Melanie Ryder

Dance Therapist

Ms. Melanie Ryder is a Dance Therapist in Taunton, MA with special training and skill in the use of movement and dance to promote social, cognitive, and physical healing. As a Dance Therapist, Melanie Ryder performs individual and group therapy sessions. Dance Therapy is psychotherapy that applies dance and movement to promote mental, emotional, physical health, and social integration. Significant diseases and conditions treated by Dance Therapists include low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, autism, trauma, and Alzheimer's disease. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Dance Therapists include assessments, dance instruction, and interventions during therapy sessions like mirroring and movement metaphors.

The dance therapist, sometimes called a movement therapist, focuses on rhythmic body movements as a medium of physical and psychological change. Dance therapy is practiced more often with mental health patients than with physically disabled patients. A master's degree is required by the American Dance Therapy Association to award the credentials Dance Therapist Registered (DTR).