Everyone has had that artist or song that got them through a hard phase of their life or even just a hard day. It’s for that reason, despite what skeptics may think, that I believe music therapy is such a promising form of medicine. The American Music Association states that, “Music therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals.” These doctors believe that by guiding their clients to create, dance, or listen to music an outlet is created or rather an “avenue of communication” for patients to express their feelings, feelings that may be difficult to express in words, but the benefits don’t stop there. Sound therapy is being used to help individuals with brain damage from traumatic injury and strokes. This way of healing is expanding throughout the world and being considered by doctors everywhere. After all, music is something everyone can relate to no matter who they are or where they came from, making it often more beneficial than the typical prescription.
Irs Alshuler quotes John Dewey in The Organism as a Whole and Music Therapy, “The arts break through barriers that divide human beings that are impermeable to ordinary association.” Since the beginning of time break barriers indeed. While this thought of music as a curing mechanism seems like a new discovery, doctors have actually gone back to basics, looking deep into our roots. Eva Agusta Vescelias, founder and president of the National therapeutic society in 1903, gives examples of music therapy believers in her article Music and Health. Claudious Galenus, known as the father of medical science and the greatest physician of ancient Rome, played a pivotal role in the way we are looking at medicine. Born into luxury his father surrounded him with the greatest tutors in the land. He became incredibly knowledgeable about the human anatomy, and he used this knowledge as base for his theories. Part of his theory was recommending having someone play the flute upon suffering parts of the body. He would recommend this therapy to wounded gladiators. This would also be used to cure things such as seizures and sciatica, which is a pain or tingling numbness of the leg. The belief was that the vibrations on the fibres of the afflicted area brought relief. It is also recorded that Asclepiades in 100 BC said music could cure disorders of the ear, nearly 2000 years later in modern day musical vibrations are used to treat deafness. Beethoven himself was deaf and wrote intricate symphonies by sensing the vibrations of the instruments. Other early references date back to the early 1800’s. Two articles related to the, “Therapeutic value of music” were published in a medical journal by Edwin Atlee and Samuel Mathews. The two men were students of a Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician and psychiatrist known in the time for using music as means to treat medical disease. When the first and second world war came around many veterans admitted into hospitals with traumatic war injuries were also treated with this form of therapy. Nurses noticed the beneficial effects it had on wounded heros stating that their, “psychological, emotional, physiological, and cognitive state of being” improved significantly better than those that had the typical hospital routine. This is our history it’s a real thing. This isn’t just a belief some had or have based on certain cases, there is hard evidence and research to support these theories.
Research shows our human minds associate with rhythm and pitch patterns. These patterns and harmonies create emotions and impulses. Emotions such as motivation, unity, and belonging. Often composers write music based on how they feel at that time, releasing emotion, venting, creating that, “Avenue of communication,” for things that are to hard to explain in words alone. A listener can often relate and associate with the rhythm and pitches they hear in a piece and feel the release or motivation of those emotions as well. We can all imagine, or hopefully we can, doing some form of exercise. Let’s say for example the exercise is jogging. Your headphones are on and all of a sudden “In da Club,” by 50 Cent comes on. You hear that contagious rhythm of the bass and in an instance your morale changes and you’re running faster than you ever have. The Journal of Sports and Psychology did a study on thirty subjects and it showed that when engaging in cardiovascular activities people match their pace to the tempo of the song. Thus, musical pieces with upbeat tempos show to motivate individuals. This theory of motivation is something not many disagree with, it is easy to prove it to oneself. It is the idea of curing diseases or disabilities that some have trouble believing.
