Tia Ungar is a dancer, cheerleader and cheer coach from the UK who has dealt with chronic anxiety throughout her career. When her anxiety peaked, learning and remembering the choreography became a challenge.
“When my anxiety was at its worst, even just taking a dance class was a very anxious thing for me to do,” Ungar said. “In trying to calm myself down and be in the moment, I don’t always have enough space to remember what my body is supposed to be doing.”
Learning and retaining choreography and corrections can be challenging for any dancer. But certain mental health conditions (such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder) can make it more difficult to process and retrieve memories. Understanding how these conditions affect the brain and finding ways to address these changes and improve overall memory can help dancers cope.
How mental health affects memory
The impact of mental health on memory may vary depending on the nature of the mental health condition, said Paula Thomson, a professor at California State University, Northridge and a clinical psychologist who works with dancers.
Depression affects the brain’s prefrontal cortex, “which is closely associated with memory processing and retrieval,” Thomson said. This can make the mind feel less sharp and disrupt hunger and sleep cycles. Without proper nutrition and rest, dancers will be less able to perform to their fullest memory ability.
Anxiety-related conditions often cause distraction, meaning a person has to focus both on the task at hand and on their experience of anxiety. “When people have an anxiety disorder, they feel so intensely anxious that they can’t believe they can learn because they’re just so anxious about catastrophic ‘what ifs,'” Thomson explains.
Some dancers may also use dissociation as a coping mechanism for high anxiety. Dissociation refers to a state of disengagement in which an individual feels somewhat separate from the present moment or their sense of self. “With doses of anxiety that are too high, the hippocampus memory area of the brain turns on and off,” Thomson said, which can lead to memory gaps.
dancer tools
When mental health issues cause memory problems, “the first step is to recognize and practice self-care,” Thomson said. If the problem is relatively minor, there are some strategies you can practice on your own. To calm anxiety, Ungar recommends taking a series of steady breaths, which can help regulate the nervous system and thereby reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety. Thomson also recommends starting each day with an internal scan to gauge your physical and mental health so you can implement self-regulation skills to help you feel more present. Check your anxiety levels, mood, appetite, etc.
“If it becomes an ongoing problem, seek professional help,” Thomson says. Consider contacting a mental health professional who has experience working with dancers, creatives, or athletes who can provide you with tailored advice and coping strategies.
To help improve memory, Kathleen McGuire Gaines, a former dancer and founder of Minding the Gap, an organization focused on mental health advocacy in the dance industry, recommends using visualization techniques. For example, mentally running through difficult choreographic sequences and imagining yourself mastering them can help cement the sequences in your memory. “There’s been a lot of research into the effectiveness of visualization and the way it connects your mind and body,” she explains.
Ungar agrees, adding that listening to music helps with her visualization practice. “When I’m in a high-anxiety, more stressful situation, getting used to music really helps me and makes me rely more on memory,” she said.
McGuire Gaines encourages dancers to ask questions if choreography isn’t understood Additionally, if you feel comfortable, be honest with your teacher or artistic director about your mental health. They may be able to help provide resources and other support.
