June 17, 2023; Unhurry Expert Research Team
In This Article
When words fail and emotions run deep, there exists a universal language capable of transcending barriers and healing wounds: Music.
Music touches the soul and sparks calming and healing waves that move the young and the old, the healthy and the ailing. This extraordinary healing power is none other than music therapy. There is hardly any culture in the world which does not recognize the healing power of music.
The earliest formal application of music therapy in the West is generally regarded as occurring in the years following World Wars I and II when musicians would visit hospitals, mainly in Britain, and perform for troops experiencing the mental and physical trauma of combat.
A section of the ancient Indian medical system — Ayurveda describes how music can treat a range of physical and mental illnesses. Raga chikitsa or raga vidya are the terms used to describe this specific application method. Many Indian classical musicians and academics have devoted their lives to studying and using this type of music therapy.
The effectiveness of music therapy can be seen in its impact on the physical and emotional faculties as well as its capacity to uplift and console. According to scientific studies, music therapy can help with anxiety and stress reduction, pain relief, and cognitive performance. In fact, Music therapy is now considered part of the treatment by healthcare providers and commissioners when making decisions about the sort of care for young people that they wish to support.
Despite its complexity, the human brain has its own unique harmony when it comes to responding to music.
As we celebrate World Music Day which coincides with World Yoga Day on June 21st, we look at what music therapy is and how it is an effective mode of treatment not only for mental health and neurological diseases but also for diseases like cancer.
What is Music therapy?
Music therapy is the clinical application of music to reach certain objectives including stress reduction, mood improvement, and increased self-expression. It is a well-known, evidence-based therapy in the medical field. Experiences with music therapy may involve listening, singing, playing an instrument, or writing music. It is not necessary to have musical aptitudes or skills to participate.
Music therapy may help one psychologically, emotionally, physically, spiritually, cognitively, and socially. A short list of benefits includes:
§ Lowering blood pressure.
§ Improving memory.
§ Enhanced communication and social skills through experiencing music with others.
§ Self-reflection. Observing your thoughts and emotions.
§ Reducing muscle tension.
§ Self-regulation. Developing healthy coping skills to manage your thoughts and emotions.
§ Increasing motivation.
§ Managing pain.
§ Increasing joy.
Music therapy reduces depression in children, adolescents
Music therapy has often been used with children and young people with mental health needs and has been very effective. 251 children and young people aged 8 to 16, who received music therapy showed significantly higher self-esteem and less depression than those who received treatment without music therapy, according to research from Bournemouth University and Queen’s University Belfast.
The first time when the effectiveness of Music therapy was assessed by a definitive randomized controlled trial in a clinical setting, the findings were dramatic. Ciara Reilly, Chief Executive of Every Day Harmony the music therapy charity that was a partner in the research said, “The findings are dramatic and underscore the need for music therapy to be made available as a mainstream treatment option. For a long time, we have relied on anecdotal evidence and small-scale research findings about how well music therapy works. Now we have robust clinical evidence to show its beneficial effects.”
What are the benefits of music therapy?
Research on music therapy shows that it is useful in six domains: Emotional, physical, spiritual, cognitive, social, and psychological.
Emotional:
§ Music can call up repressed (bottled up) emotions that may then be released.
§ Music can lessen feelings of isolation.
§ Improved mood.
§ Decreased depression.
§ Anxiety reduction.
§ Self-expression.
§ Stress management.
Physical:
§ Music can affect the body by changing your heart rate and lowering blood pressure and respiration (breathing) rate.
§ Improved motor development or processing.
§ Relaxation and/or improved sleep.
§ It can physically stimulate conscious or unconscious body movements, such as toe tapping or large body movements, and improved gait (walking) and speech.
§ Management of and/or distraction from pain.
§ Reduced asthma episodes.
§ Reduced pain.
§ Help premature infants with weight gain and sleep.
§ Help people with Parkinson’s disease improve their motor functions.
Spiritual:
§ Music can open the door spiritually and allow you and your family the opportunity to explore your own spiritual beliefs.
Cognitive:
§ Music can provide an increased sense of control.
§ Coping skills.
§ Lessen the effects of dementia.
Social:
§ Music can bring people together socially, not just at large gatherings such as parties, weddings, or funerals, but in more informal, intimate, shared experiences, like a hospital room
§ Help autistic children improve communication.
Where does music therapy take place?
Hospitals, schools, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, mental health facilities, and houses for people with developmental disabilities are the most typical settings. Additionally, music therapists visit schools, private practices, and juvenile detention centers.
Is music therapy outpatient or inpatient?
