The Music therapy uses the healing effects of music to alleviate and heal a wide variety of physical and mental ailments. Every form of music therapy is a practice-oriented scientific discipline.
What is music therapy?
With the targeted use of music, be it instrumental music, singing or other forms of musical performance, the mental, physical and emotional health should be supported, promoted, preserved and, at best, completely restored. Today it is undisputed that music in all its facets can have a healing effect.
As a form of therapy applied directly to humans and animals, music therapy is always practice-oriented, but closely related to scientific standards. Naturally, there is a close interaction between music therapy and other scientific disciplines, for example medicine, psychology or education. Music therapy is just a collective term, an umbrella term for the various music therapy concepts that have been developed over the course of many centuries.
By its nature, music therapy can best be described as a form of psychotherapy because it works directly on a patient's mood. Music therapy is used with great success in children and adults alike. It is not essential for the success of music therapy whether a patient is musically inclined or not. Music therapy as a separate subject at German universities has only existed since the mid-1970s.
In addition to the full courses of study at universities of applied sciences with the possibility of a bachelor's and master's degree as a music therapist, part-time courses can also be taken. Many qualified music therapists, working clinically or in their own practice, have specialized in the fields of music therapy.
Function, effect & goals
Although music therapy as a separate branch of science is still quite young, the beginnings of this form of therapy are long ago. The findings from this empirical study have almost all found their way into today's professional application of music therapy. All peoples unconsciously integrated music into the treatment as a healing ritual. Music evokes memories and has a direct effect on moods and emotions.
By facilitating access to the subconscious, healing processes can be initiated on a depth psychological level. The effects go far beyond those of placebo, which has been proven beyond doubt in several randomized studies. After all, music was an integral part of medical treatments well into the 19th century. After that, its importance in Europe was largely lost and only found attention again after the end of the Second World War, then under the name of music therapy.
The professional medical application of music therapy takes place today as an integrative concept within the framework of multimodal therapy. In psychiatry, neurology, geriatrics or pediatrics, music therapy is never used as the only therapy, but always embedded in a therapy concept made up of different treatment methods. Music therapy is, however, on a par with other forms of therapy and is not only understood as a supplement to them.
Music therapy sessions can be offered for all ages of people in individual or group therapy.Music therapy, especially in paediatrics, is offered as an independent form of therapy within a full or part-time hospital stay. In outpatient care, music therapy is offered in practices by resident music therapists or socio-educational centers. Music therapy has also found its way into the catalog of services provided by statutory health insurance. Statutory health insurance patients can also take advantage of the music therapy in several therapy sessions after a prescription has been prescribed by the attending physician.
Particularly impressive treatment successes have been recorded with children, as they still have carefree, impartial and easy access to any form of music. Children don't care if notes are wrong or if the beat is not drumming. It is known that music induces a natural urge to move in children. It is precisely this fact that music therapy makes use of in the case of developmental delays, aggression, autism or language problems. In adults, the treatment focus of music therapy is, for example, on better coping with chronic pain syndromes or physical or psychological trauma.
In oncology, music therapy sessions serve to reduce stress after chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Music therapy has also become indispensable in the rehabilitation of stroke patients.
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➔ Medicines to calm down and strengthen nervesRisks, side effects & dangers
Music therapy naturally has little potential for risks or side effects. If an attempt at therapy fails, the music therapist changes the treatment concept and uses different chants, tones and styles of music. Personal preferences of the patient are also taken into account.
Often a combination of playing instruments and singing is required to achieve a therapeutic success that rarely occurs after the first session. Patients must therefore be patient until their symptoms are alleviated. Already in the first session a patient will notice whether the music therapy concept chosen for him or her is overall correct or not.
The effect of music on the subconscious can lead to strong emotional fluctuations and outbursts of emotions during the therapy sessions, which must be observed very closely by the therapist. Sometimes it may even be necessary to stop the therapy, at least for the time being, and to restart it at a later point in time. The so-called qualitative research methodology is relatively difficult in music therapy in direct comparison with other sciences. This is due to the different reactions of each individual to music therapy. With so-called art-analog approaches, attempts are still being made to standardize processes in music therapy.
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