Introduction
Music is said to be the language of the soul. It has the power to arouse human feelings, thoughts, and even spirits. People have known that music may be healing and can be used as a tool for healing from the beginning of time. Music therapy is a form of expressive therapy where music improves a person’s mental, emotional, and physical health (Goyal et al., 2021). Music is a vital aspect of human life that enables communication and interaction. Scientists can now use music to enhance people’s welfare because humans interact with and respond to music. Utilizing music as a therapeutic tool to address healthcare’s emotional, physical, social and cognitive problems. The following paper explores the application of music as a form of therapy.
Music as a Therapy
Music is one of the few things that engages the entire brain. It is essential to all racial and cultural origins. Thus, learning new languages, improving motor skills, and improving attention and memory can all benefit unexpectedly from listening to music. Additionally, it effectively treats pain, lowers blood pressure, stroke, autism, Alzheimer’s, and hereditary disease, speeds up recovery after a stroke, and treats chronic headaches and migraines (Bharathi et al., 2019). Intelligence, immunity, and learning can all be enhanced by music. Clarity of thought, physical agility, productivity, and coordination are all improved. Additionally, it fights fatigue and lowers despondency. Relaxing music encourages sleep, reduces stress, and encourages relaxation. The negative facets of our personality, such as worry, bias, and wrath, can be controlled by listening to music.
Of course, listening to music can be disruptive if it is too loud, too unexpected, or if it demands our full attention. However, exposure to various musical genres often has positive impacts. It can be used in therapy for almost all mental conditions. The demands and preferences of each person can be easily accommodated in music therapy (Goyal et al., 2021). The patient and the counsellor can decide together which songs speak to them personally, and the music can then be used to facilitate therapeutic growth. This individualized approach will produce better results since patients may feel more invested in the therapeutic process.
It has been demonstrated that music therapy can help people with a wide range of health problems in many different ways. It helps those who struggle with chronic pain, chronic pain, anxiety, and despair (Witusik & Pietras, 2019). Additionally, it has been applied to assist those with developmental problems, including Down syndrome and autism. It has been demonstrated that music therapy benefits those with neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease (Esplen et al., 2019). Engaging with a music therapist, who is educated to utilize music to achieve specific therapeutic aims, is necessary when using music as a therapeutic tool. The counsellor employs a range of strategies, including songwriting and improvisation. The practice of listening to specified music is also intended to assist the person in reaching their objectives.
History of Music Therapy
Archaeological findings show that music has been employed for therapeutic purposes for many years. The discipline of music therapy gave rise to the idea of musical therapy as it is known today. The development of music therapy started following World Wars I and II. During this time, hundreds of soldiers were entertained at soldiers’ hospitals across the nation by professional and amateur community musicians from all stripes. Many veterans whom the wars had physically and psychologically harmed received aid from them due to their patient’s emotional and physical responses to music; nurses and doctors asked hospitals to hire musicians (Esplen et al., 2019). It soon became apparent that musicians performing in hospitals needed to prepare beforehand. Over time, the discipline of music therapy was developed due to these foundations.
Benefits of Music Therapy
Reducing tension and anxiety has become among music therapy’s most important uses. Music can calm the mind and body. This has lowered cortisol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure. People who listen to music before surgery have less anxiety and pain than their counterparts who do not listen to music (Bharathi et al., 2019). Another condition that can be treated using music is depression. Music can bring back memories and evoke emotions that help express and process emotions. Studies have shown that music therapy is as helpful in treating depressive symptoms as conventional therapies like cognitive-behavioural therapy.
Chronic pain can also be treated with music therapy. Treatment for chronic pain can be complex, and conventional methods, including medication, are usually unsuccessful. Music therapy can benefit those in such pain through distraction, relaxation, and an increase in the release of endorphins. The use of music therapy to assist people with developmental problems every day. Such persons can benefit from it by developing their communication abilities and social relations (Esplen et al., 2019). Additionally, music enables youngsters to express their emotions, improve troublesome behaviours, and enhance their gross motor and fine abilities.
Music therapy improves treatment plans, assists patients in regaining their verbal abilities, and boosts people’s physical welfare. It aids in the relief of physiological issues, including the circulatory system, muscles, and respiration (Witusik & Pietras, 2019). Listening to music speeds up muscle recovery and aids in treating hypertonia patients. Additionally, listening to music diverts attention from stressors and promotes healthful physiological reactions. Due to the parasympathetic nervous system’s activation by auditory information from music, oxygen consumption, heart rate, and blood pressure are all improved.
