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Music therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

F. J. Dunne  and
J. A. M. Schipperheijn
F. J. Dunne
Affiliation:
Warley Hospital, Brentwood, Essex
J. A. M. Schipperheijn
Affiliation:
Whittington Hospital, London N19
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Music and medicine have been closely associated for centuries. Indeed, Pythagoras believed that if music were used in daily life in a prescribed manner it would make a salutary contribution to one's health, a concept which led him to investigate the physics of sound and to develop the fundamentals of today's tonal system (Munro & Mount, 1978). During medieval times, music was imbued with significant therapeutic properties and used as a mood altering medium, an aid to digestion, an antidote to poison and as a wound healing stimulant. The idea of using a pure sinusoidal tone at a low frequency has been known for centuries, and in primitive cultures instruments and sounds were used to treat psychosomatic disorders (Skille et al, 1989). Today, music is acknowledged as a therapeutic modality, with scientific evidence attesting to its psychological and physiological effects.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 14 , Issue 5 , May 1990 , pp. 285 - 286
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989

References

Gloag, D. (1989) Music and disability: music will benefit disabled people. British Medical Journal, 298, 402–403.Google Scholar
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Porchet-Munro, S. (1988) Music therapy in support of cancer patients. Recent Results in Cancer Research, 108, 289–294.Google Scholar
Skille, O., Wigram, T. & Weeks, L. (1989) Vibroacoustic therapy: the therapeutic effect of low frequency sound on specific physical disorders and disabilities. Journal of British Music Therapy, 3, 6–10.Google Scholar
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