Music therapy as a form of psychotherapy.

Music therapy as a form of psychotherapeutic interaction, arouses a growing interest among

High prevalence of the contemporary interest in this field combined with the hope that music
could be perceived as a universal therapeutic tool which would be useful both for prevention as
well as treatment and rehabilitation, does not cause any side effects that often occur in the case
of pharmacological devices. The large number of lifestyle diseases plaguing both adults and
children is increasing as a result of fatigue life under conditions of intense and continuous rush
and feeling of loneliness or discomfort, requires taking all the possible solutions to protect
mental and somatic health against the threat. Turning toward the arts, and in particular contact
with the music can satisfy the emerging nostalgia for a different world, full of dreams, feelings,
experiences, increasing sensitivity and facilitating emotional change of attitudes and behavior.
Enthusiasts of music therapy mention many advantages, treating music as a specific type of drug.
First, there is an almost universal application, because contact with music is usually a pleasant
experience. People in general do not suffer from the music, the percentage of contraindications
to its use is relatively low, and it is limited to the acute psychosis, music-induced epilepsy,
depression. Secondly, the formation of a patient dependency in the form of getting used to
regularly listening to music regularly for therapeutic purposes is not a threat, on the contrary, it
is the positive effect of therapy and proves development of the appropriate needs and interests.
Thirdly, music allows for easy access and knowledge of the world to patients, because humans
do not control the intellectual as usual verbal communication and is therefore a valuable
method of treatment in psychiatry.

Opponents of music therapy emphasize the great difficulty in demonstrating the healing
properties of music. This involves on the one hand with a limited program of music therapy
implemented only in certain medical facilities, on the other hand the use of music therapy in
the complex of many therapeutic techniques, in order to quickly achieve the results against large
numbers of patients waiting masses.

The popular image of music therapy is often understood as the impact of music on the
'mentally ill', which involves the belief that music acts primarily on the human psyche, and
especially in the realm of emotional experience. Human psyche, however, is closely connected
with its somatic, and somatoform disorders form so numerous and extensive links with mental
disorders that speaking about the influence of music on humans should be understood as an
impact on the entire human system. That is the essence of music therapy is recognized widely
by T. Natanson, who defines it as a method that uses multiple effects of music on human
psychosomatic system'.1 The concept concludes that certain emotional experience arising from
the passive or active relationship with the music evokes the appropriate emotional response

1
T. Natanson, Wstęp do nauki o muzykoterapii, Wrocław 1979, p.51
from a man who, in turn, is always accompanied by changes occurring in the body biochemical
reactions, vegetative, etc.2

Natanson takes into account the fact that music affects humans as a physical phenomenon, and
therefore as a specific set of acoustic vibrations of very physical reaction, while the
accompanying psychological reactions. Experimental data and practice in music therapy that
music can change the state of activity of the nervous system ,induce specific changes in the
activities of the body ,may alter muscle tone ,accelerate metabolism ,modify breathing, etc.

From the moment when medicine, particularly psychiatry after World War II have begun to
use music in the treatment of war veterans there has been a rapid development of music
therapy. Evolution went on and changed music classes in the whole therapy, the program, its
implementation and the competency of the leading music therapist. Prior to 1940 the year when
music therapy was part of the so-called active therapy, which role was to fill the long hours of
convalescence, and so was important as an ancillary and subordinate instrument to treat the
symptoms. Today music therapy is considered to be one of the forms or tools of
psychotherapy. According to Kratochwil psychotherapy is intended to correct dysfunction of the
body as a means of psychological words, facial expressions, silence, emotional ties, learning,
manipulation of the environment and others.3 Among the measures listed there is the art and
within there is the music. In music therapy medicinal effect on patients is exerted by Schwabe,
by different components and types of music, and also the varied forms of receiving and
practicing. There are few structural elements of a musical work, such as rhythm, melody,
dynamics, harmony, timbre, tempo, and others. The impact of these elements of music on
humans may be important for stimulating the psychosomatic functions, shaping the course of
psycho-physical tensions and relaxations.4

