Is listening to music to maintain health reliable? Let's take you into the wonderful "music therapy"

Author: Sun Zhenghai Qiqihar Medical College School of Mental Health

Reviewer: Wang Huali, Researcher, National Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital)

In recent years, music therapy has been increasingly used in the field of psychological counseling and psychological intervention. Especially when facing stress, music has a certain role in promoting psychological relief and physical health. Today we will learn some knowledge about music therapy.

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1. Three major elements of music therapy

Music therapy is a scientific and systematic intervention process. Throughout the process, the therapist will use various forms of music experience as a driving force for treatment to help the patient achieve physical and mental health.

Music therapy must have three major elements: first, the client should be a patient who really needs treatment; second, one of the people who forms a therapeutic relationship with the client must be a professionally trained music therapist; and third, a piece of music material or music process must be used purposefully during the treatment process.

2. Forms of Music Therapy

There are many forms of music therapy, which can be classified according to genre, number of people treated and the effect of music.

According to the role of music in treatment, music therapy can be divided into three forms: 1. Treating music as a medium, only as a means of assistance and reinforcement; 2. Using only music for treatment; 3. Focusing on how music can change and develop the client's various abilities during treatment, such as interpersonal skills and the ability to express emotions.

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According to different ways of participation, music therapy can be divided into receptive, re-creative and improvisational. Receptive music therapy is a process in which the client expresses his or her psychological and emotional experience while listening to music, such as musical imagination, discussion of songs, etc. Re-creative music therapy is not just about listening to music, but also requires the addition of some musical activities, such as singing, playing, composing songs, etc., which can improve musical ability. Improvisational music therapy uses some simple and easy-to-use musical instruments to perform on the spot. Both the therapist and the client can participate. After the performance, the performer's instrument, volume, rhythm, movements, etc. can be discussed. Mutual communication after the improvisation is very important.

3. What kind of help can music therapy bring us?

Music therapy can bring us a lot of help when we are under stress.

(1) Music therapy can relieve people’s stress, improve negative emotions, regulate physical discomfort, and further achieve the goal of promoting physical and mental health.

(2) Music therapy can enhance people’s attention and memory, and can therefore be used as an auxiliary treatment for psychological problems such as anxiety disorders and depression.

(3) Music therapy can stimulate the brain, activate brain cells, improve cognitive and motor functions, help people improve sleep quality and immunity, and thus improve disease resistance.

(4) Patients who suffer from headaches and other pain problems for a long time can relax by listening to music, and even reduce the use of analgesics. Some clients with psychological disorders who are unable to express their emotions can also exercise and improve their ability to express emotions through improvisation in music therapy.

(5) Music therapy also has a very positive effect on the elderly. It can not only relieve the tension, anxiety and other negative emotions of the elderly under stress, but also reduce the negative emotions of the elderly, increase positive feelings, self-confidence and independence, enable the elderly to better cope with emotions such as helplessness and depression, and help improve the elderly's enthusiasm for life. Music therapy can also improve the elderly's physical symptoms such as insomnia and headaches, and help the recovery of physical and mental diseases. Music therapy can also improve the auditory processing speed of the elderly, and also promote vision, which can reduce the impact of age on cognitive processing speed and memory, and achieve the effect of delaying aging.

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Music therapy is a diverse form of treatment that can promote physical and mental health. Under stress, it can relieve stress and reduce the impact of negative emotions. The music used can be classical music such as piano and violin music, or pop music or instrumental music. The music used by each person can be different, and you can also find your favorite music to relax through music websites, music software and other channels. Of course, professional music therapy still needs to be handed over to professional music therapists.