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How Does Ecstatic Dance Cause Depression?

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Dance has long been revered for its power to restore both body and mind. Through time and culture it has also reinforced the bonds of community and allowed us to uncover the deeper aspects of who we are as human beings. Dance has also been used as a manner of worship, celebration, story-telling and myth-making, and to celebrate important rites of passage (Berggren, 2005). Ecstatic Dance can simply be defined as a free-form style of dance inspired by music, allowing the body of the dancer to move freely without judgment or concern for the refinement or graphics aspect of the dance. It is gently facilitated with and dancers are invited to explore movement with particular areas of the body and to explore bigger themes as a whole through their …show more content…

It is a means of expressing oneself without any boundaries. In this paper, I will focus on the use of dance/movement therapy to deal with major depression, another term for clinical depression. Today, depression is believed to be one of the most common and distinctive mood disorders; yet, people continue to look at depression as a temporary psychological state of mind. People suffering from depression are either too embarrassed to talk about it or remain silent in the hope that someday the heavy load of disappointment and grief they bear will somehow disappear. It is important to understand, though, that depression is not a condition that people can successfully overcome themselves. Depression is a real medical disorder, like anorexia, epilepsy, and autism. It is strongly recommended that people who suffer from depression for long periods of time get professional help. To date, relatively few studies have focused on the effects of dance/movement therapy on people with depression. However, the results have pointed in a positive direction. The down-mood of patients seemed to improve on days they were in therapy as opposed to days they were not. Even if past studies have not closely examined the long-term effects of dance/movement therapy on depression, I have found a number of sources verifying its impact on the lives of people with major depression. I believe that if movement therapists, …show more content…

Shamanism is an ancient rehabilitating tradition and a way of living life. The word shaman came from the Tungus tribe of Siberia which means a priest, priestess, seer, healer and a creator who uses the art of magic for the purpose of curing the mind, the body and the soul; and to control certain events in their lives. Ecstatic dance is based on the principle of shamanism and this has been used for plenty of centuries as an approach to dream change. Shamans see and approach dreams as a way for life metamorphosis, to cure, and to be blessed with the guidance from higher levels of actuality as well as traveling from past, current and the

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