When music takes over
SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI
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Music, apart from the solace it offers, also plays a therapeutic role.
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SESSION: Dr. Mythily at the Apollo Hospital. Photo: K. Pichumani.
Ecstasy? Peace of mind? Catharsis? What is it that one experiences when one listens to wonderful music? How does one describe the effect when something ethereal comes wafting in the air, and takes possession of one's self?
It is music through which the careworn seek comfort; it is music to which youth look for inspiration. Music, apart from the solace it offers, plays a therapeutic role as well.
According to neurosurgeon B. Ramamurthy: "Experimentally it has been shown that gentle music played to a resting subject increases the ALPHA content of the EEG (brain waves) which indicates increasing tranquillity of the brain. With such experimental proof, it will be easy for us to accept the benign role of gentle and pleasing music in tranquillising the nervous system, and thus resulting in quicker recovery of persons who are ill, and better health and efficiency in normal persons."
Improves reasoning
In the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins, music is used to teach autistic children arithmetic. Studies have shown that exposure to music improves spatial temporal reasoning in children. Such reasoning is required for higher brain functions.
An article in the American Medical Association says `music stimulation' increases endorphin release. Endorphins lessen pain. There is a decline in the level of stress hormones when a patient listens to music.
Music helps ease hot flushes in women with breast cancer. Music therapy helps cancer patients cope with the treatment that can be as harsh as the disease itself. Listening to music can lower cortisol levels.
Apollo Hospitals has a Music Therapy Centre, where the effect of music as an adjunct to the usual treatment is researched and documented. The centre offers an undergraduate course and an advanced course in music therapy. Stroke patients, diabetics and those with depression are treated here.
According to T. Mythily, Director of the centre, when diabetics are given music therapy beta cell function is enhanced. In the case of patients with aphasia too, it helps. Dr. Mythily, however, points out that music therapy is only complementary. It is not a substitute for conventional treatment. It can be used together with the treatment prescribed for an illness.
Dr. Mythily says even 19-week-old foetuses respond to music. Babies exposed to music while in the womb develop an aesthetic sense and have better spatial skills, she adds. However, she admits that her findings need to be validated through further research, which is one of the primary functions of the centre.
Hyperactive children are usually given drugs such as Ritalin, which act only for a certain period of time. Parents do not know how to handle their children when the effects of the drug wear off. In such cases, the children go through what is called the active form of music therapy, which involves the participation of the subject.
The child is made to sing a song in its mother tongue, clapping its hands. Soon after the session, the child is asked to do its homework. The parents follow up by asking the child to repeat the song at home.
In course of time, it becomes more disciplined and organised. Active music therapy also improves speech in children with a stutter. In the passive form of music therapy, there is no participation of the subject. He merely listens to the music.
Since music therapy helps in stress management, the Apollo centre offers such therapy for those in stressful jobs.
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