Music Therapy
By Dr. SYED, Ibrahim B.
In 1944
Edgar Cayce, who healed thousands of people while in a trance state, said “Music
is the medicine of the future.”(1)
Currently, some religious scholars in the Islamic world denounce music. This
paper analyzes the Islamic perspective on music and singing, and concludes that
using music as a therapeutic agent in medicine is not forbidden.
Documented evidence shows the power of music can be tapped to heal the body,
strengthen the mind, and unlock the creative spirit. Published papers and
journal articles offer dramatic accounts of how doctors, musicians, and
healthcare professionals use music to deal with everything from anxiety to
cancer, high blood pressure, chronic pain, dyslexia, and even mental illness.
During childbirth, music can relieve expectant mothers’ anxiety and help release
endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and thereby dramatically decrease
the need for anesthesia.
Exposure to sound, music, and other acoustical vibrations can have a lifelong
effect on health, learning, and behavior, for such exposure stimulates learning
and memory and strengthens one’s listening abilities. Music has been used as a
treatment or cure from migraines to substance abuse.
One thousand years ago, Muslim physicians were in the forefront of medicine and
used innovations and therapeutic techniques that are now considered modern. They
treated mental illnesses by confining patients in asylums with twenty-first-century
techniques of music therapy. In Fez, Morocco, an asylum for the mentally ill was
built early in the eighth century, and asylums for the insane were built in
Baghdad (705), Cairo (800), and Damascus and Aleppo (1270). In addition to baths
and drugs, the mentally ill received kind and benevolent treatment, and were
exposed to highly developed music-based therapy and occupational therapy.
Special choirs and live bands were brought daily to present singing, musical,
and comical performances to patients.
Malik al-Mansur Sayf al-Din Qalawun built the al-Mansuri hospital in Cairo
(1284). Its most outstanding characteristic was that, just like today’s advanced
hospitals, provisions were made to entertain patients with light music.
Professional storytellers were appointed to narrate stories and jokes (radio,
TV, and computers perform these functions today). People who called the faithful
to prayer would sing religious songs in their melodious voices before the
morning call to prayer; so that afflicted patients might forget their suffering.
This hospital still renders such services today.
Medical benefits
Music therapy has been lost for more than 1,000 years in the Muslim world and in
the West. In the last three decades or so, the West has shown tremendous
interest in using music therapy to treat several diseases and ailments. No one
knows exactly how music heals, but it looks like our brains are wired to respond
to it.
Dr. Clive Robbins, a co-founder of the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy
at New York University in New York City, says: “There is something intrinsically
musical about the brain’s neurological structure and the muscular function of
the human organism. At a nonverbal level, music activates our minds, integrates
our attention, and seems to help regulate some body functions.”(2) He has
treated a child afflicted with cerebral palsy with music therapy in order to
teach the child how to balance his body, coordinate his limbs’ movement, and
communicate. It has made him motivated and intent.
The right song seems to work in more than one way--distracting us from pain,
boosting one’s mood, reviving old memories, and even prompting the body to match
its rhythms. Music has long been appreciated for its calming effects, but new
research shows it also may have the power to restore and keep us healthy.
Soothing sounds, from Tibetan chants to Beethoven symphonies, are being given
scientific credit for preventing colds, easing labor pains, and even boosting
anti-aging hormones. One study found that surgery patients who listened to
comforting music recovered more quickly and felt less pain than those who did
not. The International Journal of Arts Medicine reports that infants in
intensive care units go home three days earlier, eat better, and gain more
weight if the staff talks and sings to them.
Clinical studies and anecdotal evidence from music therapists suggest that the
sound of music is soothing and comfortable. For example, music is credited with
lowering cortisol, a stress hormone, as much as 25 percent; boosting endorphins,
the body’s natural opiates or feel-good drugs; reducing pain after surgery and
reducing the need for sedatives and pain relievers; making patients recover from
surgery faster and with less pain; possibly preventing colds; raising blood
levels of Immunoglobin A (immune system fighter) to a whopping 14.1 percent; and
easing labor without drugs. It also seems to help premature infants in intensive
care; stimulate the brain’s neural connections and promote children’s spatial
ability and memory; lower blood pressure as much as 5 points, reduce heart rate,
improve cardiac output, and relax muscle tension; and manage non-pharmacological
pain and discomfort.
