Integrating dance therapy into treatment

For several years after dance therapy was introduced at Yale Psychiatric Institute in 1967, patients perceived it as an activity totally separate from their treatment program. The author describes changes in hospital procedure and in the structure of the dance groups that helped alter that perception. They include involving the patient's treatment team in the selection of activities; establishing groups in which membership is fairly constant, thus increasing the likelihood of interpersonal interaction; and setting aside ten or 15 minutes at the end of each dance session for discussion of the feelings evoked. The author says the changes have clarified values and goals within the dance therapy groups.