The music therapy is a discipline that uses music-based interventions to help a person achieve therapeutic goals. It is based on clinical and historical evidence, and like the rest of types of psychological therapies, it must be carried out by a professional specialized in the field..
In a music therapy process, the professional will use music in different ways to create physical, cognitive, emotional and social changes in the person receiving the intervention. Sessions can include many different activities, such as singing, dancing, listening to specific pieces of music, or composing..
The idea behind music therapy is that these activities can help the person solve problems of all kinds and acquire new skills, which can then be transferred to other areas of their life. In addition, music can also help the client express their feelings and thoughts more easily..
Despite being a relatively new field, there is a large body of evidence supporting the effectiveness of music therapy. Thus, today we know that it is very useful in the treatment of problems such as autism, depression, anxiety, stress or schizophrenia; and can serve as support in achieving subclinical goals, such as social skills training.
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The idea that music can have a significant influence on people's health and behavior has been around since the beginning of Western civilization. Authors such as Plato and Aristotle already spoke of the effects that different types of harmonies and melodies caused in those who listened to them, and of their apparent beneficial properties.
Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, some independent associations were created that studied the positive effects of music on the psyche of people. These works, however, failed to have a great impact on society, and were not given much attention at the time..
Musicology as we understand it today did not appear until the middle of the 20th century. After World War II, large numbers of musicians (both professional and amateur) toured hospitals in various countries playing to alleviate the suffering of veterans, many of whom had been traumatized by their experiences..
Soon, doctors and nurses realized that patients exposed to the work of these musicians improved faster, and their emotions became more positive. However, it was also clear that artists needed some form of formal training in order to make the most of their skills. This is how musicology was born.
During the 1940s, various people began trying to create a specialized clinical profession based on music. However, there are three main prominent authors at this time, who had a great influence on the emergence of musicology as we understand it today.
One of them was Ira Altshuler, an American therapist who conducted a multitude of research on the effects of music on the mind with his own patients..
At the same time, another of the leading researchers of the time, Willem van der Wall, was the first to use music therapy in public institutions, and wrote a guide to applying the most important methods of this newly created discipline..
Finally, E. Thayer Gaston was in charge of organizing and institutionalizing musicology as an independent and effective form of therapy. Thanks to the efforts of these pioneers and others similar to them, universities such as Michigan, Kansas or Chicago began to teach musicology programs in the mid-1940s..
During the last decades, music therapy has continued to evolve to become a formal and independent discipline, with bodies in charge of regulating it and ensuring that its practitioners use it correctly..
Music therapists are also often trained in psychology and other ways to help people with mental disorders; but there are also professionals who specialize exclusively in this field.
Although many people believe that the use of music as a form of therapy is not something "serious" or formal, the truth is that this discipline is backed by a multitude of serious scientific studies. Their results indicate that the techniques used in this area have very beneficial effects on different types of problems, both physical and mental..
For example, a meta-analysis carried out in 2008 pointed out that music therapy has a very beneficial effect on the symptoms of depression, reducing them considerably. Something similar happens with other very common pathologies, such as anxiety and schizophrenia.
In another context, it is known that the application of a music-based therapy can help alleviate some of the problems suffered by people with different types of autism spectrum disorders. Thus, for example, individuals with Asperger's undergoing this treatment improved their ability to relate to others and their communication skills.
In addition, in their 2014 study, Geretsegger and his collaborators found that people with Asperger's also managed to develop non-verbal skills, in addition to feeling more confident in contexts in which they had to initiate interactions with others.
Music therapy has also proven very useful in other contexts related to mental health, but which do not directly involve the treatment of serious psychological disorders. Thus, for example, it is known that simply listening to certain types of melodies helps reduce anxiety and stress.
This has been applied in very different contexts. For example, studies have shown that changing the music in a waiting room at the dentist to play more pleasant melodies has a calming effect on patients. People exposed to this relaxing music experience less fear and even appear to have less pain during their visit..
Studies with very similar results have been published in other contexts, such as caring for the elderly, dealing with critically ill or terminally ill patients, or managing very young children when they have to be integrated into an educational center for first time.
Music therapy is a very diverse discipline, and the activities that can be carried out within it are practically endless. However, it is possible to classify them in a very basic way based on several criteria.
The most common way of classification within the scope of the application of music as psychological therapy is doing it between active methods and receptive methods.
In the former, patients have to move and take action, be it playing an instrument, singing, dancing, or even composing; while in the seconds, they only limit themselves to listening.
During a receptive music therapy session, the patient simply has to listen to music (either recorded or live), which the therapist will have previously selected.
This version of the discipline has been shown to be very helpful in improving mood, reducing pain, increasing relaxation, and decreasing stress and anxiety..
In this way, receptive music therapy is generally used to reduce the discomfort of people who come for help; but it does not serve directly to treat a psychological illness.
In active music therapy, unlike in receptive music therapy, patients have to create music in some way. They can do this either by playing an instrument, or by singing; although in some cases dance can also be included in this category.
Generally, active music therapy has a greater effect on the functioning of the brain, so it can be used to treat diseases of greater caliber. Some of the conditions in which it has been used successfully are Alzheimer's, obsessive compulsive disorder or depression.
The activities that can be carried out during a music therapy session are virtually endless, and depend on the imagination of the professional and their knowledge of the subject. However, to illustrate what a normal program would look like, below we will see a list of typical activities during a consultation.
- Listen to music, either live or in a recording.
- Learn relaxation techniques (such as progressive muscle relaxation or deep inspiration) assisted through music.
- Sing familiar songs, either a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment.
- Learn to play an instrument, such as drums, guitar, or some kind of percussion.
- Improvise musical pieces with an instrument or with the voice.
- Create song lyrics.
- Compose or learn to do it.
- Analyze musical pieces.
- Dance to the music.
- Examine your own emotional states, caused by a specific song or improvisation.
All these activities, led by an expert music therapist, can be used to work on different aspects of patients' psychology, such as their emotions, beliefs or cognitive abilities..
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