But these are not all of its benefits, for research shows that music also
improves the mood and mobility of people with Parkinson’s, decreases nausea
during chemotherapy, helps patients participate in medical treatment, decreases
length of hospital stay, relieves anxiety and reduces stress, eases depression,
enhances concentration and creativity, brings positive changes in mood and
emotional states, increases awareness of self and environment, gives a sense of
control over life through successful experiences, provides an outlet for
expressing feelings, improves memory recall and thereby contributes to
reminiscence and satisfaction with life. In addition, music therapy may allow
for emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire
family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way.
Exciting new research suggests that our brains respond to music almost as if it
were medicine. Music may regulate some body functions, synchronize motor skills,
stimulate mind and even make us smarter. According to Suzanne Hanser, D. Ed., a
lecturer at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Social Medicine: “There is no
set prescription or a particular piece of music that will make everyone feel
better or more relax. What counts is musical taste, kinds of memories, feelings
and associations a piece of music brings to mind. Some people relax to classical
music, others like the Moody Blues. The key is to individualize your musical
selections.”(3)
Depression
Research conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine provides some
interesting results. For one group of 20 people aged between 61 and 86, moods
rose and depression fell when they listened to familiar music they selected, on
their own or with the help of a music therapist, while practicing various stress-reduction
techniques. A control group who missed out on the music and the exercises saw no
improvement during the 8-week study period. It helps to perform gentle exercises,
depending on one’s fitness level, while the music plays. Movements should be
light and flowing. Breathe to the music, and gently come to rest when the music
ends.
Insomnia
A study from the University of Louisville School of Nursing Research indicates
that 24 out of 25 people with sleeping problems nod off more quickly, sleep
longer, or get back to sleep more easily after listening to classical and New
Age music. The music must be quiet and melodic, have a slow beat and few, if any,
rhythmic accents. To be effective, one should skip the after-dinner coffee or
tea and avoid telephone calls and TV after 9 p.m. Softer and quieter music
should be played as bedtime approaches. Listen to the music in bed with a tape
recorder or a CD player equipped with a silent on/off switch. One should lie
quietly and take even, deep breaths.
Stress
Many studies have found that soothing melodies can ease anxiety and quiet both
blood pressure and heart rate even under very stressful conditions. Everyday
stress also responds to music. Select music that grabs your attention and, at
the same time, relax your body so that all of your worries slip away. Slow music,
like a love song sung by an accomplished singer or a calm instrumental piece may
be perfect. If a slow tune gives your mind time to fret or obsess, switch to
something livelier. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position and where you will
not be disturbed. After a few minutes, perform a relaxation exercise.
Pain
One Yale University School of Medicine study found that people who listened to
their favorite music while awake during a surgical procedure needed smaller
amounts of sedatives and pain medication than those who did not. Music
therapists and researchers say that physical discomfort from post-operative pain
to chronic aches can be eased with flowing melodies and distracting rhythms.
Dr. Alicia A. Clair, a board-certified music therapist and professor and
director of music therapy at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, says that
music can bring transitory relief from short-term and long-term pain and
discomfort, such as arthritis and osteoporosis. Gentle and soothing stress-reducing
music, which can relax and distract the mind, is helpful. Martha Burke, a board-certified
music therapist in Durham, North Carolina, says: “Gently flowing music or music
with a slow, steady pulse can help promote relaxation, which can then alter a
patient’s perception of pain. Soothing music can lower the heart rate and
breathing rate, leading to further relaxation, and reduces tension that comes
with the pain. We know music is so incredibly complex--it has tempo, rhythm,
melody, and harmony. And so it stimulates the brain in many ways at once.”(4)
Brain damage
Samuel Wong, a Harvard-trained physician based in New York City, plays musical
instruments to help patients with brain damage (from strokes) and Alzheimer’s
reconnect to the world. He is also music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic
and the Honolulu Symphony. “When brain damage (from stroke, Alzheimer’s, etc.)
leaves a devastated mental landscape, music ‘builds a bridge’ that allows
patients to reconnect with the outside world. The study of medicine has informed
my performance of music, and my learning of music has deepened my role in
healing,”(5) he says.
