive_link | 2020 | Music | quant | Typical | ||||
41 | Creativity | Expert musical improvisations contain sequencing biases seen in language production | Beaty | Penn State University | JEP General | During improvisation, expert jazz musicians produce musical sequences using the same principles of action sequencing that we use in language production: they tend to start out with more frequent and less complex musical sequences before creating more complex sequences (this is called the "easy first" bias in action planning; our brains seek to first produce information that's easier to plan and retrieve to alleviate demands on cognitive resources). The idea is that musical improvisation follows the same computational/processing principles of language production. | Roger Beaty's work is indirectly referenced in Your Brain on Art. I know one of the co-authors in this paper Daniel Weiss; he was one of the committee members in my Master's Thesis! | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LkYtluWV4yk2NT5_lhiDI2a2VY6TFsgY/view?usp=drive_link | 2022 | Music | quant | Typical | ||||
42 | Mindful movement | The development of mindful-based Dance Movement Therapy intervention for chronic pain: A pilot study with chronic headache patients | Major-Dusele | Riga Stradins University, Latvia | Frontiers in Psychology | Relative to controls, chronic headache patients who underwent mindful-based dance movement therapy had statistically significant reduction in pain intensity and depression scores, and these gains were maintained in a follow-up assessment (16 weeks after intervention). | Referenced in Your Brain on Art | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dVV0tt-kZtUjzEZzYGxQRFKSiJmdPvju/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scalle (HADS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) | Other | quant | Typical | |||
43 | Other | What is the evidence on the role of the arts improving health and well-being? A scoping review | Fancfourt | University College London, UK | World Health Organization (WHO) | Review article on how the arts improve health and well being. Some notable takeaways on improvisation studies: 1) "A course in improvisation has been found to improve listening skills and the ability to respond instinctively and spontaneously for students in medical interviews"; 2) "Research into social anxiety disorder has found reductions in the time spent dwelling on threats as a result of music listening, and reductions in social anxiety as a result of participation in improvisation theatre workshops" | Author Daisy Fancfourt references in Your Brain on Art | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ahsQ4HSr65SHQCC15V24fA48pCceSsIl/view?usp=drive_link | 2019 | Other Arts | qual | |||||
44 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Parkinson's disease motor symptom progression slowed with multisensory dance learning over 3 years: A preliminary longitudinal investigation | Bearss | York University, Canada | Brain Sciences | Study examined the rate of Parkinson's motor and non-motor progression in a group of patients who participated in dance classes once per week over the course of three years. Compared to control patients (didn't participate in dance classes), the dancing group showed no decline in both motor and non-motor aspects. Conclusion is that dance training can slow down motor and non-motor Parkinson symptoms | Referenced in Your Brain on Art | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bYs4VV8L8dcBiSvAwLegwu5GpviFRBlv/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) as a motor rating assessment. Used a curriculum called Dan for Parkinson's Disease (I suspect this is choreographed and not improvised). | Dance | quant | Clinical | |||
45 | Mindful movement | Music strengthens prosocial effects of interpersonal synchronization - if you move in time with the beat | Stupacher | University of Gratz, Austria | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | Goal: To investigate whether music, as compared to an isochronous metronome, strengthens the prosocial effects of interpersonal movement synchronization. Main findings: Music, relative to the metronome, had a positive effect on ratings of closeness, likability of the other-figure, and well-being as a self-figure. When the other-figure walks out of sync and the self-figure walks in sync, the rating of the closeness between the figures and the likability of the other-figure decreased. | Procedure: Participants watched videos of two stick figures that were walking in sync or out of sync with music or a metronome and were asked to imagine they were one of these figures and that the other figure represents an unknown person. Design: Participants were exposed to three conditions: 1) Both stick figures walking in sync; 2) Only self-figure in sync; 3) Only other-figure in sync. Across the three conditions, participants either heard a metronome syncing with walking, an instrumental track ("Thinking" by The Meters), or silence. Interpretation: Authors consider three viewpoints to explain the results: 1) Social expectations (When people sync with music, there's both motor and emotional connection via trust and cohesion; conversely, unsynchronized movements of another person contradict one's own affective state and violate social expectations); 2) acoustic properties (metronomes are perceived discreetly, whereas music is perceived as a continuous stream, which may impact whether affect and values are engaged); 3) music-induced mood (musical stimulus is often described as groovy and happy, whereas metronomes are neutral in this regard). | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C9v22rtRGFhYhRMvskIYqMQLdymfBeNb/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | 1) Ratings of the closeness between participants' self- and the other figure on a scale from 0 to 100. 2) Ratings of likability of the other-figure (0 “very unlikable” to 100 “very likable”). 3) Ratings of how they felt as the self-figure (0 “not good at all” to 100 “very good”). | Music | quant | Typical | |||
