Living with Depression: A Dance/Movement Therapy Moment

Before words, women living with depression use dance/movement therapy to express what is not yet ready to be spoken. In movement, they find glimmers of connection as they let their bodies speak what needs to be heard.
Lenya Treewater, MA, BC-DMT has been a dance/movement therapist in the Pacific Northwest for over 30 years. After completing her training at the State University of New York at Brockport (Dance, Psychology) and at Antioch New England Graduate School (Masters in Dance Movement Therapy) Lenya moved to Oregon. As DMT had little presence in the Pacific NW, Lenya helped to found the Oregon Study Group, which continues to be a strong network of Oregon therapists. She worked mainly with mental health populations in various settings until she moved to Seattle and focused her work on the elderly. Lenya has been active in the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), both through participation in national committees of the ADTA, and also in mentoring/supervising students in the Alternate Route toward credentialing. She now serves as the Treasurer of the Washington Chapter of the ADTA, and recently became a member of the Education Subcommittee, Alternate Route credentialing standards.
To learn more about dance/movement therapy, visit www.adta.org.

[@kaelieosorio3167]

This video shows an example of how dance/movement therapy can be a system of support for a group of people. It is so incredible that the woman talked about in this video were able to feel safe and comfortable enough express and let go of bottled up feelings. Mirroring is proof that empathy can be felt through movement. Movement is so beneficial as it has the power to heal and connect people together through dance/movement therapy.

[@emmanuelmadera7566]

The power of nonverbal communication truly amazes me. This testimony reminded me of the small dance therapy session we had in the last class. When Lora first told us to push outward, I also felt this need or expectation to grab something outside of myself. In class I associated it with the desire for physical contact. Yet, I didn't know that at the time, it was just an instinct. A message coming from my body. That is the beauty of nonverbal communication, our bodies don't lie. They know the truth before our minds can even understand it.

[@danijelafechushak767]

This story really expresses how dance movement therapy allows further expression of emotions by the individual and those around them. Amazing talk!

[@israelhenry4601]

Thank you for being so vulnerable with your own feelings to help others feeling down. The idea of a warm up starting with externalizing movement to access inner feelings. It only takes one person who is willing to step outside of themselves and connect with someone else.

[@natashagyulnazaryan2939]

This is a perfect example of how our bodies can hold what we need to heal. A major possible component to depression is a lack of drive/desire for favored experience and life. The fact that this individual began to grab in the sagittal plane is so powerful because it is really a movement that generates/shows a desire for something. Lenya then begins to take on this movement out of curiosity and the other participants begin to follow along as well. This action was then explored and used to help them find something they are yearning and reaching for.

[@jakegarvey9751]

DMT allows people to express how they feel without doing it verbally. Sometimes it is difficult to get yourself to speak your mind, but the external expression of the internal feelings is still necessary. Great talk!

[@carolynpdao]

Dr. Treewater is so empathetic and intuitive to her clients' needs. A lot of times, people who are living with depression aren't able to identify their feelings, much less verbalize what they are. To see that dance/movement therapy has the ability to bring those unconscious thoughts to the forefront without the client even knowing what it is she's feeling is an amazing thing to hear about. It must have been wonderful for these women to experience kinetic empathy and be able to connect with one another in a time when they're searching for ways to heal. I'm excited to see what's in store for dance/movement therapy in the future as its applications seem to be constantly growing.

[@recreationtherapy8431]

Thank you Lenya Treewater for sharing your experience with depression. I've learned that dance therapy can help depression in many ways. Moving our bodies can show what can not be seen with words. Non-verbal communication with body movements gives a more in-depth feeling of what a person might be going through from the inside. the movement of reaching out with your arms is so powerful it can make you feel your soundings and even the people around you. It was amazing hearing that you been a dance/movement therapist for over 30 years.