In 1996, researchers at Colorado State University tried giving 10 stroke victims
30 minutes of rhythmic stimulation each day for three weeks. Compared with
untreated patients, they showed significant improvements in their ability to
walk steadily. People with Parkinson’s enjoyed similar benefits.
Stroke victims and patients with Parkinson’s walked more steadily and with
better balance and speed if they practiced while hearing a balanced metrical
beat or a piece of music with a powerful, even beat. A musical beat from any
genre seemed to provide a rhythmic cue, which has a powerful, organizing effect
on the brain’s motor skills--it helps harmonize movement almost at once,
according to researchers.
Scottish researchers have found that a daily dose of music significantly
brightens the moods of institutionalized stroke victims. When daily music
therapy was administered for 12 weeks, the patients were less depressed and
anxious, and more stable and sociable than other patients in the same building.
Music therapy also has proved useful in managing Alzheimer’s and other
neurological diseases.
Sounds of healing
Mitchell L. Gaynor, MD, director of medical oncology and integrative medicine at
New York’s Strang Cancer Prevention Center (affiliated with the Cornell Medical
Center), says: “More doctors are seeing a connection between harmonious sound
and health. If we are around very harmonious people and harmonious vibrations
and harmonious sounds, we begin to feel better. I have never found anything more
powerful than sound and voice and music to begin to heal and transform every
aspect of people’s lives. It can really change people’s lives.”(6)
“We know that music is capable of enhancing the body’s immune function, lowering
heart rate, lowering stress-related hormones like cortisol that raise our blood
pressure and depress our immune systems. It also trims complications after heart
attack, calms anxiety, slows breathing and increases production of endorphins,
the body’s natural painkillers. Eighty percent of the stimuli that reach our
brains come through our ears.” (7)
“Even before birth, music makes a difference. Hearing is the first sense to
develop, when the fetus is only 18 weeks old (Qur’an 32:9). We know that the
unborn child hears for literally half the pregnancy and is affected profoundly
by what it hears. Studies show that music by Mozart and Vivaldi actually can
bring down fetal heart rate, calm brain waves, and reduce the baby’s kicking.
Rock music, on the other hand, appeared to drive fetuses to distraction, greatly
increasing kicking.”(8)
“Our bodies are 70 percent water, and thus excellent conductors for sound and
vibration. We do not hear just with our ears, but literally feel vibration’s
sound with every cell in our body. Disharmony and noise, whether from traffic,
the boss yelling at us about a deadline, or a jackhammer on the street can make
us stressed, depressed, and pessimistic--all of which depress our immune systems.
That is why disharmony can eventually lead to disease.”(9)
“Our own voices are very underutilized healing tools. Singing is a great way to
tap music’s healing power. If you are self-conscious, try chanting. Anyone can
do it, and you can’t do it wrong. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as
far as the incredible power of sound to affect every cell and every organ system
in our bodies.”(10)
The Qur’an says: He fashioned him in due proportion and breathed into him
something of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight
and feeling (and understanding). Little thanks do you give! (32:9, 16:78,
67:23).
Dr. Keith Moore, professor and chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the
University of Toronto’s School of Medicine, writes in his most popular textbook
on human embryology that the human embryo first gets the ears (hearing), then
the eyes (sight), and next the brain (feeling and understanding or mental
faculties) in that order, as mentioned in the above Qur’anic verses.
