Music
Heals My Soul
Music
is a form of melody that soothes into our body making us feel refreshed and
relaxed of all the anxiety and stress we face in everyday life.
It
is not just a part of an entertainment, it is a great way of healing our pains,
making us forget about everything, and takes us into the world of melody which
gives us the most mollifying feel in the entire world.
It
is a unique medicine for our entertainment and our health. Music can bring back
our old memories, mostly the best and finest ones we would have had.
Music
Therapy accomplishes several problems or emotions we face in daily life that
the normal doctors can't do, It is such a wonderful. When we attend a music
therapy it gets our brain functioning quicker, and whatever we do after that,
for definite will be a success.
Whatever
problem we may have by listening to the prescribed music, it just flows out
from our brain, and we say it out, which helps the doctor or
psychologist to identify the problem we are going through.
Music
is an immense and effective way of healing our stresses
Stroke victims, and other patients
suffering from brain damage, will often lose the ability to speak. Language
functions are processed in the left hemisphere of the brain, and music in the
right hemisphere, therefore a stroke victim who has lost the ability to speak
could train their right brain to take on these functions.
Therapies aimed at regaining language in stroke victims
were often arduous, but Finnish researchers may have found a way to
significantly expedite the process through music. 60 stroke victims were
measured for speed and success of cognitive recovery, with some undergoing
standard therapy, and others undergoing therapy while listening to music.
Fascinatingly,
patients who could no longer speak would find themselves able to hum along to
music, often with little training. From there, it would only be a few steps to
regaining speech.
When Words Fail—Music Speaks~ Shakespear
The idea of music as a
healing modality dates back to the beginnings of history. Mythology is full of
stories suggesting that music is balm for the soul. The Bible talks of how
David played the harp to help ease his despair against King Saul’s tyrannies.
In Greek mythology, there is the story of Orpheus—the musician who could soothe
savage beasts and move rocks with his lyre.
Music therapists in
India derive a lot of their knowledge from the science of yoga. Physicians of
the ancient Muslim world treated mental illness with music therapy. Special
choirs and live music bands entertained patients and there were comic
performers as well.
Some of the earliest
notable mentions are found in the writings of ancient Greek philosophers.
Robert Burton wrote in his 17th century classic, The Anatomy of Melancholy, that music and dance were
critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.
Backed by research
Contemporary research
seems to suggest that music therapy benefits patients with stress,
psychological and psychiatric problems because it brings about a sense of
well-being.
A recent study in
the Journal of Advanced Nursing, published in the UK,
concluded that people with depression who listened to music for at least one
hour each day reported a reduction of symptoms by up to 25%.
Researchers at the
University of Sydney found that singing in groups for at least 30 minutes a day
helped people cope better with low moods caused by chronic pain.
Another study by
researchers at Cleveland Clinic in the US found that music helps ease
unrelenting, non-malignant pain in adults who “hurt” for at least six months.
Music has also been
found effective in managing pain caused by cancerous conditions in the body and
procedural pain.
Studies have also shown
that music reduces pain during dental procedures. Playing soft music in the
background while working at one’s desk has also been found to reduce stress.
Reduced heart rates and higher body temperatures are said to indicate the onset
of relaxation.
Positive experiences
T.V. Sairam, a New
Delhi-based music therapist, says that music could help him cope better with
life’s stresses. “Right from childhood, I was interested in music. I then discovered
that listening to music or singing could help me overcome difficult situations
in life,” he says. Based on these experiences, he became interested in studying
the therapeutic aspects of music in a more serious way. Having benefited from
music therapy, Sairam has become an active proponent.
A Mumbai-based
psychiatrist, Rajan Bhonsle, claims music has helped to cure many
stress-related illnesses in his patients, including one who had a bad case of
psoriasis, a skin condition. The patient had consulted several specialists but
nothing had worked. “I told him that he should listen to his favourite music
every day. Sure enough, over a period of time, the psoriasis was cured,” he
claims.
A sexual-health expert,
Dr Bhonsle says: “Music relaxes the mind and the body so it works very well in
conditions that are anxiety related, such as performance anxiety.” He believes
that music can even help counter other marital problems that may have their
genesis in work-related stress. “Just helping the body produce some of the
feel-good hormones, such as serotonin, can alleviate many stress-related
illnesses, and can also go a long way in improving a person’s relationship with
his family,” he says.
