Tango as a cure for depression

[piimapoika]

Last week, during the Tangomarkkinat in Finland, a seminar was held on "Tango, dance, and health". One of the claims was that tango alleviates depression. Considering how miserable most Argentine and Finnish tango lyrics are, this sounds a bit unlikely. Still, I suppose the music and the closeness of your partner counteracts the words.

 

[nucat78]

Did they distinguish between situational and clinical depression?

 

[Kipling]

I think this is a subject worth exploring. I take some medications for low-grade depression and anxiety. I would like to cut back on them. I wonder if dancing, and all that goes along with it, could take the place of some of the medications. I would like to think so. My psychiatrist used to love to dance, I will ask her what she thinks.

This kind of ties together with a post on another thread about being prescribed an anti-anxiety medication after blowing a dance practice. It seems to me that dance practice could be a low-stakes rehearsal for other social stress where the stakes a bit higher-- on the job, for example. If you can handle the stress of a dance practice, you might be better inoculated to handle other social stresses.

I think dancing can be a positive addiction.

 

[BreAna]

Well, dance is exercise, so endorphins are released which make one happy. Also, the nature of partner dancing encourages an emotional connection to whomever one is dancing with. People define themselves by how they react with others. By interacting with another person, one has a clearer definition of oneself (depressed people often feel lost and empty, so the trust required by partner dancing would help to alleviate those feelings, or lack there of if one is emotionally "numb" and shut down). Furthermore, any form of dance is a form of emotional expression. Expressing emotions is extremely important for the brain to process them and for one to deal with them.

I think an even larger component here is not just the action of dancing itself, but whom one is dancing with. Connecting to and being supported by other people is what can really aid in getting through depression.

 

[Kipling]

BreAna, I think you are so right. The time in college when I had depression the worst, I thought I was an outcast and felt almost incapable of communicating with other people. If I could have experienced through dance that I was acceptable, I think it would have gone a long way towards solving my problem. My fear of the depression, more than the depression itself, isolated me from any community.

 

[quixotedlm]

I think this is a subject worth exploring. I take some medications for low-grade depression and anxiety.

if you have dysthymia characterized by anhedonia, don't scale back on meds unless you have observable improvements through dancing. tango especially is unlikely to be a quick-fix - it's a tough dance, and takes a while for a new dancer to be embraced by tango communities in many places. there are other easier dances that will offer a person quicker learning and integration into the community - thereby providing significant social interactions, friendships etc.

also dancing in general can provide easy access to the good habits that help with the fight against depression, but meds like SSRI's help you at a neurochemical level - postive experiences and meds complement one another - they are not exactly interchageable.

 

[fourand1]

Tango, or any other form of dance, may very well help to alleviate depression, but in the one real case of depression that I had witnessed, the afflicted person stubbornly resisted all attempts of friends and loved ones to get him to do anything at all. It was professional help and prescribed medication that brought him out of it, and now that he has resumed his normal activities, he still will not dance (never did).

 

[itsthisgirl]

Well to begin with any dance form is a cure for depression (until the teacher walks away from you claiming you are untrainable for the day). The point is it gets you moving around, you are in the present instead of mental still back at your problem times. Its a physical activity. People are often depressed and fall into that hole and do nothing but sit there and wollow in their pitty party...dancing creates movement and expression. Many dancers "dance it out" when they've had a bad day. I've been known to go into my room after a break up, blast alanis morrisette (the old angry stuff) and dance it out, i come out and i'm g2g from there. PLUS as its been shown physical activity is a stress reliever, and depression usually stems from some form of life stressor.

 

[latingal]

Welcome to DF BreAna!

 

[Kipling]

BreAna, you are very wise for someone so young!

From Purr, in another thread:

"I had a nice compliment from someone during last week's dance party...she said I love watching you dance tango...it's so dramatic....

I always thought tango was a good way of getting rid of any latent hostility I might be carrying around..."

I think I have found a good reason to learn to tango!!

 

[freeageless]

Well, dance is exercise, so endorphins are released which make one happy. Also, the nature of partner dancing encourages an emotional connection to whomever one is dancing with. People define themselves by how they react with others. By interacting with another person, one has a clearer definition of oneself (depressed people often feel lost and empty, so the trust required by partner dancing would help to alleviate those feelings, or lack there of if one is emotionally "numb" and shut down). Furthermore, any form of dance is a form of emotional expression. Expressing emotions is extremely important for the brain to process them and for one to deal with them.

I think an even larger component here is not just the action of dancing itself, but whom one is dancing with. Connecting to and being supported by other people is what can really aid in getting through depression.

BreAna, I completely agree, and concur in welcoming you to Dance Forum.

 

[freeageless]

I think this is a subject worth exploring. I take some medications for low-grade depression and anxiety. I would like to cut back on them. I wonder if dancing, and all that goes along with it, could take the place of some of the medications. I would like to think so. My psychiatrist used to love to dance, I will ask her what she thinks.

This kind of ties together with a post on another thread about being prescribed an anti-anxiety medication after blowing a dance practice. It seems to me that dance practice could be a low-stakes rehearsal for other social stress where the stakes a bit higher-- on the job, for example. If you can handle the stress of a dance practice, you might be better inoculated to handle other social stresses.

I think dancing can be a positive addiction.

Kipling, I was the one who was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, "after
blowing a dance practice." I will take one as the doctor stated before the next group dance lesson and let you know how it goes.

 

[danceronice]

if you have dysthymia characterized by anhedonia, don't scale back on meds unless you have observable improvements through dancing. tango especially is unlikely to be a quick-fix - it's a tough dance, and takes a while for a new dancer to be embraced by tango communities in many places. there are other easier dances that will offer a person quicker learning and integration into the community - thereby providing significant social interactions, friendships etc.

also dancing in general can provide easy access to the good habits that help with the fight against depression, but meds like SSRI's help you at a neurochemical level - postive experiences and meds complement one another - they are not exactly interchageable.

Isn't anhedonia, especially sexual, a potential SSRI side effect? I quit Paxil and then Celexa because while I wasn't sad-depressed, they killed anything resembling creativity and sexuality.

In any case, though, yeah, don't stop taking meds cold turkey unless you're told by a doctor you can.

 

[samina]

dance in general has been used as an anti-depressant by more than one person i know. aside from the endorphins, partner dancing thrives on *connection*, which can be a temporary antidote to feelings of alienation, and the movement can move one out of stuck emotions and into a feeling of joy & vitality.

i have known some dancers who need to "get their fix" on a regular basis for its emotional benefits, and who are prone to depression otherwise. whatever their fave dance is, that will do. not just tango.

 

[Kipling]

Kipling, I was the one who was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, "after
blowing a dance practice." I will take one as the doctor stated before the next group dance lesson and let you know how it goes.

Be careful. There are some of those medications that I like too much for my own good. They are tempting.