Health Weekly

The musical touch

October 9 - 15, 2013
1161 views
Gulf Weekly The musical touch

Over the past few months, I have been meeting clients who have met with people who call themselves therapists. However, they are not trained therapists.

Since we do not have any licensing procedures in Bahrain for therapists yet, lots of people who need help are suffering. It is partially their own fault too, they are looking for a quick fix without working on themselves.
 
If any therapists says they can heal you without encouraging you to make a change in yourself then you are putting yourself in danger by visiting them.

Medical science also advocates changing your lifestyle, claiming it is essential to treating any disease. I would like to take this opportunity to give you some information regarding a therapy commonly misunderstood, as far as its therapeutic aspect is concerned.

I am not a trained music therapist, but I know its benefit and believe that if someone is using music for therapy purposes, they should have studied psychology and how to use music with different personalities.

The information I am sharing is written with the help of trained music therapist, Aksana Kavaliova.

Music therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music.
 
Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients’ abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives.

Music therapy is a profession that engages the client, using music as the therapeutic agent. Music therapists do not ‘own’ music, however, not everyone who uses music therapeutically can be called a music therapist. They should have developed competencies in three main areas: musical foundations (music history, theory, vocal, piano, guitar and percussion skills, song writing, conducting); clinical foundations (biology and physiology, developmental psychology, psychopathology, psychology of music, theories and principles in therapy, research) and music therapy foundations (history and theory of music therapy, clinical skills such as assessment, treatment planning, implementation, termination, evaluation etc.)

Moreover, before these people start treating patients on their own they should have a minimum of 1,200 hours of clinical experience (supervised six-months internship).

Music therapy is very effective for children with Autism, ADHD, Pervasive Development Disabilities, developmental delays, speech and langugaue impairment, behavioural issues etc.

It is also beneficial for adults suffering with obstetrics, oncology, emotional traumas, alzheimers, critical care, etc. A person does not need to have previous musical experience, to play instruments or sing to benefit from the therapy.

Dr Puja Taneja Malhotra,
Ph.D. Psychology,
Psychological Consultant, Trainer & Coach.







More on Health Weekly