SynthesisEuropean journal of psychotraumatology2023
Impact of dance therapy on adults with psychological trauma: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of psychotraumatology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06027658 (Psychotherapeutic Care of Women Victims of Sexual Violence, Longitudinal Comparative Study and Therapeutic Evaluation of a Dance as Therapy Program), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Psychotherapeutic Care of Women Victims of Sexual Violence, Longitudinal Comparative Study and Therapeutic Evaluation of a Dance as Therapy Program
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dance-Based Interventions for Mental Health: A Comprehensive and Quality-Sensitive Umbrella Review of Definitions, Measurement Practices, and Evidence Fragmentation.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of dance on social physique anxiety and physical self-esteem among adults: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of dance movement therapy on traumatized refugee women - a clinical controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- Neuroscience-Informed Creative Group Therapy for Processing Trauma and Developing Resilience During Wartime.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- Creative ForcesFrontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Psychosocial outcomes of folk dance interventions compared with other dance forms: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The dual links of health literacy in driving exercise adherence: the interactive effects of emotional management ability and life satisfaction.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The impact of trauma and how to intervene: a narrative review of psychotraumatology over the past 15 years.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Minding the moving self: the centrality of body movement in the neurodynamics of the self and psychotherapeutic implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Dance-based interventions in clinical populations: not all are the same.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The impact of electronic health literacy on emotional management ability among college students: the mediating roles of peer relationships and exercise self-efficacy.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Dance/movement therapy as a holistic approach to diminish health discrepancies and promote wellness for people with schizophrenia: a review of the literature.F1000Research · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDance therapy is thought to improve mental and physical health by activating psychological and physiological processes such as motor coordination, and expression of emotions. Some currently used mind-body interventions for posttraumatic symptoms address both mental and physical health. Although some studies have evaluated the efficacy of dance therapy for posttraumatic symptoms, a systematic review of extant research has not been conducted.
objectivesTo identify the effects of dance therapy in adults with psychological trauma as well as the barriers and facilitators associated with its therapeutic use.
methodArticles published between 2000 and March 2023 have been selected with the help of six relevant keyword combinations applied on seven databases. Two reviewers independently screened 119 titles and abstracts against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Bias evaluation has been conducted with the help of the NIH study quality assessment tools and JBI's critical appraisal tools. A report of the results has been organized with the help of a thematic analysis.
resultsOf the 15 articles included, only one case study directly reports a diminution of pathognomonic symptoms of trauma. Other studies present improvements in the key aspects of trauma therapy: bodily sensations and perceptions, psychological processes, and interpersonal skills. These improvements depend on the stability of the intervention, the applied method (dance as therapy or dance/movement therapy), and likely, the skill set of the therapists. However, the reviewed studies lacked uniformity in assessments of adherence and its effect on therapeutic outcomes.
conclusionDance therapy may be a useful technique for improving both psychological and physiological symptoms associated with trauma exposure, such as avoidance and dissociative phenomena. To complement the results of this qualitative systematic review, further quantitative and qualitative research on the impact of dance therapy interventions as a trauma treatment should be conducted.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.