Music Therapy
Music therapy is the prescribed use of music and musical interventions in
order
to restore, maintain, and improve emotional, physical, physiological,
and
spiritual health and well-being (Lindberg). So one finds the selections
under
the New Age/Relaxation section of the record store about as relaxing as
water
torture? Just because one's taste runs more to Sousa than to soothing
doesn't
mean one can't reap all these relaxation benefits music is supposed
to have.
Music therapy works primarily by changing moods, which alters
brain chemistry.
This can have many effects--making concentration easier,
easing anxiety and
fostering patience(Hendrick-16). "Music," as the old
saying goes,
"has charms to soothe the savage beast." It can improve a
person's
psychological, cognitive, and social functioning--especially when it
has
familiar lyrics that evoke pleasant memories and a strong , repetitive
beat that
makes it easy to follow along (Sacks). "(Rhythm) is there in the
cycles of
the seasons, in the migrations of the birds and animals, in the
fruiting and
withering of plants, and in the birth, maturation, and death
of
ourselves."--Mickey Hart of Grateful Dead "(Music Therapy) can make
the
difference between withdrawal and awareness, between isolation
and
interaction, between chronic pain and comfort, between demoralization
and
dignity."--Barbara Crowe (Quotes About...) "It lifts us from
our
frozen mental habits and makes our minds move in ways they
ordinarily
cannot...when the sound stops, we fall back into our mental
wheelchairs."--
Robert Jourdain (McDonnel-C05) Music Therapy benefits
many types of people, such
as the mentally ill, abused, terminally ill,
developmental learning disabled,
and academic learning disabled. The goals of
music therapy include improving
self-esteem, improving social interactions
with peers, increasing participation,
developing coping skills, reducing
stress anxiety, creating a non-abusive
lifestyle, decreasing fear, decreasing
pain, and behavior management, just to
name a few (Lindberg). "Almost all
children respond to music. Music is an
open-sesame and if you can use it
carefully and appropriately, you can reach
into that child's potential for
development." --Dr. Clive Robbins (Quotes
About..) Preliminary findings
of a nearly completed study at Beth Israel to be
published in 1998, show that
music performs as well as or sometimes better than
sedation in calming
children before tests such as EEG's and CAT scans. Music has
a lot of
universality. You bypass so many barriers to communication, and it
seems to
reach more of the child than anything else." --Clive Robbins
(McDonnel-C05)
"In people who are depressed, the ratio of pleasant to
unpleasant events gets
out of balance." (Munson;Walsh42) It's likely that
both the music and the
human contact increased the number of pleasant events for
people involved.
"With music, it's not just that these pleasant events are
happening to you.
You are in some ways taking control to make the pleasant
events happen."
--Larry Thompson,PhD (Munson;Walsh-42) If anxiety is
involved in depression,
as it often is, the right kind of music may help someone
de-stress. This
doesn't necessarily mean you can blast Pearl Jam and call it
therapy, or that
you can write off your CD collection as a medical expense, but
it might
reinforce your idea that Glenn Miller means more than ocean sounds to
your
mental state (Munson;Walsh-42). Music can relieve stress whether the
stress
comes from the work-place or something more serious like a major
illness (Luque).
Ancient cultures used sound to affect the chemical
balance of the brain. The
positive statements were added to remove the
feelings of helplessness from
patients and return them to a sense of control.
"(It might) not neccesarily
cure them, but it can change things. It might not
be quantity for extending
life, but it is quality in enjoying life more. The
brain is impacted by what it
perceives. What we are trying to do is change
the negative to a positive, and it
all translates into physiology. It's more
than just sounding mystical, a
fantasy. There's medical reality. There is
real potential for healing in music,
imagery, and positive
affirmations."--Dr. Lee S. Berk (Luque) It's hard for
many mental patients to
put their frustrations into words, but music therapy
lets them communicate
their feelings freely through the expression of enjoyment
of music (Lindberg,
B.). The music helps underscore the message (Hendrick-16).
The order,
harmony, and beauty of music seizes our imaginations and emotions
and
contrasts with the chaos of everyday life. "While physical movement
is
choked with the starts and stops and stumbles, music establishes a
continuous
flow, and does it in perfect proportions." --Robert Jourdain
(McDonnell).
"Patients can benefit from using music therapy as an active,
creative,
expression of their personality." --Rachel McCaffrey
(Lindberg).
"Music is an excellent therapy because is meets with little or
no
intellectual resistance and does not need to appeal to logic." --Dr.
Ira
Altchuler (Koch-19). Scientists believe that different kinds of music
interact
with the brain to release certain mood-altering chemicals. This
explains
"why music appears to ease some physical symptoms--like the pain
associated
with surgery, childbirth and cancer--and ameliorates some cases of
high blood
pressure, gastric disorders and migraine headaches." --Nancy
Butcher
"Their response to music is amazing; people who can hardly move
suddenly
move vigorously to the sound of music." --Connie Tomain, music
therapist at
Beth Abraham Hospital (Marvin,23). Music is definitely more
than just notes on a
page. Anyone can listen to music, but if one doesn't
learn how to feel music,
they're really missing out. Music provides a
communication tool that enables one
to state what they are unable to voice.
The rewards are incalculable! Here's to
better health and well being through
the enjoyment of music!
Bibliography
Hendrick, Bill. "Science
Watch: Toe-tapping therapy." The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution. 19
Oct. 1997, pp.P16. Koch, George. "Valium or
Vivaldi?" Alberta
Report\Western Report. 20 Nov. 1995, pp.19. Lindberg,
Brad. "Reaching Out
Through Art and Music Therapy." Michigan
Chronicle. 30 July 1996, pp.PG.
Lindberg, Katherine A. "Music Therapy and
Mental Illness." July 12,
1997
(10 Nov. 1997). -------."Music Therapy with Abused Children
and
Adolescents." September 28, 1997.
(10 Nov. 1997). -------."Music
Therapy with the Learning Disabled."
Sept. 28, 1997.
(10 Nov. 1997).
-------."Music Therapy with the Terminally Ill." Sept.
28, 1997.
(10
Nov. 1997). -------."What is Music Therapy?" April 8, 1997.
(10 Nov. 1997).
Luque, Sulipsa. "Good Music Reduces Bad Hormones Caused By
Stress, Pain."
Gannett News Service. 6 May 1997. Marvin, Matthew. "Closeup:Facing
the Music
Patients Recovery Stimulated by Songs." Newsday. 5 Jan. 1993,
pp.23.
McDonnell, Sharon. "Melodic Medication/Music Seems to Work Magic
with Pain,
Poor Memory." Newsday. 14 Oct. 1997, pp. C05. "Mellow
Tunes." Prevention.
1 Dec. 1995, pp. 70(2). Munson, Marty; and Therese
Walsh. "Soothing
Sounds:Even Raucous Tunes May Be Relaxing."
Prevention. 1 Oct. 1995, pp.
42(2). "Quotes About Music Therapy."
March 29, 1997.
(10 Nov. 1997)
Sacks, Michael J. "Healing Harmonies." 10 Feb. 1995,
pp.PG.