The effects of medical music therapy on depression and anxiety. Music has a significant influence in differentiating between abandonment and responsiveness, loneliness and communication, unceasing pain and relief and between discouragement and self-respect.
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The effects of medical music therapy on depression and anxiety
Music has a significant influence in differentiating between abandonment and responsiveness, loneliness and communication, unceasing pain and relief and between discouragement and self-respect. Several researches have proved music to positively affect the various sectors of health by decreasing the levels of depression and anxiety in human beings. Music therapy is known to possess particular qualities that enable individuals to articulate themselves and socialize non-verbally even in circumstances in which they are unable to describe their inner thoughts and feelings.
Music was recognized as a traditional device for curing by Greek logicians including Aristotle and Plato. The advanced discipline in musical therapy started during the early twentieth century period, whereby various communal music artists would visit several medical institutions in different parts of the country to perform for the victims affected by the World war. As a result, the positive feedbacks displayed by the patients made hospitals adopt this strategy of employing musicians to entertain their patients.
Several studies have implied that music can be applied in affecting the substantial, poignant, cognitive and interactive welfare by enhancing the quality of a persons health and fasten the recovery or healing process in a patient. Such positive results are obtained through listening or participating in an action that produces music. Therapeutic music is beneficial to all kinds of individuals ranging from young infants to the elderly. In addition, different categories of music vary based on the form of neurological stimulus they cause. For example, Jazz music can be used as a form of reducing ones levels of anxiety through relaxation.
However, other forms of music including rock may generate a high level of noise that is a danger to the auditory system to the extent of losing the sense of hearing. The brain is affected because it loses its balance between the left and right sections. For instance, it is difficult for a person to pay full attention on a given task while loud music is playing on his headphones. Sound is sent as vibrations from the outer auditory section to the inner section through thousands of fragile hair cells. Moreover, if the auditory system is exposed to damaging sounds, organs including cells and nerves are destroyed as well in the process.
However, exposures such as incessant noise only lead to a temporary loss in hearing, whereby the hair cells behave differently through pulsing briskly and other times aggressively. Therefore, it is possible to enjoy such music without being a threat to the auditory system through listening in the appropriate volume.
Music Therapy has also been discovered to fasten the recovery process in stroke illnesses and attacks. Different genres of music from the jazz and classical category based on the current research done have proved to minimize the level or the severity of the stroke attacks. In a survey that was carried out in Finland, after patients suffering from stroke illnesses participated in listening to music for a certain period daily, their progress in the functioning of verbal memory and concentration improved at an impressive rate in comparison to patients receiving a different form of treatment.
Music therapy has also been proved a source of cure in Coronary heart illness. For example, a study was conducted in patients that were going through cardiac treatment (Barnason, Zimmerman and Janet 125). The treatment included music therapy, which involved activities, assigned to different groups of patients that would enable them to learn skills for handling the Music-Assisted Relaxation and Imagery (MARI) procedures. It involved patients practicing on how to listening to music while resting on a habitual period. Results of patients progress before and after this form of treatment were evaluated, and the outcome presented major improvements through patients reduced levels of blood pressure and stress (Barnason, Zimmerman and Janet 125).
However, not all the findings were conclusive because of the uncertainty in the eminence of the proof presented. Although, the medical advantages of music therapy presented should be enough to verify the value in the evidence. It has also been discovered that music has a positive effect in the brain. Musical sounds can alter the functioning of a brain, cure a variety of neurological illnesses such as dejection, and ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Performing artists have also acknowledged the effect of rhythmic sounds. For example, cultural practices involving the use of musical instruments such as drums have been applied in spiritual functions to encourage trance conditions. Other scientists have also taken interest to study the impact of music in the area of rumination, slumber and hypnosis.
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