Music Therapy Essay

Running head: MUSIC THERAPY 1

THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC THERAPY ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

Rama Fattal

PSY101-12 Spring 2017

Dr. May Mayassi

LEBANESE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

MUSIC THERAPY 2

Introduction

It comes as no surprise that music, today, is being used as a therapeutic process, because it has always been an art that appeals to the mind, the soul, and the body. Music Therapy is the use of music in developing and improving the health and wellbeing of patients physically and mentally. For centuries, music has been a

The study had been published by the British Association for Music Therapy. At first, Kyle isolated himself from his therapist and focused on his phone, but then, the therapist began using Kyle’s phone to listen to music and allowed Kyle to interpret the music into his own meanings. Next, Kyle began opening up about the issues in his life and relating his problems with his actions. Later on, he started writing and performing his own rap pieces which expressed his problems and soon, the lyrics changed into more optimistic ones that spoke about his desire to become better. The therapist also incorporated musical instruments into the sessions and both the therapist and Kyle began improvising musical pieces until he was able to channel all of his emotions into his music and found his own way of communicating. Two years later, Kyle’s personality had changed into a more optimistic and empathetic one and a year after that, he was in college and was a student representative. Music therapy had allowed Kyle to express his hidden desires and open up as well as accept the problems he suffered from leading to his self-discovery and a better future. In my opinion, this shows how self-expression through the arts, especially music, aids

The researchers were Claudio Pacchetti, Francesca Mancini, Roberto Aglieri, Cira Fundaro, Emilia Martignoni, and Giuseppe Nappi. The participants were 32 patients diagnose with Parkinson’s Disease and they were randomly separated into two groups consisting of 16 patients. The patients were all in stages 2 and 3 on the Hoehn and Yahr scale of PD. Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder that causes the degeneration of the central nervous system characterized by shaking, difficulty in movement, and rigidity. The Hoehn and Yahr scale is a scale that measure the progress of PD; stage 2 is characterized by an effect on both sides of the body, but no affect on the balance and stage 3 is characterized by the inability to fix the body’s posture and an imbalance. The participants underwent music and physical therapy for three months. The MT incorporated “choral singing, voice exercise, rhythmic and free body movements, and active music while the PT had specific movement strategies and particular stretching exercises. Finally, the results concluded that PT with the aid of MT had significantly affected motor skills, especially bradykinesia, which is characterized by slow movement and the inability to fix body posture, and it improved the patients’ emotions