Overcoming the Social Stigma on Mood Disorders with Dancing.

In our society, the social stigma against people who suffer from mood disorders is a very powerful factor that negatively affects the healing of patient. He is often isolated from the others for the fear of being judged "fool, crazy or dangerous" or discriminated and emarginated for his mental health problem. For this reason, a cornerstone of mood disorder rehabilitation is the bringing out of the patient from his isolation, the reintegration of the user in the social context with the increase and the improvement in the quality of interpersonal relationships in the family and in the external context. The method used in our project is the dance-therapy one. In particular dancing the "Bachata" becomes a rehabilitation tool to express emotions through the body and to open to the world, on the territory, overcoming the fear of being judged by others, and of the prejudice and the social stigma about mental illness. The strength and cohesion of the rehabilitation group has given to the patients the opportunity to believe in their own abilities, to accept themselves with their difficulties and to improve the relationship with their body in relation to each other.