Depending on the specific program, music therapy may be provided as an outpatient or inpatient service. For a counselling appointment, one could be able to attend sessions throughout the day, or a music therapist might visit the patient while they are in the hospital or at school. In groups, music therapy is occasionally offered.
Do music therapists work with children and adolescents?
Music therapy may help with the following:
§ Behaviour disorders.
§ Mood and anxiety disorders.
§ Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
§ Autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
§ Trauma.
§ Substance abuse disorders.
Music used for psychological counselling
Sandra Curtis, a professor at Concordia University’s Department of Creative Arts Therapies, uses music as a tool to engage in a deep psychological dialogue with people ranging from abused children to patients receiving palliative care; female survivors of domestic violence to people facing difficulties at work. “No matter the audience, music has the power to delve deeper than words by speaking to patients on the fundamental level of rhythm and sound,” says Curtis.
Although it hasn’t completely reached a clientele in the mainstream, Curtis has been associated with music therapy for more than three decades. She has trained in Georgia and Ohio, drawing inspiration from Raging Grannies and young children. Curtis views music as a rallying cry that connects those pursuing social justice through charting her own development as a professional music therapist.
Whom do music therapists work with?
People of all backgrounds, ages, and cultures can respond to music, and to music therapy. Notable groups music therapists have helped include:
§ Military service members and veterans. Music therapy helps you cope with trauma.
§ People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Individuals on the spectrum learn best when there is familiarity, structure, predictability, and consistency.
§ Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Music therapy may help with memory and stimulate your mind because of predictability, familiarity, and feelings of security.
§ People in correctional settings. If you’re incarcerated, in a mental health facility, halfway house, or group home, music therapy may help with problem-solving, communication skills, relaxation, and decreasing impulsivity.
§ Victims of trauma and crisis. If you’ve experienced trauma and crisis, you might have anxiety, stress, and pain. Music therapy can help you with decreasing those three experiences, improving your mood, feeling confident and in control, and providing a non-verbal outlet for emotions.
§ Those who are physically ill. The list includes, but is not limited to people with chronic pain, diabetes, cardiac conditions, cancer, headaches, recent surgery, and people in rehab.
§ Individuals with mental health disorders. If you’re dealing with a mental health disorder, music therapy can help you with communication and expression, help you explore your thoughts and feelings, improve your mood and concentration, and develop coping skills.
§ People with chronic pain. Music therapy can help decrease your pain, anxiety, fatigue, and depression.
§ Substance abusers. Music therapy may help if you have a substance abuse disorder. Research has shown that it can increase motivation and self-esteem, reduce muscle tension, decrease anxiety, improve self-awareness, and strengthen coping skills.
Music therapy for Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC)
When it comes to the therapy of children with autism, the ability to form cordial, solid relationships with others through music is particularly important. Relationship development with a child with autism may be hampered by the severity of symptoms that prevent normal emotional and social development. Researchers from GAMUT, Uni Research Health, and the University of Bergen have demonstrated in a study that generalized changes in social skills in children with an autistic spectrum condition (ASC) are predicted by the strength of the therapeutic connection.
The results of this study, which involved 48 kids aged 4 to 7 who received improvisational music therapy over a period of 5 months, suggest that the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder show a significant reduction if a relationship was built in which the therapist was emotionally and musically attuned to the child’s expressions. The effectiveness of the therapy relationship related to improvements in language and communication abilities in particular.
Attunement as a mechanism of change
Early interactions between infants and their caregivers are where human attunement processes are most well documented. The ability of the carer to tune in and synchronize with the infant’s movements, rhythms, and affects has been theorized to influence attachment and the growth of social understanding. The infant feels emotionally experienced and understood throughout these tuned musical exchanges.
By creating music that is especially customised to the child’s sounds, movements, postures, and affect, therapists strive to transfer principles from early interaction processes while working with children with autism. According to Karin Mössler of Uni Research, this should permit instances of synchronisation and attunement. The study’s lead investigator is Mössler.
Children with childhood autism
For kids with low-functioning childhood autism, concentrating on musical and emotional attunement may be especially crucial because it may be particularly effective when working with sensory processing, affect regulation, or movement-related deviations in these kids, all of which can be severely impacted.
According to a subgroup analysis, children with childhood autism or a coexisting intellectual disability benefit from music therapy more than kids with another autism diagnosis. The study makes it clear that its findings do not prove that music therapy is superior to other therapies.
In this regard, extra attention should be paid to intervention tactics that promote connections through musical and emotional sensitivity. The use of the child’s repetitive or stereotypical motions and affective expressions as a resource and point of attunement, for example, can assist therapists and parents of children with ASC cope with the child’s symptom level.
What happens before music therapy?