[@adimeraz451]

I loved how the therapist let the movement speak and allowed every single person to connect to this feeling this one individual was feeling. They are clearly in the same room, because they have something in common but through different stories and clearly that movement would mean something different yet similar to every single person there. Seeing emotions being expressed through move to is truly beautiful.

[@laurasinger]

I am considering a career as a dance movement therapist and this story moved me to tears. Thank you.

[@laurenbenefield7304]

Lenya Treewater discusses one of group sessions while she was still an intern, with a group of depressed and suicidal women. While the session began out as stretching in different directions, she noticed that one woman was reaching out to something in front of her. As Lenya Treewater mirrored the movement to feel for herself, she noticed each of the women was reaching out to something in front of them. I believe that this really exemplifies the way our nonverbal behaviors can communicate what we are really feeling inside. Each one of those women most likely were there due to different reasons, they all had the desire to reach for something that was out in front of them. The other women most likely also started mirroring both Lenya and the first woman, but all had their own personal story for what they wanted to reach towards. I also appreciated that Lenya chose not to try to analyze what it all could mean and instead let them all just take in what the nonverbal was telling them.

[@minhanhnguyen1095]

The patients had no contact at first, but the therapist started with three few simple movements to warm up the body in order to connect the women in the room. Most of them started to notice their surroundings and be aware of the environment. Once they started to mirror the other woman's movement, they felt something connected them through that one simple movement. By doing this, they could feel how the other people felt without having any verbal communication. The action said it all, there was no word needed.

[@kellyc791]

I think Lenya's story about her experience with a group of women suffering from depression is a great example of how nonverbal communication relates back to dance/movement therapy. Nobody in the group would make eye contact and the overall feeling felt sad and defeated, so Lenya decided to do a full boy movement stretching warm-up to try and energize them. Through doing these stretches, she saw a woman that looked like she was reaching for something and the whole group started to mirror it. This showed that each woman in the group was going through something and it made everyone in the group feel less alone and led them to be more open in future sessions. The connection between nonverbal communication and dance/movement therapy was when all of the women were reaching for something during that warmup exercise and the various meanings that it had to each woman. This video helped me understand how dance/movement therapy can be used in a group setting with those who are suffering from depression and the impact of that. Thank you for sharing your story.

[@esmeraldaperez9028]

Lenya Treewater is a DMT that explained how dance movement therapy has helped coping with depression. The subject of depression hits home and I was fascinated througout the video learning of different ways our body can relieve the agonizing pain/situation each indicidual is going through. The therapist explained how much of a positive outcome it had on the women. It is incredible to see how much of an impact it can create in our bodies nonverbally and also emotionally. Depression is a long battle to recover from and DMT is an amazing way to get through it.

[@javierrosales9857]

It was extremely interesting to learn how the Dance Movement Therapist describes the three planes of movement and how they each served a purpose. For example, the warm-up would target movement and stimulation in not only the body, but the heart and brain as well. When the therapist told everyone to reach out to grab something, I followed along which brought me a level of comfort. One of the things that made a lot of sense was that when the crowd was reaching out and getting an imaginary grasp of something it was as they were reaching for information that they had hidden deep inside.

[@alexismcguire282]

This video describes how movement directly correlates with depression. One woman did a movement that showcased her reaching for something, which resulted in the other women mirroring her movement. As Lenya Treewater describes it, the truth came out in their movements. In the following sessions, they were able to understand what the movement meant to each of the women, and uncover perhaps what each of them was reaching for. It's amazing to see how movement can connect us to one another. Lenya Treewater and the rest of the women were able to empathize with the one woman, and even discover what they were feeling subconsciously as well. This was a very powerful video.

[@ghalea.mshnnaty6535]

I never realized that simple movements can really express what sometimes words can. The therapist was able to feel the low energy in the room and was able to identify a source through simple movements rather than words. This goes to further show us how verbal communication might not be the only/best way to express how we feel or what are we trying to express.

