Group Music Therapy Essay

Schizophrenia is a disorder in which individuals are disconnected from reality, and psychosis may be manifested in either positive or negative symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Positive symptoms include hallucinations (e.g. auditory and visual), delusions and disorganized speech and thought; meanwhile, negative symptoms include reduced affect, and catatonia (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). During the internship at Lenox Hill Hospital’s psychiatric unit, I was able to observe a number of acute schizophrenic patients—these individuals recently relapsed, and were experiencing psychosis. Many of the patients experienced hallucinations, mainly auditory, and delusions. For example, some patients would often giggle to themselves as if to respond to a stimulus that was only perceptible by them; however, one patient, Bob*, would often panic at the manifestation of these voices in his head, and he would often yell for the voices to leave him alone. In regard to …show more content…
Having personally and primarily observed music therapy over the course of the internship, I had noticed that patients were keen to attending the music listening group. On the unit, I learned that patients are not allowed to keep certain belongings with them, as a safety precaution; one of the prohibited items is electronic devices. As it becomes more commonplace to use electronic devices to listen to one’s favorite music, these patients do not have this privilege. It is no surprise then that these patients enjoy attending music listening group, where they are given the opportunity to listen to a song of their choice, as well as open studio, where once again, they may request any