46 | Creativity | Mindfulness and creativity: Implications for thinking and learning | Hneriksen | Arizona State University | Thinking Skills and Creativity | Deliberate mind wandering may support creativity | review article | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BzIPWD8AgD8sEdFw1gGmuRD5Gv_m8Q37/view?usp=drive_link | 2020 | Other | qual | Typical | ||||
47 | Mindful movement | Mindful movement program for older breast cancer survivors | Crane-Okada | Saint John's Cancer Institute | Cancer Nursing | Older breast cancer survival patients who underwent mindfulness training experienced improved quality of life relative to control group | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SJqJXhX5BtvZ7Gw46Sw7jbHNL28y5T75/view?usp=drive_link | 2012 | Wellbeing scale | Other Arts | quant | Clinical | ||||
48 | Mindful movement | Momentary negative affect is lower during mindful movement than while sitting: An experience sampling study | Yang | Penn State University | Psychology of Sport & Exercise | Using smart-phone app to track negative affect, movement, and mindfulness states in real time. Main result: Momentary negative affect reduced when participants were moving a lot (vs sitting), but this effect was more extreme if participants had a mindful state at the moment of movement. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pwu4n4fkq8egKHqE0ih3EhtxETN92LM6/view?usp=drive_link | 2018 | Smartphone-based app (Personal Analytics Companion Application (Paco; https://www.pacoapp.com/), which included self-reported questionnaires prompted by app at any given point of the day: 1) a movement-tracking; 2) mood-tracking; 3) and situational-mindfulness | Other | quant | Typical | ||||
49 | Mindfulness | Effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention for athletes | Jekauc | Humboldt University, Germany | Psychology | Randomized controlled trial: Athletes who underwent the Berlin Mindfulness-based Training for Athletes (BATL) displayed significant mindfulness improvements relative to a control group that underwent traditional psychological treatment. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aaeIoyJ-0ed6EZjQ6nv0MFxTrHUoLsOA/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | Wellbeing scale: the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale | Other | quant | Typical | ||||
50 | Mindfulness | Effects of mindfulness intervention on sports anxiety, pessimism, and flow in competitive cyclists | Scott-Hamilton | University of New England, Australia | Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing | Cyclists who underwent an 8-week mindfulness intervention reported experiencing enhanced mindfulness, greater flow states, and reduced sport-related pessimism. Effects of mindfulness were also positively associated with flow effects. | Intervention consisted of mindful spin-bike training (movement involvement) | https://drive.google.com/file/d/18r7YlvKfotZiR8hGFcCpjZG43XUYVo23/view?usp=drive_link | 2016 | Wellbeing scales | Other | quant | Typical | |||
51 | Mindfulness | Everybody was Kung-fu fighting: The beneficial effects of Tai Chi Qigong and self-defense Kung-fu training on psychological and endocrine health in middle aged and older men | Walther | University of Zurich, Switzerland | Complementary Therapies in Medicine | Kung Fu athletes who underwent mindfulness intervention self-reported increase in self-confidence and mindfulness, and a decrease in competitive anxiety. Objective stress markers (saliva) showed converging evidence (lower cortisol and alpha-amylase levels). | Marked as highly relevant because you might want to check out the use of saliva as a measurement of stress markers (cortisol and alpha-amylase). Mindfulness intervention included weekly home meditation and group-based Kungfu mindful sessions. Home meditation included yoga positions. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDeMLp-CCl2mkh02PdbHmDXb278yOnjm/view?usp=drive_link | 2010 | Wellbeing scales and saliva measurement | Other | quant | Typical | |||
52 | Mindful movement | The effects of mindfulness-based movement on parameters of stress | Robert-McComb | Texas Tech University | International Journal of Yoga Therapy | Women who participated in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) reported significant decrease in anxiety and perceived stress following eight weeks of training. Cortisol levels following an induced stressor returned to baseline levels more quickly in the intervention group relative to controls, but the effect was not statistically significant (most likely due to a small sample size). | Emphasis on Movement-Based Mindfulness training program; used blood draw to assess changes in stress via cortisol which is very valuable. Cortisol effects were not statistically significant (most likely due to small sample size) but the pattern was clearly present numerically and visually. A larger sample size would most likely reveal significant improvements on cortisol recovery. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/11UApYfjdebO-lg3PBvlSMofVVzTpSAN_/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | Objective (blood cortisol) and subjective measures of stress. Participants matched on baseline cortisol levels. Objective measure consisted of The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). | Other | quant | Typical | |||
53 | Mindfulness | Mindfulness of movement as a coping strategy in Multiple Sclerosis | Mills | None | General Hospital Psychiatry | Pilot study of patients with Multiple Sclerosis reported improvements with mindfulness intervention, whereas the control group showed a trend towards deterioration. | Intervention did not involve movement practices, but a lot of emphasis was placed on being mindful about movement considering the patient population. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jtRHDZblsuTG-_Q_6LEyo6rCCU5q5BZ7/view?usp=drive_link | 2000 | Symptom rating scale and an objective balance test consisting of timing the person's ability to stand on one leg. | Other | quant | Clinical | |||