[@tarahadley5951]

This presentation explores the impact of dance movement therapy on depression and loneliness. The therapist initially noticed that a group of women exhibited feelings of shame and isolation. In order to address this, she devised a warm-up activity to uplift their spirits and invigorate their bodies. What caught my attention was her utilization of the three planes of movement to assess the developmental stage of each individual, fostering a deeper connection with oneself and others. It is truly fascinating how simply mirroring another person can generate empathy and foster a profound sense of connection.

[@isabellafarris]

I liked how this video talked about learning to be comfortable with sharing their emotions through dance movement therapy and the expression of it. This concept relates to non-verbal communication because the outcomes are the same. I liked how the significance of group warmups and teamwork was talked about in this video. I have experienced this as well with a class I have taken. If everyone in the room is doing the same moves and the same thing, it makes the environment more comfortable, it breaks the ice, and it allows for expression

[@leslierojas2030]

This video showed the importance of mirroring someone and how it can help better understand that person's situation and feelings. Treewater explained how the room was full of shame and pain. She explained how she was going to start the room with a warmup to energize their bodies, but instead, she ended up mirroring someone who was reaching with her arms. The nonverbal movement helped these women understand what they were reaching for. This form of nonverbal therapy helped all the women in the room understand their inner feelings.

[@jonathandiep.]

Such a phenomenal talk that DMT therapist Lenya Treewater had done with her patients, as genuinely using only nonverbal movements to allow these patients to feel connected. As learned in class, this shows how powerful nonverbal communication can be positively influential in mirroring each other, which allowed them to feel the empathy and connectedness that these depressed patients need. Ultimately, this will enable them to feel connected without speaking to one another or maintaining eye contact by simply following the three plains of movement therapy that Treewater had performed to allow them to open up without saying a word which I found interesting. Thank you for this excellent talk! :)

[@jewellcurtiss]

This video was very interesting because it gave this sense of connection. Connection to self, to others, to emotions, feelings and anything else of that sort. I liked the fact that rather beginning with a “lecture” or “motivational speech” to get them thinking, she started with a warmup. A warmup that utilized, purely, the body. When we’re able to allow our body to speak for us, it becomes a bit easier to sort through whatever issues we’re currently facing. I loved how she stated that they were all “reaching for their own something”. It connected them together by doing the same movement, but also connected themselves individually by having their own particular goals in mind. This exercise is very impactful because oftentimes we aren’t ready to verbalize what it is that we’re battling. Being able to use movement as a way of communicating and responding allows us to take things slow, gradually getting us to a point that feels manageable.

[@jordynf.1671]

I really enjoyed this video because it gave a little bit of insight into how movement through dance/movement therapy can express a feeling before a person even knows what they are trying to say. Although the women in the group didn't verbally express what they were feeling, through their movement they were communicating that they were reaching out for something. And with this initial movement and expression, they were able to eventual find what it was that they were all reaching for.

[@alyssanelson2924]

We are consistently reminded that body and mind are closely connected. Every physical sensation has a cordinating emotional experience. If we perform a movement, our mind will interpret an emotional experience. By just reaching out in front of themselves, these patients were reaching for something, help, anything. We oftentimes will perform a physical experience without even consciously thinking about it. This video is instilling further the concept of how closely our mind and body are connected.

[@sofieborup5551]

It was very inspiring to hear how the atmosphere changed within a short amount of time by mirroring each other's movements. The atmosphere went from being depressed to an honest moment where a group of women where reaching out for something unknown. It is amazing to hear what dance therapy can do.

[@ethantaylor5234]

sometimes reaching out is all that people need to be able to open up and discuss with one another! Thanks for sharing this story!

[@TheBesttify]

Yes! Definitely couldn’t agree more. Reaching out is always one of the very first steps into healing.

[@jxcwlyn]

Leyna discussed the warm-up exercises she used to help women cultivate positivity within themselves. She connected these exercises to nonverbal communication, explaining that stretching upwards signifies "here I am," stretching to the side indicates looking around, and stretching forward signifies moving out or going somewhere. Our body movements can communicate our feelings or intentions without words. Our bodies allow us to express what our thoughts cannot. Dance movement therapy enables us to release emotions that we may not even be consciously aware of holding. Expressing ourselves through movement is simpler than using words because our bodies accurately convey our feelings.

