Saturday, July 7, 2012
Music therapy
Music therapy is an
interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its
facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help
clients to improve or maintain their health. In some instances, the client's
needs are addressed directly through music; in others they are addressed through
the relationships that develop between the client and therapist. Music therapy
is used with individuals of all ages and with a variety of conditions,
including: psychiatric disorders, medical problems, physical handicaps, sensory
impairments, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, communication
disorders, interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to: improve
learning, build self-esteem, reduce stress, support physical exercise, and facilitate a
host of other health-related activities.
One of the earliest mentions of music therapy was in Al-Farabi's (c. 872 – 950) treatise Meanings of
the Intellect, which described the therapeutic effects of music on the soul. Music has long been used to help people deal with
their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar Robert
Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy argued
that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia. He noted that
music has an "excellent power ...to expel many other diseases" and he called it
"a sovereign remedy against despair and melancholy." He pointed out that in
Antiquity, Canus, a Rhodian fiddler, used music to "make a melancholy man merry,
...a lover more enamoured, a religious man more devout."In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues
also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.
In the Ottoman Empire,
mental illnesses were treated with music.
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