Music therapy is an amazing thing and I've seen it help some people tremendously. It can be a treatment modality all by itself and a lot of patients will respond to having a choice of instruments, especially percussion and some gentle direction on how to express themselves. I'm not trained in music therapy, so I won't even try to go into the details of it.
In terms of using music as a tool to treat a mental illness or to lessen the symptoms, the most important thing to remember is that what we might think of as calming, someone else will be agitated by. I've had many patients that became agitated listening to classical music, regardless of the tempo of the songs. We changed our waiting room music at one clinic because of it. (I would advise against music in a waiting room, but we had paper thin walls and the noise machines weren't loud enough to block out raised voices). Choose what you like, and what has calmed you down in the past, or has motivated you. Music can be a great distraction, but can also be a trigger to those who have experienced trauma. Find what works for you, and set up playlists for your changing moods. Don't let anyone judge your choices-- suggestions are one thing, but don't let anyone tell you that you are listening to the wrong type of music if you know that it helps you to feel better, or to be distracted, or to have more energy. I had a 15 year old boy I worked with in long term therapy and the music that calmed his aggression and brought him down from feeling agitated was death metal. I don't know how it worked, I don't know why it had that effect, but it did.
Also, schizophrenics and other folks who have auditory hallucinations (AH), ie hearing voices, often find that listening to music with earphones helps them to block out negative AH and function in the world.
I've got my sad yet soothing music, my I just want to feel better and not think music (usually disco lol) and all sorts of other playlists on my mp3 player.
Great question, Linus!
|