Original studyPsychreg Journal of Psychology, 2019Read the paper →
Referring dancers to mental health services, reducing stigma and labelling, and supporting injured dancers in body and mind were the questions put to a small 2019 discussion. So how can dancers get better mental health support? A 2019 focus group offers four themes from a one-hour session among 15 practitioners, performers, students, and academics.
In short, participants in the one-hour discussion wanted body and mind treated as one system, earlier teaching rather than help only at crisis, more openness about stigma and labelling, and clearer routes to assessment and recovery. The 2019 paper argues these themes can start a conversation about bridging research and practice. It does not claim to speak for all dancers.
The paper, by a researcher affiliated with the National Autistic Society and English National Ballet, was published in Psychreg Journal of Psychology. Fifteen health-related professional practitioners, professional performers, students, and academics in dance science, dance medicine, performing arts, and education took part in a one-hour session at a network event. The discussion was examined using a six-phase thematic analysis.
How can dancers get better mental health support?
The first theme from the group’s talk was promoting an understanding of physical and psychological strengths. The paper says body and mind are still treated as separate, the dancer’s body seen as a machine, with a gap between chronological and developmental age in young artists, and that preventive approaches might include acceptance, listening to body and mind, and assessment. A second theme, promoting integrative educational services, was that help is often sought only at crisis, teaching should begin in the formative years, parental involvement was thought more relevant at university level, and curricula lacked psychological knowledge.
The third theme was encouraging active engagement. Stigma and labelling came up, and the paper suggests better recognition after public elite sport figures shared experiences of depression; it also notes a conflict between perfectionism and recognising when support is needed, and points to open-access journals and social media as educational tools. The fourth theme, promoting relevant accessibility, pointed to a lack of specialist services for elite performance professionals and called for clearer pathways to assessment, a recovery programme, and monitoring, noting that transdisciplinary teams remain far from common practice.
The paper is a brief discussion piece that aims to open a conversation. It argues that academic knowledge too often sits in silos, with little or no effect in the real world, and that open-access journals and social media can aid dissemination.
Psychreg has also reported on how open access and social media can help sport psychology reach the public, on Latin dance classes linked to better body image and less social anxiety in female students, and on steady work linked to better well-being among Nepal’s performing artists. Each looks at performance, well-being, or research reaching the public.
The analysis rests on one hour of talk among 15 people, and the paper prints no participant quotations. Themes from the group’s talk should not be read as a picture of dancers, the dance world, or elite performers as a whole.