Snehalata Deshmukh, a
paediatric surgeon and former vice-chancellor of the University of Mumbai, says
she has done several studies on the subject. In one study, she compared two
groups of premature infants, both of which were given all the necessary care in
terms of nutrition and medication. Music was played to infants in one group,
but not to the other. “We saw that infants in the group that heard music every
day gained weight faster than the ones that did not,” she says.
The same study was then
extended to pregnant women, and the results were positive. “In ultra-sounds, we
have seen that babies make a happy face when they listen to certain kinds of
music, especially in the last trimester of pregnancy,” she says. According to
Dr Deshmukh, babies even seem to have preferences in their choice of music. “We
have observed that most of them like Beethoven’s symphonies, or Omkar, or raga
Yaman, or Shivkumar’s santoor, because some of these rhythms are similar to the
mother’s heartbeat,” she says.
A PRESCRIPTION THAT WORKED
When Jamuna
Balamurugan’s sister recommended music therapy to help her cope with stress
during her first pregnancy, she was a bit sceptical. “I wasn’t exactly sure how
it would help, but I was also beginning to worry about how work pressures would
affect my baby,” says this Chennai-based homemaker. Signing up for a music
therapy programme conducted by T. Mythily at Chennai’s Apollo hospital, she was
initially “prescribed” some instrumental music which, she says, made her relax
almost immediately. The bigger benefits, however, were evident in her baby.
Balamurugan claims her daughter is much ahead of her age in analytical and
communication skills, and even in creative thinking.
“I always buy her books
and puzzles that are meant for older kids because she gets easily bored with
stuff that’s meant for her age group,” she says. And in school, she is better
than most kids her age. “I do believe that this is because of music therapy,”
says Balamurugan, whose older daughter Harshitha is now 6 years old.
Dr Mythily, head of the
music therapy department at Apollo Hospital in Chennai and Balamurugan’s
therapist, says: “Music is being tried in many areas, sometimes as a supportive
element to conventional therapy and at other times, as an alternative therapy
in itself.”
According to Dr Mythily,
music therapy is of two types. One is passive, which involves only listening,
and the other one is active, which involves participation. “The passive form is
beneficial in enhancing concentration and memory, reducing stress, heart problems
and hypertension,” she says. “The active form is of immense help in treating
neurological problems, such as neurological aphasia, receptive aphasia,
expressive aphasia—speech problems—and it enhances speech fluency, especially
in hyperactive children,” she adds.
For some time now,
Balamurugan has been recommending music therapy to scores of expectant mothers.
In fact, about two years ago, when she was expecting her second baby, she
signed up for the programme again. And as she sees her baby thrive, she is once
again happy to give the credit to music therapy.
Sporadic efforts
There are more than
5,000 music therapists registered with the American Music Therapy Association
and more than 300 registered music therapists in the UK. In India, there appear
to be a handful , who are self-trained. Much of the work in this area is driven
either by doctors who have a penchant for music or by musicians.
Across India, efforts to
include music therapy in mainstream medicine have been very limited and
sporadic. Notable exceptions are a few health care institutions such as Apollo
Hospitals, Northern Railway Central Hospital in New Delhi and Hamidia Hospital
in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
In recent years, a few
centres of training for music therapists have been set up. Apollo Hospital in
Chennai is training psychology postgraduates and doctors in music therapy. The
Indian Music Therapy Research and Development Foundation and the Swathi
Thirunal Music Therapy Research Centre, both in Kerala, offer short-term
courses in music therapy
CURATIVE AND REHABILITATIVE
POWERS
Vivek Joshi, a sarod
player who has been performing at various hospitals, vouches for the calming
effect of music.
During one performance
at the Thane Mental Hospital, he played Naat Bhairo (a morning raga). “While I
was performing, I observed that the music would help to calm the anxious and
agitated patients and it would help to enliven the depressed patients,” claims
Joshi. “This is the magic of music.”
Because the concert was
beneficial to so many, the hospital started playing piped music in all its
wards a few months ago. This was to determine if music would help accelerate
the rehabilitation process of patients with mental illnesses, says Sanjay
Kumawat, member secretary, State Mental Health Authority, government of
Maharashtra. “We have a variety of patients with different mental illnesses—so
we were keen to assess the impact of using music as therapy. We found that
patients respond well. It helps to soothe their minds,” claims Dr Kumawat.
The hospital authorities
are so enthused by the success of their program that they are planning some
more sessions of live classical music for patients. In addition, they are
proposing similar programs at other government-run mental institutions in Pune,
Ratnagiri and Nagpur.
