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parkinson's disease

study proves dancing reduces depression in people living with parkinson’s disease

as many as 50 per cent of people living with parkinson’s disease also have to contend with depression and/or anxiety.

by angelica bottaro

published jan 02, 2025

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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the results of this dance therapy study found that it can help improve depression scores because of how it activates the brain’s reward centres and changes neural pathways for the better. getty images

parkinson’s disease is a debilitating and progressive neurological condition that steals movement and cognitive abilities. along with the physical symptoms, including tremors, stiffness, and chronic pain, there is also a mental component to the disease. as many as 50 per cent of those with parkinson’s also have to contend with depression and/or anxiety. the current therapies for depression in parkinson’s disease, specifically, are typically lifestyle-based, including daily exercise, getting involved in support groups or one-on-one therapy, and practicing mindfulness. medications designed to treat depression may also be given to curb the symptoms of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of pleasure.

a new study published in the journal of medical intent shows that there’s another hopeful intervention when it comes to the mental health toll that people living with parkinson’s must cope with—dancing.

the study

the research was conducted by york university faculty of health associate professor joseph desouza, karolina bearrss, professor at algoma university, rebecca barnstaple, assistant professor of creative arts, health, and wellness at the university of guelph, and rachel bar, the director of research and health canada’s national ballet school.

they brought together 23 people with parkinson’s disease and 11 family members or caretakers to determine how each class affected the person with the disease, as well as how the benefits stacked up over time.

participants and caretakers in the study signed up for dance classes through the sharing dance parkinson’s program at canada’s national ballet school, with each participant attending one dance class per week for a total of eight months.

researchers wanted to investigate dance movements and their effects on depression and low mood in people living with parkinson’s disease from two standpoints: self-referrals and brain changes.

at the end of each class, the researchers measured mood changes and depression scores using the geriatric depression scale, a self-reported diagnostic tool for older adults. they also examined cellular changes in the brain through regular magnetic resonance imaging (mri) scans at york university.

to determine if brain changes occurred through the scans to improve their results, they focused on a specific brain node that is often implicated in depression, known as the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (scg).

the results

after the eight months had passed, researchers used the data collected to come to the conclusion that dancing can reduce depression in those living with parkinson’s disease, both through self-reports and mri imaging.

for self-reported scores, the participants were individually interviewed following each class to check their depression scores, which were found to be lower than prior to the class. what’s more, the more classes they attended, the less depressed they felt, showing a progressive improvement immediately following the class and over time.

the scans used to determine brain changes associated with depression found that signals in the area of the brain associated with emotional regulation were reduced. a smaller group of participants also showed in scans that there was a decrease in depression directly related to brain changes in the scg node.

“we essentially showed that scg bold [blood oxygen level-dependent] signal decreases while dancing over time. which means that the scg was not functioning as fast as it would if you had depression,” said karolina bearss in a news release published by science daily.

these changes showed similar results to the self-reported scores, with depression scores lowering gradually throughout the eight-month period as they attended more classes—results that are a world-first when it comes to the investigation of dance for parkinson’s disease therapy.

“it was very cool to see that dance had a positive effect on the mood circuits in the brain, which we could see in the imaging,” said desouza in a press release. “these improvements that we could see on mri brain scans were also reported by the participants via survey. our study is the first to demonstrate these benefits across these two detection methods.”

using dance as a complementary therapy for parkinson’s disease

both desouza and bearss have been studying dancing as a beneficial therapy for parkinson’s disease for years, with their most recent research investigating how it can help with motor control and other daily functions alongside mood and mental health.

the results of this dance therapy study found that it can help improve depression scores because of how it activates the brain’s reward centres and changes neural pathways for the better.

since it can also have a beneficial impact on motor and sensory circuits in the brain, according to desouza’s 14-year research dance program, it does more than just make people living with parkinson’s feel less depressed.

“we’re not trying to cure parkinson’s with dance,” said desouza in the press release. “what we’re trying to do is to have people live a better quality of life.”

angelica bottaro

angelica bottaro is the lead editor at healthing.ca, and has been content writing for over a decade, specializing in all things health. her goal as a health journalist is to bring awareness and information to people that they can use as an additional tool toward their own optimal health.

study proves dancing reduces depression in people living with parkinson’s disease

as many as 50 per cent of people living with parkinson’s disease also have to contend with depression and/or anxiety.

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study proves dancing reduces depression in people living with parkinson’s disease

as many as 50 per cent of people living with parkinson’s disease also have to contend with depression and/or anxiety.

the study

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