[@sarlaz6623]

I always find it so intriguing that analyzing the different elements of nonverbal communication in a group can tell you more about how they are actually feeling than with actual verbal communication. Dance movement intern (at the time), Lenya Treewater, knew that her patients felt low because as she walked in, she noticed that the women were neither looking at her or at each other. Though she led her patients in a small warm up, reaching their arms in all directions, she could tell that one woman beside her was expressing a message through her deliberate movements, reaching forward. You could get the sense that she was reaching for hope; hope that there is something better for her than feeling pain and shame, but that she would have to reach for it. As the other women mirrored her movements, Treewater understood that by mirroring the woman's movements they all began to encapsulate the idea that they could all get out of the deep, dark hole of depression.

[@seyennaboegel3772]

Thank you for sharing this DMT moment with us. How incredible it is to see movement speak, and seeing the process of how they discover themselves in their bodies through this nonverbal communication. Movement is powerful, and it is amazing how we can express what we do not know yet though movement. I am amazed by the work you do. Thank you again.

[@VanVu-nh6lw]

The truth about what a person is going through is usually internal, particularly for people with depression. The silence and internal thoughts or emotional chaos might worsen a person’s depressive state, unless one finds a way of releasing the chaotic thoughts. Lee Treewater indicates that she had to find a way to help her patients to release such thoughts, which was through dance and movement therapy. The story about her experience as an intern proves that a therapist’s nonverbal response to a client, in addition to the implementation of DMT, can be effective in providing needed assistance.

[@mayradeleon9645]

I really loved the way she expressed her first experience with her first patients. It was so fascinationg to hear how she connected the way the patients had no nonverbal communication in the first parts of the therapy. They had no eye contact at all making those patients feel disconnected from the room, and the environment. I thought that the warm up was really interesting because she used three different things that helped the patients be more aware cognitively with themselves and where the are, the people who surround eachother and also their goals or the people they might want to see. It's great to see how she used a concious and unconcious moment. When she said that it didn't matter what it was, and that it was enough to let the movement be, it showed that the body doesn't lie and even though this patients didnt feel comfortable to talk and share, their body and movements spoke for themselves without any verbal communication. This entire therapy session, relied on the therapist nonverbally observing the way the patients reacted and felt through the movements alone, which sounds extremely beautiful and liberated. -Mayra D.

[@jingzhang3698]

This video shows a dance or movement therapy moment in living with depression. All of patients from this group to treat is women in the room to get some simple movements with body. They doing some warm up with dance therapist to make some develop with their relationship. In addition, some women have some deep depression from their mind, they just through the body movement to release it. I really like this video that shows people get some good treatment from dance therapy .

[@AnaRawrz]

I really enjoyed this video because it gave the perfect description of when a person’s light dims it can be difficult to recover and understand and make others understand what you are feeling. The session took a powerful turn when her Client began the reaching out movement and everyone followed. The room full of pain and shame expressed a sense of emptiness and wanting to reach out for something, that something they are missing. The movement transcends to express emotion.

[@kellyfreet351]

The undercurrent of subconscious emotions that can be brought up through movement is clearly evident in this video. When one of the patients took the movement and added her own meaning and interpretation to it, the grasping motion was clearly indicating that she was reaching for something that she did not have at that moment. It was also extremely moving to hear that all of the other women in the room unknowingly started performing that motion. This just goes to show the information we can glean from others non-verbals, as well as our own. Lenya Treewater's mirroring of the woman's movement efforts also showed how she could attain body empathy and really feel what the women were feeling. It is also important and interesting to note that the other women subconsciously started mirroring the woman performing the reaching and grasping motion!

