While there is no cure for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), many of the disorder's troubling physical symptoms are minimized or even completely alleviated by a wide variety of therapies. Conventional therapies such as medication are perhaps not always as useful in healing the aspects of the illness that might be referred to as injuries to the soul or spirit. Severe, repeated trauma, especially during childhood, sometimes leads to a state of spiritual injury so severe that more than a few psychiatrists actually refer to its results as soul murder. Music therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder provides one possible way to address such almost indefinable yet very real damage.
Music Therapy for Symptoms of Trauma
In the U.S., early Quaker-run mental institutions often had a music room where agitated patients could find at least a temporary respite from obsessive thoughts and delusions. Physicians often scoffed at such "non-scientific" treatments, however. Nonetheless, even traditional medical practitioners began to use music to speed healing of physically injured soldiers in Veteran's Administration hospitals during the World War II era. It is possible that as patients' minds calmed, their shattered bodies were able to mend more quickly.
Many Vietnam veterans found some measure of relief from PTSD symptoms by participating in music therapy as well as in more traditional talking and pharmacological treatments. Reports of less frequent nightmares, insomnia, depression, and agitation provided data to support the theory that a PTSD sufferer's quality of life might be improved by this relatively simple, non-invasive technique.
The group music therapy sessions of Dr. Mary Rorro at the southern New Jersey James Howard Outpatient Clinic are an oft-cited example of the successful therapeutic use of music in PTSD cases. Listening to certain sounds may well stimulate and perhaps eventually improve damaged neural pathways in specific brain structures, including the hippocampus, which is observed to be smaller in PTSD sufferers than in the general population.
However, it is not known whether the same level of music therapy success can be achieved with veterans of the present war. Since many of today's war survivors have suffered severe physical injury to the brain as well as the development of PTSD, they may not be able to respond to music in quite the same fashion as survivors of previous wars.
Different Cultures Respond to Different Types of Music Therapy
In areas of Kenya terrorized by war and high levels of enforced child prostitution, traditional shamanistic drumming seems to provide a great deal of help to traumatized individuals. Children seem to respond particularly well to this type of drumming. Evidently, the repeated rhythmic patterns may alter brain waves and assist in both the release of horrific memories and the debilitating emotions associated with them. Such sessions are often combined with psychosocial drama, where the traumatic events are reenacted in front of an audience by an acting troupe.
In the West, slower, low-pitched music performed live without lyrics or spoken words is generally considered most effective in PTSD treatment for adults. The aforementioned Dr. Rorro uses the viola in her well-regarded sessions. Loud, thumping rock 'n roll has a tendency to agitate rather than soothe; thus classical music is usually preferred for therapeutic purposes.
Avoid Do-it-Yourself PTSD Music Therapy
Some troubled souls have successfully used at-home music therapy to help them control and transcend the symptoms of various medical problems. In her autobiography Dancing on My Grave, ballerina Gelsey Kirkland claimed to have conquered severe cocaine addiction partly through daily immersion in the creative arts, including listening to and interpreting classical music.
Notwithstanding her success, rushing out to purchase piles of classical CDs or downloading your favorite tunes on your own is definitely not the answer for trauma survivors. Such behavior might actually make PTSD worse, just as listening to some types of music has been found to trigger musicogenic epileptic seizures in susceptible individuals. The problem lies in the nature of most traumatic memories, which may be quite indistinct, fragmented, or even completely repressed via dissociative techniques.
Music may prompt the sudden release or abrupt clarification of these memories, leading to the creation or exacerbation of myriad symptoms. In worst-case scenarios, suicidal ideation or (more rarely) the development of psychotic thought processes could arise. Therefore, initial music therapy should always be attempted only under the guidance and with the support of a trained music therapist. Once emotions and memories are appropriately managed, other forms of music therapy may be safe and effective. Learning to play an instrument can be an amazingly therapeutic experience, as charities like "Guitars for Vets" understand very well.
While it is important to keep in mind that no one PTSD therapy is appropriate for everyone, music therapy does appear to provide a viable option for many. Used in conjunction with more conventional medical therapies, it may not only alleviate some physical symptoms of the condition but also grant the patient an enjoyable method to mend the injured soul and pacify the desperate spirit.
German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler "believed that great art [is] the only antidote to madness" (original quote as paraphrased in Kirkland, p. 277). It may be that PTSD therapists can no longer afford to concentrate solely on electrochemical malfunctions and shrunken or deformed brain structures, especially for those who cannot always bear to verbalize the horrors through which they've passed. Perhaps "art remains the one way possible of speaking truth..." (Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book)
Sources
- Akombo, Dr. David Otieno, "The Use of Drumming as Cure for Children with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)," shamanicdrumming.com, 2003.
- Bricklin, Mark, The Practical Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, New York: MJF Books, Rodale Press, 1983.
- "DRC: Drumming for Deliverance," news.irinnews.org, January 2011.
- Kirkland, Gelsey and Lawrence, Greg, Dancing on My Grave, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1986.
- Sancar, Feyza, " Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General Overview)," serendip.brynmawr.edu.
- Shengold, Dr. Leonard, Soul Murder: The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation, New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1989.
- Swanson, Abbie Fentress, "Music Helps Vets Control Symptoms of PTSD," wqxr.org, March 8, 2010.
- Whitaker, Robert, Mad in America, Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2001.
- Browning quote from p. 1575 of Quotations section in Funk & Wagnalls New Comprehensive International Dictionary of the English Language, Vol. I, New York: Publishers International Press, J.G. Ferguson Publishing Company, 1966, 1968.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her mental health should contact a mental health professional for advice.
Amy Sillup - I have a B.S. in Chemistry from Delaware Valley College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. I have worked as a ...
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