Music Therapy Essay

Music is a crucial part of society and human behaviour. Without it we would be unable to communicate in several different ways. One of the ways it helps with communication is how it helps patients with mental illnesses express how they feel and what they have been through. It has helped me a great deal since I have been struggling with disassociation periods and hallucinations almost all my life. Music helps those with mental health issues and to analyse this, I will be using the method of autoethnography to tell what I have been through and to answer the question of how music helps those with mental health illnesses and what music therapy has done for me.
Music therapy is the use of mediation to achieve individual goals within a therapeutic …show more content…
Her attendance was sporadic and participation passive wishing to only listen, she often became emotionally overwhelmed and tearful during songs. She stated that she often felt “a dark cloud” loomed over her and it prevented her from taking part and playing any instruments as this “dark cloud” affected her motivation and self—confidence, she often said that the therapist was “better at it”. When asked what songs she enjoyed listening to, she told the therapist “where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day” this is very obvious contrast to her “dark cloud” following her. Upon a review in the case study it was noted that Ann arrived early for her appointments, making a noticeable difference in her attendance and social functioning, her mood stabilised with tearful results a rarity, her involvement was more frequent with her playing the xylophone “being timid and barely audible” but giggling at random notes she hit. Gradually Ann’s musical responses became more decisive and had assertive qualities about them and became confident enough to play one of her favourite songs, Country Roads (1971). The re-emerging theme within Ann’s sessions is the abilty to “being able