Dance Movement Therapy for Migrant Latin American Adolescents: Increasing Positivity, Self-Esteem, and Reducing Depression

In this study, dance movement therapy is used to treat South American immigrant adolescents who are depressed, have problems with their self-esteem, The goal is to reduce dejection while boosting optimism and self-worth. Many South American migrant laborers enter South Korea illegally because there is no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to dispatch manpower between the two countries, while others enter on tourist visas to work so they are in an unstable environment. Every Saturday from October 22 to April 23, the Catholic Pastoral Commission for Latin American Communities organized A total of 48 sessions were conducted in two sessions of 70 minutes each for six youth (accompanied by parents from Peru, Spain, Bolivia, and Colombia) to improve their self-esteem, reduce depression, and increase positivity. Based on the 6 categories of the Emotional Social System DMT (Ryu, 2017) study, the dance movement therapy program for migrant youth from South America to improve their self-esteem, reduce depression, and increase positivity. The program applied the following 6 categories were used: Kinesthetic Perception DMT, Grounding DMT, Interaction DMT, Synchronization of rhythm and kinetic connection DMT, Cognition Behavioural Action DMT, and Self-System Activation DMT. As a result, there was a meaningful positive improvement in self-esteem, positivity, and depression when the pre- and post-test results were compared. Dance movement therapy to improve self-esteem, reduce depression, and increase positivity for South American immigrant adolescents used movement as a psychotherapy tool to help them better understand themselves and unleash their inner spontaneity and creativity, ultimately helping to establish a confused identity, improve self-esteem, and lessen depression. The purpose of this study is to serve as a resource for future research on migratory youth from Latin America.