The use of dance/movement therapy in psychological adaptation to breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer occurring in women, is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women after lung cancer, and is the major cause of death for women between the ages of 35 and 45; 180,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed and 50,000 deaths are attributed annually to breast cancer in the United States. The incidence of this disease appears to be increasing—in 1975, 1 out of every 10 women was likely to develop breast cancer; by 1995, the number had risen to 1 out of every 8. The chances for survival, however, have improved—during the 1940s, 78% of women were disease-free 5 years after the onset of the disease; in the 1990s, this rate had risen to 91% (American Cancer Society, 1995). This increasing survival rate has encouraged health professionals to focus greater attention on the quality of survival, including physical, psychological and social adjustment to the trauma of breast cancer.