Asha Pulliam

Professor Haley
Informative speech
Informative Speech: Dance Movement Therapy (DMT)

Specific Purpose Statement: By the speech my classmates will be able to explain dance
movement therapy process and its psychological benefits for those with little to mild and severe
health conditions.

Introduction:
Attention Getter: Everybody does it whether they like to admit it or not. Whether their alone,
with a partner, or hey even sometimes out in public. Dont be ashamed guys, even doctors say
its therapeutic. So next time you get the urge just go for it, theres nothing wrong with dancing! I
even found out not to long ago that there has been a whole form of therapy based around it called
Dance Movement Therapy.

Thesis Statement: Dance Movement Therapy is a form of therapy that allows people of all ages
with a variety of health conditions to cope or even improve their state of being.

Credibility Statement: During my previous psychology class I was introduced to this idea of
dance movement therapy. As a dancer myself, I immediately became interested and did further
research. I knew dancing made me feel good but never did I think it could impact someone in
such a major way.

Preview: Today I will share what dance movement therapy is and the psychological benefits for
people with little to mild and severe health conditions.
BODY:
I.

American Dance Therapy Association defines dance movement therapy as The

psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical and

social integration of the individual.
A. The DMT process typically has four main stages. They include
Preparation,
incubation, illumination, and evaluation.
1.The Preparation stage is when the participant first joins the class. The goal is to
have he/she start to warm up to the environment and feel safe.
2. The incubation stage is when the movement becomes somewhat natural and the
participant starts to let go of the conscious control of the movement.
3. The illumination stage is when the movements start to have a emotional
connection to the variety of situation
4. The final stage is Evaluation when the participant discusses the progress and
their feelings of the therapy.
B. The type of Dance performed in Dance movement therapy has a wide variety.
1.Modern dance is the most popular, because of the emotional connection and the
simplicity of the movement.
2. Other forms of dance are used in Dance Movement therapy which include Jazz,
Hip-hop, Yoga, Tango, and Ballroom.

Internal Summary/ Preview: Now that we have covered what dance movement therapy is lets
take a look at the Psychological and health benefits to those with little to mild health conditions.

II. Dance has been proven to help the psychological state of those with little to mild health
conditions.
A. Dance Movement Therapy is able to help with the many stressors
that come with being a teenage girl.
1. According to an article Dancing your stress away
on South Asian Post, A study was conducted of 112 girls between the ages
of 13-19 years old. Before the study there were reports of depression,
fatigue, headaches, and pain in the shoulders, neck, and back. The girls
were separated into two groups a group of 59 girls who meet twice a week
for nine months to dance and a group of 53 girls who did not change the
living habits. At the end of the study the results revealed that the girls who
were in the dance group felt that their self-esteem had increased.

B. Dance Movement therapy has also has been found to help with mild
depression Symptoms.
1. According to the article DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY IMPROVES
EMOTIONAL RESPONSES AND MODULATES NEUROHORMONES IN
ADOLESCENTS WITH MILD DEPRESSION. found in The International
Journal of Neuroscience, A study found that the adolescents that
participated in a Dance Movement Therapy class, the serotonin
concentration increased and dopamine concentration decreased which

leads them to believe DMT might be able to stabilize the sympathetic

nervous system.

Internal Summary/ Preview: Now that we have looked at some of the psychological benefits of
DMT with people with little to mild health conditions we are now going to take a look at the
benefits of DMT for those with severe health conditions.

III. Dance Movement Therapy has had a wide spread of psychological benefits for people with
severe health conditions in which it can help cope or even reduce the symptoms.
A. DMT has been found to be a very effective tool in helping children with autism.
1. According to the article "Relaxation Response-Based Yoga Improves
Functioning In Young Children With Autism: A Pilot Study. from the Journal Of
Alternative & Complementary Medicine, A study was conducted with 24 children
aged 3-16 years old that were diagnosed autistic. They entered a multi-subject
class that focused on yoga, dance, and music. After the eight week period the
children were assessed by The Behavioral Assessment System for Children. The
study found that the were significant results in treating behavioral and some core
features of autism.

B. Dance Movement Therapy can also help people cope with their health conditions by
expressing themselves.
1. The video I'm about to show you is showing how adults with Parkinson's feel
about Dance Movement Therapy .

2. (shows video)

CONCLUSION:
Review: To review what we have learned today, Dance Movement Therapy is the
psychotherapeutic use of movement that can help emotionally, cognitively, physically and
socially. This particular has been studied and found to help with an variety of health conditions
from a teenage girls self esteem to adults coping with Parkinson's Disease.

Restate Thesis: Dance Movement therapy allows people of all ages to cope or solve their health
condition.
Tie to Attention Getter: Dancing is natural, and everyone does it and now it can even improve
our health and thinking.