[@estefanialopez4620]

Lenya Treewater explains her experience with a group of women who suffered through a lot of depression. She explains how when she first walked in the room she felt all the pain those women felt. This was transmitted by their nonverbals. The women were quiet and they were avoiding eye contact all the time. Treewater thought it was best to start with a warm up in order to warm all of the ladies' hearts. Now, I know why my professor would always start class with a really pumped up warm up. The warm up helped the ladies do a movement to reach forward and there Treewater was able to see that the women had connected their body and their mind and were reaching for something unknown.

[@tube2746]

It was very useful Lenya Treewater went back to the beginning of her experiment of a dance/movement therapy moment. In addition, she explained as feeling of depression how the feeling affects to the therapy. From the begging, she absolutely started with warm up. Stretched up and side to see who were around them. Her experiences was also easy to reach and agree to allow into my experience. The movement she did was maybe mirroring which I did in my DANC class. She followed what other women did with the motion of grabbing something. She mentioned it is non necessary to speak some word, just let it be with quite moment. I think the activity was what we desired for nonverbal communication. Now people could understand their body speaking and how to reach to get an idea for movement therapy. Of course what I could do understand as well.

[@nataliepeart7204]

Interesting to think about warm up in the way she describes- something I will definitely work to incorporate in my own practice and classes. I've always noticed that one or few people that are doing something different during warm up or class- I never thought to put it in my own body and feel some meaning behind it. DMT has really opened my eyes and heart to explore new ideas and feelings, I'm so grateful for the knowledge of even the slightest things I know about it. Depression gives a feeling of loneliness and these women were able to connect through one movement giving them individual, authentic non verbal voices.

[@KaitlynnChavez]

This use of mirroing in dance-movement therapy allowed all participants to understand and empathize with the feelings addressed with each movement. The women reaching in the group was able to heard by the other participants mirroring her.

[@Randomvideoposter00]

In the video, Lenya Treewater shows that simply moving without uttering a word can still result in a movement so powerful, it can speak to the person who mirror the movement. Depression is a prevalent issue in our society even though a lot of people are ignorant about it. People with depression shouldn't be ridiculed or bashed for being depressed, rather, they should be helped and supported. It's important to raise the awareness and help the victims of depression by providing solutions like DMT.

[@alejandrajuarezrojas4395]

I really like how dance therapy can just naturally develop without any guidance aside from wanting to improve. I really liked how she uses the example of having the patients reach as a metaphor for them reaching out for something better, to better themselves. I like the fact that even though each person lies on a different point on the depression scale everyone still leaves this activity with something gained. As a person that unfortunately suffers from depression, I think I would really benefit from something like this because when I am going through hard phases I feel as if im alone and have no one understand me. But when these women start to mirror each other it in a way empowers them because it symbolizes that they are not alone in this journey.

[@SkipperYellowLab]

To understand what it felt like, I also mirrored the movement when Dr. Treewater invited us to, and I immediately understood. I was reaching for my future. I was reaching for something that I could only barely see, something just out of reach. And I remembered feeling that desperation within the depths of my own depressive spirals, my own suicidal thoughts. In those moments, I remembered metaphorically reaching out for help, grasping at what I imagined was a rope, praying that someone could pull me out of the pit I'd fallen into. Wondering if anyone cared enough to reach back for me. I might not be a movement therapist, but coming from a place of depression and having been in an inpatient psychiatric hospital, I know the feeling of reaching out for help very well. Sometimes we want help, but we don't know what words to use, or don't know how to ask, or even what to ask for. We just reach out blindly, looking for someone who would be willing to reach back. I can only imagine how powerful these DMT sessions with Dr. Treewater were for those patients, to finally feel seen, and to have a therapist there to help them work through their emotions and silent pleas for help.

[@jamesarndt3008]

I really like how dance therapy can sometimes just organically develop without any guidance. In this situation, I really like how she uses the example of having the patients reach to be a metaphor for the work they were trying to accomplish in the group. An interesting thing about depression is that every person can become depressed for different reasons, live with depression differently, and find solace and "treatment in different ways with different outcomes. In DMT specifically, it seem that people can often do the same activity together, but have vastly different experiences of it.

