• Music Therapy Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder can manifest itself in the form of insomnia, nightmares, emotional detachment from others, panic attacks and repeated haunting memories of the stressful incident. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be successfully treated with psychotherapy, medicine, or both and the patient can soon become normal. Some people find music therapy, drum therapy, art therapy, relaxation therapies (such as yoga and meditation, beach therapy), hypnosis, etc. very useful in overcoming the stress.

Music therapy has been in existence for many years now and has been beneficial to a large number of people with a wide variety of stress-related disorders. Music therapy has been proven to be very successful in reducing stress. It has been proven to decrease behavioral problems, improve communication and expression of emotion, improve pain management, and most importantly, impart a feeling of physiological and spiritual well being into the patient.

Music is a noninvasive means of pain management. It has the ability to cure and heal wounded minds. It has been proved to be beneficial to those people suffering from eating disorders, drug or alcohol addiction, or anorexia. Music therapy provides the necessary sensory stimulation to facilitate mind and body co-ordination.

Music therapy sessions include music making such as singing or drumming. It improves an individual’s capacity to sing, play musical instruments, create and play music, and also encourages patients to write their own lyrics for a song. Playing instruments, singing, and writing lyrics gives the patient a mode to give vent to their pent-up feelings, which are responsible for inducing stress in the patient. With repeated sessions, all the stress bottled-up within the patient’s mind gets released and the patient begins to feel better. 

Music, as a form of expression, is used to provide a non-verbal outlet for all the unpleasant and unexpressed emotions that the patient might have held back for a very long period of time. Drumming is yet another way to provide a non-verbal outlet for all the unpleasant emotions. The patient gets a chance to spew away all the aggression and anger that might have developed due to the traumatic experience in his life. It is a healthy means of releasing both the physical as well as emotional tension from the patient’s body and mind. It also improves mind and body coordination.