Types of Music Therapy
Different kinds of music therapy exist. Among them is analytical music therapy. This relational method explores the relationships between the individual self, music, and others. It is an analytically based style of psychotherapy that encourages musical self-discovery. Another sort of music therapy is benzoin therapy. Body-sound-nonverbal approaches are used in this kind of nonverbal therapy. It uses techniques to process and evaluate the client-therapist connection to improve the client’s well-being (Bharathi et al., 2019). Cognitive-behavioural music therapy is another popular variety of music therapy. This uses music as a multimodal stimulation tool to introduce clients to cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) ideas. Nordoff-Robbins music therapy is also employed by therapists. According to this method, everyone has a musical sensitivity that may be exploited to promote development and growth (Witusik & Pietras, 2019).
Barriers to Music Therapy
Despite its importance in enhancing therapeutic outcomes, music therapy encounters obstacles that prevent its use in various contexts. Limitations on copyright are one such obstacle. Because music played during therapy may be restricted by copyright, there is too much telemedicine intervention (Goyal et al., 2021). Therefore, while a therapist may privately play music for a patient, playing music outdoors may violate copyright. The time it takes therapists to create playlists for various patients is another obstacle. Although treatment refusal may not only occur in music therapy, it is a worry for therapists since it prevents successful treatment.
To truly and permanently profit from this therapy, one must be prepared to devote much time to it. This time commitment could be difficult for some people, especially parents of kids undergoing music therapy. Cost is still another hindrance. A health insurance plan covering attendance at music therapy programs is unlikely to be available to anyone interested in music therapy (Witusik & Pietras, 2019). Instead of the treatment itself, the significant obstacles to musical therapy are its high cost and lack of accessibility. Despite these possible obstacles, there are hardly any disadvantages to hiring a music therapy practitioner.
Drawbacks of Music Therapy
Overstimulation is a negative aspect of music therapy. A wide range of factors affect the musical tone. These components include, among many others, the volume, instrumentation, and sound quality. Sound and music have a direct impact on stimulation. A person’s physiological state, including heart rate, mobility, blood flow, and breathing rate, is quickly influenced by stimulation (Goyal et al., 2021). Either the sound level is too loud, or the bass thumping is excessively intense to tolerate if an individual becomes overstimulated by music. Typically, this causes nervous system agitation, anxiety, and discomfort.
Music can also trigger anxiety. While it can occasionally benefit people with anxiety disorders, listening to music might also exacerbate their symptoms. Alzheimer’s patients may experience increased stress and agitation when listening to improper music. A person may become increasingly dissatisfied over time due to the pessimistic message in some lyrics (Esplen et al., 2019). For those who are depressed, this could be very challenging. However, there are no disadvantages or adverse effects to trying music therapy. It allows many people to reflect on and process their emotions and experience significant anxiety reduction. Over time, music therapy can cure depression, tension, and anxiety.
Conclusion
Since music is a part of many people’s daily life, music therapy has proven to be an effective treatment strategy in various contexts. Therapists can address psychological and physical issues that other therapies might be unable to manage, thanks to the variety of music. Additionally, it offers patients a therapy option that is convenient and amusing while yet accomplishing their medical goals. Despite having positive effects in many circumstances, music therapy may not be a successful stand-alone strategy to deal with significant health concerns (Bharathi et al., 2019). To get the desired results, therapists could combine music therapy with other forms of treatment. To maximize the therapeutic effects of music therapy in the clinical setting, researchers should concentrate on finding ways to enhance it.
References
Bharathi, G., Venugopal, A., & Vellingiri, B. (2019). Music therapy as a therapeutic tool in improving the social skills of autistic children. The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, 55, 1-6.
Esplen, M. J., Foster, B., Pearson, S., Wong, J., Mackinnon, C., Shamsudeen, I., & Cecchin, K. (2020). A survey of oncology healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes toward using music as a therapeutic tool in healthcare. Supportive Care in Cancer, pp. 28, 381–388.
Goyal, A. K., Yadav, G., & Yadav, S. (2021). Music Therapy: A Useful Therapeutic Tool for Health, Physical and Mental Growth. lnternational Journal of Music Therapy, 2(1-2), 13-18.
Witusik, A., & Pietras, T. (2019). Music therapy is a complementary form of therapy for mental disorders. Polski Merkuriusz Lekarski: Organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, 47(282), 240-243.
write