Movement can influence the nervous system, emotion and psychological regulation, but Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) and therapeutic dance are not the same practice.
The article describes DMT as a formal psychotherapy discipline in which movement is used as a clinical intervention. Practitioners require specialist education, supervised clinical practice and professional ethics, and treatment is guided by therapeutic goals and assessment.
Therapeutic dance, by contrast, can include many forms of dance and creative movement that naturally support enjoyment, expression, relaxation and social connection without being psychotherapy or requiring a clinical treatment plan.
The distinction is therefore not whether movement can feel therapeutic, but the purpose, professional responsibility, assessment process and clinical relationship in which it is used.