On the other hand, very loud music with sounds louder than 90 decibels cause
stress and ear damage. Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D., director of the Center for
Applied Cognitive Studies in Charlotte, NC, says: “Very loud music creates an
altered state of consciousness akin to an alcoholic or drug-induced stupor that
can become addictive.”(11)
The
Mozart effect
Don Campbell, a composer, music researcher and teacher, healer and the author of
The Mozart Effect, learned that he had a potentially fatal blood clot in an
artery just below his brain. He shrunk the blood clot from more than 1.5-inch
length to one-eighth of an inch by humming quietly for three to four minutes at
a time, up to seven times a day. He did this for three weeks before he went back
for a second brain scan.
In The Mozart Effect, he writes: “You know music can affect your mood: it can
make you feel happy, enchanted, inspired, wistful, excited, empowered, comforted,
and heroic. Particular sounds, tones and rhythms can strengthen the mind, unlock
the creative spirit, and miraculously, even heal the body. Exposure to sound,
music, and other forms of vibration, beginning in-utero, can have a life long
effect on health, learning and behavior.”(12)
In conclusion, one should listen to a piece of music that one finds
inspirational and uplifting. Dr. Ahmed al-Kadi of Florida’s Akbar Clinic
conducted research on the healing power of listening to Qur’anic recitations.
There is an urgent need for conducting more research on music therapy by Muslim
physicians in the West and in the Muslim world.
Footnotes
1 Cayce, Edgar, “Readings on Music:
Healing”. 1944. A free handout distributed by ARE (Association for Research and
Enlightenment, 215, 67th St., Virginia Beach, VA 23451)
2 Nordoff, Paul and Clive Robbins, Therapy in Music for Handicapped Children,
London, Gollancz, 1992
3 Cromie, William J., "Treating ills with music, from Anxiety to Alzheimer's
from Pain to Parkinson's.” Harvard University Gazette, 22 August 2002
4 Burke, M. & Thomas, K., “Use of Physioacoustic Therapy to Reduce Pain During
Physical Therapy for Total Knee Replacement Patients Over Age 55,” in Music
Vibration and Health, Wigram, T. & Dileo, Ch. (Ed.), Jeffrey Books, Cherry Hill,
NJ, USA, 1997
5 Noonan, Peggy. "Take two tunes and call me in the morning" USA Weekend
Magazine-Health. Dec. 19, 1999
6 Gaynor, M. L., Sounds of Healing: A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of
Sound, Voice, and Music. Broadway Books, 1999
7 Gaynor, quoted by Peggy Noonan, Ibid
8 Gaynor, quoted by Peggy Noonan, Ibid
9 Gaynor, Ibid
10 Gaynor, Ibid
11 Howard, P. J. The Owner’s Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from
Mind-Brain Research. Bard Press, 1999
12 Campbell, D., The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body,
Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit. New York: Avon Books, 1997
References
Alvin, J., Music Therapy. Basic
Books, Inc. Publishers, New York. 1975.
Campbell, D., The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body,
Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit. New York: Avon Books, 1997.
Coleman, J. M. et al. “The Effects of the Male and Female Singing and Speaking
Voices on Selected Physiological and Behavioral Measures on Premature Infants in
the Intensive Care Unit.” Int. J. Arts Med. 5, no. 2 (1997): 4-11.
Gaynor, M. L., Sounds of Healing: A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of
Sound, Voice, and Music. Broadway Books: 1999.
Gerber, S., “The Sound of Healing. Every Culture in the World Has Used Sound and
Music To Heal. Finally We Are Catching Up.” Vegetarian Times, 247 (March 1998):
68-74.
Harrar, S., “Got Pain? Got the Blues? Try the MUSIC CURE.” Prevention 51, no. 18
(1995): 100.
Howard, P. J. The Owner’s Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind-Brain
Research. Bard Press: 1999,
Moore, K. L. and Persaud, T. V. N. The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented
Embryology. Philadelphia: Saunders W. B. Co., 1998.
Syed, I. B. “Medicine and Medical Education.” In Islamic Perspectives in
Medicine, edited by S. Athar. Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1993,
45-56.
Source: fountainmagazine.com
