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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1515051
Prevalence of alexithymia and depression among professional contemporary French Dancers
Provisionally accepted
Catarina Proenca Lopes 1
Mathias Poussel 1,2
Albuisson Eliane 3,4,5
Margaux Temperelli 2 Oriane Hily 2
Bruno Chenuel 1,2
Edem Allado 1,2*- 1 DevAH, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, Lorraine, France
- 2 University Center of Sports Medicine and Adapted Physical Activity, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy, Nancy, France
- 3 Département du Grand Est de Recherche en Soins Primaires : DEGERESP, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, Lorraine, France
- 4 Direction de la Recherche Clinique et de l’Innovation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy, Nancy, France
- 5 UMR7502 Institut Elie Cartan de Lorraine (IECL), Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, Lorraine, France
A high incidence of mental disorders has been observed in contemporary dance, characterized by the integration of physical performances with artistic demands.The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of alexithymia and anxiety in a sample of professional ballet dancers.The participants, involved in a national contemporary dance company ("Ballet de Lorraine"), underwent a medical assessment including an exercise test and completed computerized questionnaires on anthropometric data and characteristics of sports practice (level and weekly time spent on sports practice) as well as alexithymia (TAS 20), depression (BDI-13), and anxiety traits (STAI-Y form B).Results: A total of 22 professional dancers were included. This study revealed a prevalence of alexithymia at 9.1%. Within the same sample, the prevalence of anxiety was 9.1%, and 7 dancers showed results indicative of minor depression.The prevalence of alexithymia, depression, and anxiety is lower in the population of professional contemporary dancers compared to what has been reported in the general and athletic populations. This may be attributed to the artistic intention present in contemporary dance, which might enhance emotional awareness and expression, potentially acting as a protective factor against these psychological conditions. However, further studies with larger and more diverse samples are necessary to confirm these findings and to explore the underlying mechanisms.
Keywords: alexithymia, Depression, Anxiety, contemporary dancers, physical activity
Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lopes, Poussel, Eliane, Temperelli, Hily, Chenuel and Allado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Edem Allado, University Center of Sports Medicine and Adapted Physical Activity, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy, Nancy, France
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