During her career, Tia Ungar, a UK-based dancer, cheerleader, and cheerleading coach, suffered from chronic anxiety. When his anxiety peaks, it’s a challenge to learn and remember choreography.
“When I was at the height of my anxiety, just going to a dance class was a pretty anxiety-inducing thing for me,” Ungar says. “When trying to calm down and be present, I wasn’t always left with a lot of space to remember what I was physically supposed to be doing.”
Learning and remembering choreography and corrections can be a challenge for any dancer. But certain mental health conditions, like anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD, to name a few, can make processing and retrieving memories even more difficult. Understanding the impact of these conditions on the brain and finding ways to manage these changes and improve overall memory can help dancers cope.
How Mental Health Affects Memory
The effects of mental health on memory may differ depending on the nature of the mental health problem, according to Paula Thomson, a clinical psychologist who works with dancers and a professor at California State University, Northridge.
Depression affects the brain’s prefrontal cortex, “which is very involved in processing and memory retrieval,” explains Thomson. This can make the mind less sharp and disrupt hunger and sleep cycles. Without adequate nutrition and rest, a dancer will be even less equipped to perform at their maximum memory capacity.
Anxiety-related conditions often result in divided focus, meaning a person is focused on both the task at hand and their experience of anxiety. “When people have an anxiety disorder, they feel anxiety so intensely that they can’t trust themselves to learn, because they are so anxious about the catastrophic ‘what ifs,'” says Thomson.
Some dancers may also dissociate to cope with very high anxiety. Dissociation refers to a state of disconnection in which an individual feels separated in some way from the present moment or their sense of self. “The memory area of the brain, the hippocampus, kind of turns on and off because the dosage of anxiety is so high,” says Thomson, which can cause memory lapses.
Tools for dancers
When mental health issues lead to memory problems, “the first step is to recognize and take care of yourself,” says Thomson. If the problem is relatively mild, there are some tactics you can try on your own. To calm anxiety, Ungar recommends taking a series of steady breaths, which can help regulate the nervous system, leading to a decrease in the physical symptoms of anxiety. Thomson also suggests starting each day with an internal scan to assess your physical and mental well-being, so you can then implement self-regulation skills to help you feel more present. Look at things like your anxiety level, emotions, and appetite.
“If the problem persists, seek professional help,” says Thomson. Consider reaching out to a mental health professional with experience working with dancers, creatives, or athletes who can provide advice and coping strategies tailored to your needs.
To help improve memory, Kathleen McGuire Gaines, former dancer and founder of Minding the Gap, an organization focused on mental health advocacy within the dance industry, recommends using visualization techniques. Mentally going through difficult choreographic sequences and imagining yourself mastering them, for example, can help cement these sequences in your memory. “A lot of research has been done on the effectiveness of visualization and how it connects your mind and body,” she explains.
Ungar agrees, adding that listening to music has helped his visualization practice. “Just getting used to music really helped me, when I was in situations where my anxiety was high and I was more stressed, to rely on my memory a little bit more,” says -She.
McGuire Gaines encourages dancers to ask questions if you’re not interested in the choreography. Additionally, if you feel comfortable, be honest about your mental health with your professor or artistic director. They might be able to help provide resources and other supports.
