Dance-movement Therapy in the Treatment of Adolescent Depression

NCT07293806 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: HUS/391/2021
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 140
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

The aim of this research is to measure the effectiveness of Dance movement therapy in the treatment of adolescent depression.

Conditions

Depression

Keywords

adolescents; depression; therapy; dance; movement

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-21)

  The self-report questionnaire to assess depressive symptoms, minimum 0 points, maximum 63 points, more severe depression with higher scores

  baseline, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months

• Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-Core)

  The self- report questionnaire to measure depressive and overal symptoms in youth, minimum 0 points, maximum 40 points, or median of scores, higher scores indicating more symptoms

  baseline, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS)

  baseline, 12 weeks, 6 months

• Body Image assessment

  baseline, 12 weeks, 6 months

Study Arms (2)

Dance movement therapy

EXPERIMENTAL

A group of 5-6 patients is recieving Dance movement group therapy once a week for 12 weeks

Other: Dance movement therapy

Treatment as usual

NO INTERVENTION

Treatment as usual in youth psychiatric outpatient clinic

Interventions

Dance movement therapy OTHER

A group therapy model for treatment of depression by dance movement therapist. Study consist of 12 therapy sessions, each session lasting 1hour 15minutes. There will be 6 patients in each group.

Dance movement therapy

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Diagnosis of medium or severe depression; BDI 16 points or more. At least 4/9 symptoms of depression in K-SADS-PL interview

You may not qualify if:

• Acute psychosis, psychotic depression, personality disorder, severe anorexia, substance misuse that is on a critical level

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Helsinki University Central Hospital: lead
• Finnish Medical Foundation: collaborator
• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: collaborator
• University of Helsinki: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

Helsinki University Hospital

Helsinki, 00029, Finland

RECRUITING

Adolecent mental health services, Helsinki

Helsinki, 00099, Finland

RECRUITING

Related Publications (12)

• Hyvonen K, Pylvanainen P, Muotka J, Lappalainen R. The Effects of Dance Movement Therapy in the Treatment of Depression: A Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial in Finland. Front Psychol. 2020 Aug 12;11:1687. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01687. eCollection 2020.

  PMID: 32903394 BACKGROUND

• Cooney GM, Dwan K, Greig CA, Lawlor DA, Rimer J, Waugh FR, McMurdo M, Mead GE. Exercise for depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Sep 12;2013(9):CD004366. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6.

  PMID: 24026850 BACKGROUND

• BECK AT, WARD CH, MENDELSON M, MOCK J, ERBAUGH J. An inventory for measuring depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1961 Jun;4:561-71. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1961.01710120031004. No abstract available.

  PMID: 13688369 BACKGROUND

• Jeong YJ, Hong SC, Lee MS, Park MC, Kim YK, Suh CM. Dance movement therapy improves emotional responses and modulates neurohormones in adolescents with mild depression. Int J Neurosci. 2005 Dec;115(12):1711-20. doi: 10.1080/00207450590958574.

  PMID: 16287635 BACKGROUND

• Karkou V, Aithal S, Zubala A, Meekums B. Effectiveness of Dance Movement Therapy in the Treatment of Adults With Depression: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses. Front Psychol. 2019 May 3;10:936. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00936. eCollection 2019.

  PMID: 31130889 BACKGROUND

• Kaufman J, Birmaher B, Brent D, Rao U, Flynn C, Moreci P, Williamson D, Ryan N. Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL): initial reliability and validity data. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997 Jul;36(7):980-8. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199707000-00021.

  PMID: 9204677 BACKGROUND

• Koch SC, Riege RFF, Tisborn K, Biondo J, Martin L, Beelmann A. Effects of Dance Movement Therapy and Dance on Health-Related Psychological Outcomes. A Meta-Analysis Update. Front Psychol. 2019 Aug 20;10:1806. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01806. eCollection 2019.

  PMID: 31481910 BACKGROUND

• Millman LSM, Terhune DB, Hunter ECM, Orgs G. Towards a neurocognitive approach to dance movement therapy for mental health: A systematic review. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2021 Jan;28(1):24-38. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2490. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

  PMID: 32539160 BACKGROUND

• Radovic S, Gordon MS, Melvin GA. Should we recommend exercise to adolescents with depressive symptoms? A meta-analysis. J Paediatr Child Health. 2017 Mar;53(3):214-220. doi: 10.1111/jpc.13426. Epub 2017 Jan 10.

  PMID: 28070942 BACKGROUND

• Rohricht F, Papadopoulos N, Priebe S. An exploratory randomized controlled trial of body psychotherapy for patients with chronic depression. J Affect Disord. 2013 Oct;151(1):85-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.05.056. Epub 2013 Jun 14.

  PMID: 23769289 BACKGROUND

• Gergov V, Lahti J, Marttunen M, Lipsanen J, Evans C, Ranta K, Laitila A, Lindberg N. Psychometric properties of the Finnish version of the Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE) questionnaire. Nord J Psychiatry. 2017 May;71(4):250-255. doi: 10.1080/08039488.2016.1270352. Epub 2017 Jan 13.

  PMID: 28084134 BACKGROUND

• Revah-Levy A, Birmaher B, Gasquet I, Falissard B. The Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS): a validation study. BMC Psychiatry. 2007 Jan 12;7:2. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-7-2.

  PMID: 17222346 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Mauri Marttunen, Prof emer

  University of Helsinki

  STUDY CHAIR

• Henna Haravuori, Docent

  Finnish Institue for Health and Welfare

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Central Study Contacts

Riikka Valjakka, MD

CONTACT

+358445185156; riikka.valjakka@hus.fi

Elina Santti, PhD

CONTACT

+35894711; elina.santti@hus.fi

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: It is not possible to mask participants or care providers. No need for masking of investigator, since the primary outcome measures are self-reporting questionnaires
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Medical doctor

Model Details: Dance movement therapy group intervention (DMT) is compared with treatment as usual (TAU)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 29, 2022
• First Posted: December 19, 2025
• Study Start: October 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 30, 2027
• Last Updated: December 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

FI (2)