Before the session, the music therapist will assess the patient’s needs and their strengths. They may discuss:
§ Emotional well-being.
§ Physical health.
§ Physiological responses.
§ Perceptual/motor skills.
§ Social functioning.
§ Communication abilities.
§ Cognitive (mental and intellectual) skills.
§ Musical background and skills.
§ Trauma history.
§ Trauma triggers.
The patient’s musical preferences and any musical experience they may have will also be discussed by the music therapist with the patient. Following that, they will collaborate with the patient to set goals and create effective music therapy experiences for the session.
In doing so, they’ll consider:
§ Music preferences and interests
§ Age and developmental level.
§ Physical abilities.
§ Cognitive abilities.
§ Trauma triggers.
What happens during music therapy?
During music therapy, the patient and the therapist will do one or more of the following:
§ Create music. The patient might compose music, write lyrics, or makeup music together
§ Sing music. Use the patient’s voice to share a piece of music.
§ Listen to music. Enjoy the sound and lyrics.
§ Move to music. It can be as simple as tapping the toes together or as complicated as a coordinated dance.
§ Discuss lyrics. Read or listen to the lyrics of a song and talk about their meaning.
§ Play an instrument. Use an instrument like a piano, guitar, drums, etc. to share music.
What should one expect after music therapy?
If the patient’s goals were achieved, the music therapist will assess the effectiveness of the music therapy session. It is possible to attend more than one session.
Music therapy in cancer treatment
During cancer surgery, music therapy may work well as a supplemental treatment. The anxiety that comes with breast cancer surgery can be effectively, safely, quickly, and enjoyably managed with a little music therapy session before the procedure.
A study found that music therapy helps women who are having surgical breast biopsies for cancer diagnosis and treatment feel less anxious. The goal of the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, was to ascertain whether music therapy had any impact on surgical anxiety levels, the need for anaesthesia, the length of recovery, or patient satisfaction.
“We discovered that anxiety levels dropped significantly from pre-test to post-test in patients who heard one preferred song of either live or recorded music before surgery,” said Jaclyn Bradley Palmer, music therapist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Centre. “In this trial, both live and recorded preoperative music therapy interventions reduced anxiety significantly more than usual preoperative management by 28 and 27 points, representing percent reductions of 43 percent and 41 percent, respectively.”
The two-year study out of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Centre involved 207 patients.
Before surgery, whether the patient heard live music or pre-recorded music, music therapists would engage the patient in a brief music therapy session lasting five minutes that included the patient’s preferred song, conversation about the music choice, and processing of any emotions that may have arisen. The two groups who had either live or recorded music during surgery also listened through headphones to pre-recorded harp music that had been carefully chosen by the staff for its mellow melodic lines, steady rhythms, and consistent dynamics.
The research further checked whether live music or recorded music was important. “There wasn’t a significant difference in anxiety between live music and recorded music,” added Bradley Palmer. “It seems like music, no matter how it is delivered, had a similar effect on reducing a patient’s preoperative anxiety.”
“We know that music touches parts of our brain: The emotional center that creates a release of our body’s natural opiates, for example, endorphins, enkephalins, and serotonin. All of those things that are released are triggered by auditory stimulation, and music is prime in that… and it’s without using any pharmacologic intervention-it is simply using the music as medicine.” Said Deforia Lane, Ph.D., Director of Art and Music Therapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center and one of the co-authors of the study.
“What we can conclude from our findings is that music therapy may effectively serve as a complimentary modality during cancer surgery treatment. A brief music therapy session has the ability to manage the anxiety that surrounds breast cancer surgery in a way that is effective, safe, time-efficient, and enjoyable,” said Bradley Palmer.
Music for social justice
Within the context of using Music for psychological counselling and uniting people, Sandra Curtis has gone deeper into the practice to examine feminist music therapy. Explains Curtis, “This type of therapy often presents work with an explicit focus on social justice for women, children, and other marginalized people but it can also expand to address such global issues as war and the environment with a feminist understanding of their impact on marginalized people worldwide.”
An example of this intimate relationship between sound and the human soul is music therapy. It serves as a guiding light for individuals, families, and communities, illuminating the way to recovery and wholeness. May we be mindful of the healing potential of music therapy and its ability to unite even the most disjointed of souls as melodies weave through the fabric of our lives.
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Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com, https://my.clevelandclinic.org, https://www.darbar.org
Help is here:
Name of the Organisation: Music as Therapy, India
Music as Therapy is based in Hyderabad. Since 2015 it supports caregivers to introduce music for children with learning disabilities and autism. Most recently the institute has been considering the ways music might help local carers for people living with dementia.
Website: https://www.musicastherapy.org/country/india/
Contact : info@musicastherapy.org