Some skeptics believe this new form of medicine is more of a placebo than anything else. They claim as well that there is no hard evidence of musical benefits on health and the benefits are more based on perception and and individuals taste in music. Researchers in Belgium claim that the idea of using sound therapy as a treatment for disabilities such as dyslexia are unwarranted, but this is not the case. Music therapy has proven to be especially beneficial in patients with speech problems. Their argument is understandable when they say, “While music and speech overlap..[words] are purely symbolic and require significantly more interpretation than just simply listening to a sound alone.” This is true, but the idea behind helping treat dyslexia with music is helping them develop rhythm in reading. Rhythm is something seen commonly as a trouble area for many dyslexic individuals. In the same realm of speech disorders is Aphasia. Aphasia is brought about by brain trauma. People with it have trouble remembering how to say and remember words. Symptoms were seen to improve significantly through a form of therapy called melodic intonation therapy. Often these patients can sing words they can not speak. Gradually they go from singing three syllable words, to speaking five syllable words. Great advancements don’t stop there as stated before Galenus would suggest music to treat people haunted by seizures.
Epilepsy, a condition where people often have seizures, can be treated by prescription medicine. These medicines often have undesirable side effects though, which is why other treatments are well sought after. Music has been proven to stimulate the brain in a specific way, leading to, “Better connections and more efficiently functioning neurotransmitters.” Neurotransmitters are the things in your brain that pass signals along to one another and other parts of your body. They are quite important. This all contributes to an overall calmer more coordinated individual with increased alertness and concentration, and most importantly a reduction of seizures. Individuals with the previously mentioned disabilities of epilepsy and dyslexia have these symptoms at birth, but what about the unexpected accident or unfortunate diagnosis? Music has an incredible effect on them as well.
For example, an individual gets in a car accident. An accident can not only leave someone with a traumatic injury but they are also often left with a loss of function, independence, feeling of loss of a role within the family, and change in physical appearance can ultimately lead to a loss of self esteem. All these things circling ones mind is a burden heavy indeed, that is when the poetic power of music comes in. That in combination with the safe haven created with the therapist allows patients to express these emotions in the fragile emotional time through writing songs or playing instruments. I spoke of how our minds associate rhythms and pitches. In a 2008 study people suffering from amnesia were found through association with the rhythmic patterns and pitches to recall forgotten events before the accident. Another unforeseen event one can be unfortunately stricken with is a stroke.
A study was done in Scotland around 2008 as well involving forty stroke patients. Stroke patients often experience depression. One group received typical hospital care while one group received forty minutes of music therapy a day. Results expressed that the group without the typical treatment were less depressed, less anxious, and more motivated to recover. Sound therapy produces the best results for stroke patients when administered early. After a stroke, “the brain has to compensate for damaged areas and reroute pathways to reform essential connections.” Experts explain that classical musics complexity stimulates many parts of the brain. These new connections can integrate in the cerebellum, the part of your brain near the brain stem that controls automatic functions. These new connections improve overall sensitivity and motor skills. Furthermore, sudden bursts of sound have been seen to stimulate increased firing neurons, sending electrical and chemical signals to other neurons and increasing the neural network of one’s brain. These are those neurotransmitters mentioned before. Science is fun! To continue we must conquer the question of the diseases that are often diagnosed at some point in life, and the hope that stands for them through musical therapy.
Schizophrenia is a disease that results from irregular amounts of dopamine in the body. Too much can cause hallucinations and too little can lead to depression. Thus a happy median is desired to conquer this. Engaging in musical practices is seen to cause the body to release levels of dopamine in the brain and improve the overall mood of a person.
Dementia is a disease that is defined as a loss of memory, attention, and cognitive function. Music can provide a, “Solace comfort, a sense of inner calm, deeper sleep, better mental awareness, and focus.” Family members and caretakers for dementia patients stated that their loved one when receiving this therapy were, “Happier, more cooperative, and more aware.” It seems like hospitals everywhere are thinking twice, not treating every patient with the same treatment, overall creating a more upbeat atmosphere with more options for recovery.
In mental hospitals music has been used to calm the patients. It has been found to have mind freeing qualities. It has also been seen as a morale booster for hospital patients, a break from that “status quo” from normal hospital procedures. Aiding in finding the inspiration to continue on the road to recovery, far from a placebo if you ask me. This has been working for thousands of years! The results don’t lie. Avoid undesirable side effects of another pill and give this a closer look before quickly devoting your body to another prescription.
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