For those of us who shy away from traditional therapy, my younger brother Navyan who is very fond of music introduced me to this non conventional form of therapy and this is what I learnt from his research.
Music therapy is an effective solution for preventing mentally ill people from enduring social isolation and can encourage them to socialize. When conducted in a group setting, music therapy provides an opportunity for positive social interaction for the participants through playing musical instruments and singing songs with other people. It is effective in catering to people that face difficulties with motivation due to the restrictive nature of traditional therapy. Motivation plays a significant role in determining whether a patient suffering from mental illness will seek treatment for their difficulties which can often hinder the chances of people receiving the help that they may need. Furthermore, mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and psychosomatic disorders may cause further reductions in the levels of motivation that a person may have thus, hindering their chances of establishing positive mental health.
Music therapy offers people an opportunity to experience an alternative therapeutic process where articulating their emotions through words is not emphasized. Additionally, the opportunity for increased forms of emotional expression benefits those people in particular which can positively impact their motivation to attend future therapy sessions. The participants within this study were chosen by applying a criterion of finding people with low motivation for therapy, lack of progress within other therapy methods, difficulty in talking about emotions and preferring medication to talking.
Music therapy is an extremely helpful form of emotional support to people that may not have found traditional therapy to be effective. This personal and interactive experience encourages creativity and self-expression while improving the therapeutic experience by emphasizing positive emotions and environment. The innovative method of emotional expression through musical instruments has introduced alternative paths to recovery for people that struggle to articulate their repressed emotions during traditional therapy sessions. Furthermore, through the introduction of such non-restrictive methods of therapy, clients may feel more motivated to attend future therapy sessions which can allow them to receive the necessary help that their mental health requires. Although traditional therapy is beneficial, it may fail to offer those benefits to people that may not like speaking about their emotions whereas music therapy fixates only on the emotional expression which the clients create through musical instruments rather than words.
Now you know why music holds the power to heal!
Until next time.