Various techniques of music therapy use various elements to achieve therapeutic effects, for
example, meter and tempo in kinesitherapy, in chore therapy rhythm and melody in singing
therapy. Extensive music literature allows to choose different songs in terms of duration, style,
type, direction of melody, texture and executive apparatus. Selecting music tracks of a certain
influence on a patient requires respective spheres of competence, a great experience,
knowledge of individual needs and circumstances socjopsychological circumstances from the
therapist. Music therapy understood as a practical activity is a procedure aimed to achieve
specific therapeutic goals. It can lead to results only if it is conducted systematically and
methodically. Despite the thousand-year observation and experience in the field of therapeutic
effects of music specialists have not yet managed to create a theoretically well-established
methods of music therapy. They grow on the field of various psychological concepts, which can
be very simply derived from psychoanalysis, learning theory - the so-called behavioral
psychotherapy and existential philosophy assumptions - humanistic psychotherapy.5 According
Galińska, most previous music centers in the world comes from psychoanalytic principles. This
approach assumes that neurotic symptoms are rooted in early childhood experiences which

2
J. Wierszyłowski, Psychologia muzyki, Warszawa 1981, p.266
3
Kratochwil, Psychoterapia, Warszawa 1974, p. 26-32
4
Ch. Schwabe, Leczenie muzyką chorych z nerwicami i zaburzeniami czynnościowymi, Warszawa 1972, p.9
5
K. Lewandowska, Muzykoterapia dziecięca, Gdańsk 1996, s.45
have been repressed into the subconscious. The chief task of therapy is to facilitate the
abreaction. Music by representatives of this direction allows the patient to meet and experience
the reality inaccessible to rational knowing because it is the easiest to reach the
subconsciousness. Thus, Pontvik for example believes that music penetrates to the deepest
layers of personality, and believes Haischa - is able to express what can not be put into words,
which comes from the subconsciousness.6

Among the many hypotheses put forward for the recognition of the effects of music on human
behavior, the abstract nature of music is listed, which allows to avoid conflicts and emotions.
The probability of this hypothesis is confirmed cases of people with mutism, as well as autistic
children, to whom the music reaches despite the fact that the environment can not make
contact with them verbally. Another hypothesis emphasizes the role of music as a stimulating
and activating the process of imaginative fantasy, and highlights yet another similarity occurring
between the 'structural dynamics', music and emotion, which allows humans to call the music
harmonized with its processes of voltage-detente and eventually leads to a balance between the
processes of emotional and physiological unit. According to the latest hypothesis selection of a
suitable stimulus or musical material examined with respect to the current state of the
psychosomatic patient is important for musicians. The principle of compatibility (so-called
principle of 'iso ') requires the selecting music similar to the mood and mental activity of the
patient before the seance and, after obtaining an echo from his hand, you can begin to
modulate the activity of the patient in the intended direction of therapy, with the musical
material of a different nature.7

Bibligraphy:

6
E. Galińska, Podstawy teoretyczne muzykoterapii. Zeszyty Naukowe Wrocław 1978, p.84
7
K. Lewandowska, Muzykoterapia dziecięca, Gdańsk 1996, p.46
1. Bruscia, K. Defining music therapy. Barcelona Publishers 1998

2. Natanson, T. wstęp do nauki o muzykoterapii, ossolineum 1979

3. Unkefer, R.F., Taut, M.H. music harapy In yhe treatment of adults with mental
disorders: theoretical bases and clinical interventions. Barcelona Publishers 2005

4. Wigram, T. , Pedersen, I.N., Bonde, L.O., A comprehensive guide to music therapy.

5. Wierszyłowski, J., Psychologia muzyki, Warszawa 1981

6. Kratochwil, Psychoterapia, Warszawa 1974

7. Schwabe, Ch., Leczenie muzyką chorych z nerwicami i zaburzeniami czynnościowymi,

8. Lewandowska, K., Muzykoterapia dziecięca, Gdańsk 1996