The Pros And Cons Of Music Therapy

Younger generations are inseparable from their headphone but when asked about music, they become soundless and grow distant. In “Can Music Save Your Life,” college professor Mark Edmundson describes his studies of how music affects the mind and concludes that music makes the generation feel like their voices are heard through the lyrics. He believes that people use music to escape our fears, reality, and to soothe ourselves. When individuals listen to a specific song that opens a door in their minds, they tend to listen to the song repeatedly until it has no effect anymore and the door closes. Music makes people search further into themselves and they begin to flourish through every lyric, every note, and every instrument played in the song.

In his book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (2008), Oliver Sacks presents “musicophilia” as a mental disorder that has verifiable effects in the physical and emotional health of the “victim.” Sacks uses many research summaries and case histories to discuss this brain and behavioral condition that he sees as a problem to be fixed. I suggest that musicophilia, though typically considered a phenomenal disability, offers extraordinary abilities to some individuals and, through those “victims,” to society.

Music can bring the brightest of joys that keeps us moving through our dull and boring lives. An example of this joy is Ishmael Beah’s life as a boy soldier in his book A Long Way Gone. As he tells you his story, he tells of his dance group with his friends, the times he heard music in the middle of war, and how music saved him from the madness that brewed within him. Music has the unique ability to create peace in a person’s life despite the difficulties surrounding them, and to bring a constant reminder of who they are as a person.

Throughout the novel A Long Way Gone, music is used as a motif. Music is used to distract or calm the soldiers in rehabilitation, as it has the ability to trigger emotional responses. Also, music is used to remind the soldiers of their innocence and life before the war. And lastly music is used to create common ground amongst strangers.

Music therapy is the practice of using music as a form of treatment for certain conditions (especially mental conditions). The idea of using music as a form of therapy dates back to Aristotle’s and Plato’s days. Aristotle understood the great impact music had on listeners and spoke about how it can affect the emotional states of an individual. “Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul… when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form” (Aristotle). Music can affect the brain and body in unexpected ways. It can be used

In Edvard Grieg’s “Morning Mood”, a well-recognized piece of classical music, a flute is the first instrument one hears. The beautiful whistle of the flute’s first note strikes a high A, played softly, and the softness continues as the flute travels down the scale, only to play a C and make its way, legato, back up to an A (Morning Mood: Peer Gynt No.1). As the piece continues, violins, cellos, oboes, and many other instruments are softly introduced to complement the flute’s high and quiet notes. It is only when the flute crescendos in the middle of the piece that the other instruments follow along. This continues Grieg’s trend, on this track, of forming the other instrument’s parts around the flute. Occasionally, the flute will soften and be replaced by another wind or string, but the trend of surrounding the main instrument with other pieces still continues. This soothing blend of the instruments is what causes the mind to remove stress when listening. I believe that music

The dispute between psychotherapy and medication has been on the rise and was debated for decades. Many people with mental illnesses may turn to psychiatric drugs instead of psychotherapy, because they are uneducated and unaware of the effectiveness of therapy and its benefits. Psychotherapy is an alternative way to treat mental illnesses rather than to use harsh medication that may potentially cause more harm than good in the long run. Medication on the other hand are just prescribed pills that just temporarily bandage the problem rather than heal it There are many cases in which proves that therapy is more effective opposed to medication in helping patients with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and phobias.

Many people benefit from the efforts brought from music therapy. It helps with several physical and mental disorders including Autism. Victims of sexual and mental abuse are an active group of patient’s involved in music therapy because it takes all of the stress

wellbeing (Haase, 2012). Music therapy provides a lot of benefits for people with and without

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything” (Plato). If my childhood was filled with anything: it was imagination. From my earliest memories of my cousin, and I putting on a sold out concert on my papaw’s front porch; to putting my baby dolls to sleep with lullabies. Music has always been a big part of my life: it was the one thing I could always count on, no matter where I went; and that still stands true today.

The psyche is a phenomenon that we as humans barely understand. The brain controls every action, from the most basic to the very advanced. As people grow, so do their minds, shaped by their surroundings and the various events they experience. One of these very influential events is war: a rampant atrocity that forces people to make morally questioning decisions. War is a contributing factor to the growing rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is defined as “an anxiety disorder that is triggered by an event such as violence, a car accident, a natural disaster, and more” (Goldberg). Many soldiers experience this disease as they return from the war zone and have been, up until recently, brushed aside with an illness known as “shell-shock,"

Do people ever stop and think that a certain song has changed their mood completely? One minute they were mad and the next they are sad. Or that music can help people with illnesses and disabilities. How music can affect the brain, emotions, memory and so much more. Music plays a key part in today’s society. It really has an impact on just about everyone. So how does music affect everyone in its own way?

In-classroom therapy- An Approach to Lateral Thinking: For children with serious emotional, developmental and cognitive disturbances, effective treatment early in life is crucial to fully support two precious human functions: loving and learning. This therapy is a deliberately synergetic combination of Love, Education and Therapy of in-classroom psychological treatment for children. The possibility of creating a model program for all economic classes and those with varied problems is a gripping solution. Its techniques include individualized in-classroom psychodynamic psychotherapy for each child, briefings, debriefings and parent guidance- all of which take place within the context of an early childhood educational process. Sessions are witnessed,

Music has always been a part of my life. In definition, it is “vocal or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.” Ever since I was a young child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the entrancing melodies, and the lyrics that vary between heartwarming and heart-wrenching have always had an unexplainable effect on my life. Music seems to have the ability to change certain aspects of my world. Even with my moods, whether it is sad or mad, music will help me get through it. It has absolutely been an enormous part of my life and who I am. Thus, this is to say that I have musical talent. I am in a high school marching band, where I play any piano-like instrument. My viewpoint with music has come to a simple conclusion, without it, I would not know who I am or what to do with my life.

Loneliness in Older Adults: An Embodied Experience by Judith M. Smith is a journal of Gerontological nursing that explores the bodily effects of loneliness on the older adult population. This journal presents the reader with research and recounts from individuals who experience their everyday loneliness that is expressed through their bodies in various ways. These embodying experiences hold back those individual’s from participating in activities they love or allowing them to enjoy their everyday lives. Gerontological nurses can alter these experiences using two specific interventions, music therapy and animal-assisted therapy, to actively reduce loneliness in the older adult population, ultimately creating a whole and healing environment at all levels.