54 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Cognitive effects of music and dance training in children | D'Souza | York University, Canada | Archives of Scientific Psychology | Examining the cognitive benefits of a short-term dance and musical program in children. No significant improvements were observed on the cognitive measures (attention, executive functions, memory) in either group. | This study is a null result and I have several criticisms of it, but it's good to be aware that these studies exist as they are coming from mainstream journals and respected researchers in mainstream psychology. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uYWvAJfK6vfppoXIT58U4Xaay--1jbKO/view?usp=drive_link | 2018 | Battery of cognitive/behavioral tasks | Music | quant | Typical | |||
55 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Effects of dance on cognitive function in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis | Hewston | Hamilton Health Sciences, Canada | Age and Ageing | A review and meta-analysis of 11 studies examining the cognitive benefits of dance on cognitive function in healthy and clinical older adults. Benefits seen for aspects of learning, memory, and executive function, but uncertainty for measures of language ability. | No specification on the type of dance | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QvXkSYrJE5MrnAcEJELvowtZpcA5caSN/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Battery of cognitive/behavioral tasks | Dance | quant | Mix | |||
56 | Prosocial behavior | Prosocial behavior increases perceptions of meaning in life | Klein | University of Chicago, US | The Journal of Positive Psychology | Three studies examining the role of prosocial behavior in meaning making. Greater time spent doing prosocial behaviors (community volunteering practices or spending money to benefit others) was associated with enhanced meaning. Self-worth seems to be an important mediating factor (those who spend money for others felt higher self-worth and esteem, which in turn predicted increased meaning). | Study 1 includes large dataset (The Baylor Religion Survey); Studies 2 and 3 are experimentally manipulated. A good way of integrating different sources of evidence. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UQPk5mVTqYT808j6fUQLd4PU49mqL3ms/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | Wellbeing scales | Interaction | quant | Typical | |||
57 | Prosocial behavior | The benefits of giving: Effects of prosocial behavior | Lazar | UCLA | Psychophysiology | Participants that engaged in a prosocial behavior (giving a gift card to someone they cared for) while recovering from experimentally induced stress showed significant reduced heart rate, blood/arterial pressure, and these effects were greater compared to participants who did not engage in prosocial behavior. | Published in a respected journal of experimental research. Worth noting that the pro-giving manipulation did not elicit significant differences in psychological or hormonal measures. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FEqMmqfmW_59jnuYz_zcyogzCJLGCj9r/view?usp=drive_link | 2021 | Included self-reported measures of mood, heart rate, blood pressure, salivary alpha-amylase, and cortisol | Interaction | quant | Typical | |||
58 | Prosocial behavior | The relation between trauma exposure and prosocial behavior | Frazier | University of Minnesota | Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy | In a large sample of undergraduate students, longterm and recent (collective and individual) trauma experiences were associated with greater prosocial behaviors. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1txYOsSkzFT5mCbIQrWCgaarJr3RTf5kF/view?usp=drive_link | 2013 | Wellbeing and distress scales; Trauma exposure questionnaire | Interaction | quant | Typical | ||||
59 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | A meta-synthesis of qualitative findings about Dance Movement Therapy for individuals with trauma | Levine | University of Southern California | Qualitative Health Research | Meta-synthesis from 9 qualitative studies yielded four major themes that are essential to movement therapy and trauma: (a) creating awareness of the mind–body connection; (b) increasing the range of movement (for the purpose of efficacy, empowerment, and reclaiming the body); (c) creating a new and healthy relationship with the self, therapist, or group through the movement process; and (d) creating a new and healthy relationship with movement. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vg0VUxjUvpWDOlE5dzwQSbIX5fWp8gM8/view?usp=drive_link | 2015 | N/A | Dance | qual | Typical | ||||
60 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Social justice in Dance Movement Therapy | Downey | Columbia College Chicago, US | American Journal of Dance Therapy | Perspective book adopting Balance Evan's dance therapy methods for healing trauma. Author adopts an empowerment perspective to movement therapy that is sensitive to the | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TA7DP0ZjRtUYmM6GmnhonumJmYz2agvo/view?usp=drive_link | 2022 | N/A | Dance | qual | Mix | ||||
61 | Trauma | Dance Movement Therapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress: A reference model | Dietrich-Hartwell | Drexel University, US | The Arts in Psychotherapy | Perspective piece that introduces the concept of interoception using a dance/movement therapy (DMT) application model and how it can help with trauma recovery. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nKf7Pqz0Z7M4vxQ-VYaj8ds3EoGqNjZ3/view?usp=drive_link | 2017 | N/A | Dance | qual | Typical | ||||
62 | Dance / Somatic Therapy | Dance as treatment for neurological disorders | Losing | Central Michigan University | Body, Movement, and Dance in Psychotherapy | Review paper that examines the role of dance programs in neurological/mood disorders. Dance has a lot of potential to be an effective intervention across a wide range of neurological diseases and disorders. | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oQe6Q0XRunCkgCHb1rkSVffJrUcYlMXt/view?usp=drive_link | 2016 | N/A | Dance | qual | Clinical | ||||
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