BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
Do eight weeks of salsa classes sound like an intervention to you? Show up, learn the footwork, rotate partners, move to music with a room full of people you probably don’t know. And at the end of those eight weeks, if you danced as part of this recent study, you would have likely shown measurably lower depression, less social anxiety, and more happiness in daily life than those who didn’t.
Researchers at the University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Trust ran a randomized controlled trial with 121 young adults between 18 and 24 who had mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Half were put in a salsa program; the other half were the control group. Both completed mental health questionnaires before, during, and after the trial. The results were published in Psychological Medicine.
What made salsa work
The lead author, Brennan Delattre, was careful not to oversell it. The results don’t support prescribing salsa as a standalone treatment for diagnosed depression, and she said more clinical trials are needed before any stronger recommendations are possible. But she had a specific theory about why the format seemed to help.
“As salsa is physical, social, musical, structured, and often playful, it asks people to engage with others, but within a clear framework: steps, patterns, partner rotation, and a predictable class routine,” Delattre said. “For some people, this may make social contact feel more manageable than an unstructured social group setting.”
This is a meaningful distinction. “Just get out more” is pretty unhelpful advice for someone with social anxiety, partly because unstructured social situations are often the hardest ones. A dance class gives you something to do. There are steps. There’s a predictable rhythm to the hour. You’re with other people, but you’re not just standing around trying to make conversation. That’s a different kind of exposure.
Not the first study to point this direction
Salsa isn’t the first unlikely candidate to show up in this research. An earlier study on social prescribing found that teenagers on mental health waiting lists connected to karate, art classes, book clubs, nature walks, and Pokémon tournaments showed real improvements in resilience, behavior, and relationships.
Dr. Daniel Hayes, who led that work and is deputy director of the National Centre for Social Prescribing Data and Analysis at University College London, called the new findings a welcome addition. “Mental health care shouldn’t begin and end in the consulting room,” he said. “This study adds to growing evidence that helping people take part in enjoyable, social activities in their communities can support mental health.”
Dr. Keir Philip of Imperial College London put it most sharply: “The world has changed dramatically — 50 years ago, social dancing would not have been considered an ‘intervention,’ it would have been a standard Saturday night. Perhaps this study is treating a dance deficiency that we didn’t know we have.”
What to do with this
For now, Delattre’s practical takeaway is modest: doctors and social prescribing services could consider offering accessible dance classes as an optional add-on, particularly for younger people who find them appealing. Something alongside treatment, not instead of it.
The setup was simple: a weekly class, a shared routine, music, and other people. For some of the participants in this study, that was enough to help.
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