Читать книгу The Creative Arts in Counseling - Samuel Gladding T., Samuel T. Gladding - Страница 56

Music functions in several therapeutic ways for clients with illnesses (Hanser, 2016). Music can serve to promote closeness within families through group singing, lyric analysis, and reminiscences. This type of bonding enhances the quality of life for family members both inside and outside of the hospital and helps establish better communication patterns and firmer support systems. In the process, anxiety and tension are lessened and intimacy is promoted (Slivka & Magill, 1986). In addition, religious faith may be increased through playing and singing religious music if the family is so oriented.

Rider (1987) stated, “Music has the capacity to touch and bring to the surface emotions that have been repressed for years” (p. 117). Some chronic diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and coronary difficulties correlate with negative feelings such as anxiety, hostility, and depression. Fatigue appears to be an especially prevalent and undertreated symptom in cancer patients and cancer survivors. Select music, in particular violin, flute, and piano, can help clients in these and other tension-filled situations to relax more, especially if it is uniquely and individually selected for each patient (Fredenburg & Silverman, 2014). Therapeutic compositions may also be played universally. Music cited in the literature as instrumental in reducing anxiety include the Largo movement from Dvoák’s New World Symphony and Brahms’s First Symphony (dos Santos et al., 2019).

Music can also encourage healing by promoting catharsis and refocusing thoughts. For instance, G. Clarkson (1994) recounted the case of a young man with autism who, after several years of music therapy, began to communicate again. Likewise, in clients with trauma-induced dissociative disorders, music may succeed where words sometimes fail because of its ability to reunite and integrate all parts of a client’s total experience (Volkman, 1993). In addition, music therapy seems to be helpful in the recovery of breast cancer patients as they work to find and form new identities (G. Aldridge, 1996). In the process of making music, patients bring feelings into consciousness without any immediate verbal labels being attached to their emotions. This active intervention uses patients’ strength and creativity to cope and maintain coherence in the midst of what might otherwise be chaotic transition. Furthermore, music and music therapy in particular can have value in reducing physical agitation in participants with Alzheimer’s disease (Jennings & Vance, 2002).

In addition to the direct use of music with those who have physical or mental disorders, music, as well as breathing, can be used in psychiatric emergency rooms to reduce the stress of clients and visitors in such settings (R. G. H. Miller & Spence, 2013). Overall, music has proved to be significantly effective at suppressing and combating the symptoms of psychosis and related disorders. However, researchers must still investigate the effects of live and recorded music, of structured music groups and passive listening, and of classical music and nonclassical music (Silverman, 2003).