Therapeutic value of music.
Music is an existing portion of all human beings. There are beats and rhythms in our heart rate and in our breaths and movements as well. Melody has been created in our laughs, cries, screams or songs. Our entire range of emotions can be expressed in different rhythms and harmonies, styles and musical terms. Musical sounds, due to affective and emotional loads, have a profound effect on morale, personality, and the cultivation of human emotions.
Music has been used as a therapeutic tool for centuries and has been shown to affect many areas of the brain, including the regions involved in emotion, cognition, sensation, and movement. This fact, combined with the engaging nature of music and the diversity of music forms, makes music uniquely effective in the treatment of a wide array of physical and mental problems, including depression, anxiety, and hypertension.
In some instances, the therapeutic use of music has been able to help people in ways that other forms of therapy have not, as it can sometimes elicit responses that may not appear through more traditional forms of treatment. When people find it difficult to express themselves verbally, they may display a greater degree of interest and engagement in music therapy than they would in a more traditional form of therapy. No background in music is required for a person to benefit from this approach because music can evoke positive emotions and stimulate reward centers in the brain; music therapy is often able to alleviate symptoms of mental health concerns.
Music therapy can be used as a form of guided meditation. Music is a preferred de-stressing medium for a lot of people because it has been found to have anxiety-reducing and calming notes with help get rid of underlying stress, tension or worry. Music only comes second to our sense of smell, so, we are able to connect or adapt to rhythmic beats better.
Music also helps us heal and re-develop. When we listen to music, the muscles in the body react quickly to the beat in an automated manner, without having to think. Listening to or singing musical notes uses the same neural connections which are used while speaking. Hence, music can effectively help children in their developing age communicate better or stroke patients to talk again. Music therapy has also been used to treat depression, autism, Asperger syndrome, and even post-cognitive stress disorders.
Therapists who employ music as a form of treatment involves a variety of tools such as playing instruments, guided imagery, humming noises or even writing songs to solve conflicts. Thus, music therapy effectively helps people of all ages (even tone-deaf people) deal with health problems.
Over the past years, neurological studies have shown that music is a valuable tool for stimulating emotions; therefore in various studies the effects of music have been studied. In the field of psychology, music is regarded as a language, as common as other spoken languages of the world, which has its own specific regions in the brain; and understanding music, the same as language, needs education. Thus, music holds communicative functions such as language, as there are certain musical regions in the brain that are activated through musical sounds and display their functions. It can be concluded that music can have positive effects on pain relief, sleep disorders, learning, memory, IQ, depression, anxiety and special diseases such as schizophrenia and autism. With the recognition of musical impacts and inspiration, a way can hopefully be opened to the practical applications of music in different fields.