[@aileen_lai]

It is always not easy for mentally suffered females to explicitly tell others their stories. Therefore, it is relatively difficult for them to cure the negativity within their mind as well as receive help from others. As an expert of dance/movement therapy, Lenya Treewater simply launches a full body warm-up activity in a group of the circle shape and observes clients' nonverbal behaviors. She finds out that the movements did energize their body and revealed those female's intention of the desire of something intangible or tangible. By mirroring the different movements of trying to reaching forward, Treewater tried to understand the emotional status of these clients. She concluded that the movements were displayed before they actually spoke out for themselves. Therefore, nonverbal behaviors can communicate more directly about how those females really feel about themselves and their surrounding. Also, the nonverbal communication way provided patients with a sense of privacy and secure about their emotion since they understand that not everyone can read their mind and their emotions. They can express themselves more freely.

[@TheBesttify]

I love the emphasis on reaching, although it may be unknown. I found myself guessing what they could be reaching for, and i came up with endless possibilities. And I thought of what I could possibly be reaching for if i was there in the room with them and I started to do the movement myself! and as I was doing the movement, the thought of reaching for happiness came to me :) It was definitely very heart warming! Thank you Lenya for a great story!

[@camilleromero8057]

This video discusses dance/movement therapy and its effects on depression and loneliness. The therapist first observed her group of women feeling a sense of shame and loneliness then attempting to identify the best approach to take. she decided to do a warm up to hopefully warm their hearts and bodies up. I found it interesting she used to the three plains of movement to asses where each person was developmentally. Getting in touch with your inner self and others around you. It is incredibly interesting how just mirroring someone you so much empathy and connection with one another.

[@gabrielladiliani7194]

WOW. This video is extremely powerful. First I would like to bring attention to the act of "mirroring" as she explained, she did so to understand how it felt in her own body mirroring another woman. As she continued her session and she saw all the women reaching out for something, regardless what it was I think in that moment as audience members we are able to understand how far certain moves or gestures can affect us. With just one movement, there was a connection with the body movement and a special memory. In this case the women were living with depression, but how phenomenal that they can all heal together by simply doing one movement and it spoke volume. I didn't even realize that moving my arms side to side, as well as up and down communicated something to others and myself. I really enjoyed this video and am very happy to see women empower ing one another in such a way.

[@joelyarde9883]

I am really glad that you shared this because there have been many cases of some women feeling depression and its hard to find ways to come out of that depression. As you mention about the women reaching for something as it is yet unknown, could it mean that they are seeking happiness or a certain truth? In my class, it was mentioned that many young women are depressed about their bodies at a young age, perhaps was some of these women reaching for acceptance? Overall, I am glad that you shared your experience in interning with these women to seek for their own desires. Non-verbal communication continues to amaze me in how much it is helping the lives of individuals.

[@rekil412]

The therapist has to treat a group of women suffering from similar problem. Therapist notice no body would look at each other this could be the sign of negative body image. Then, she started to having people warm-up. When therapist notice someone's reach movement. Everyone started to 'Mirroring' her movement, this is fascinating the group of women start to speak non-verbally. The group of women communicate non-verbally, They share their empathy through 'Mirroring'. The body don't lie or hide people's feelings, it share their expressions and bond people together.

[@Aero707]

The women described in the video suffered with depression. They communicated this nonverbally by not looking at the therapist. As the therapist mirrored the woman next to her, she began to notice and feel this group of women. She reached and grabbed for that something that all of them began to reach and grab for. When it comes to depression, you feel like you’re running a race you can’t win. You feel like there’s no way to escape it, but, deep down inside, there resides even a small sliver of you that believes that there is a way out. That’s possibly why that woman expressed that movement in that manner. It’s a reflection of the subconscious coming forth and showing what it has hidden