Music Therapy and Stress: Treating the Adult Client
There are any number of approaches to therapeutic interventions that target adults with a wide range and variety of presenting problems. Some of these therapies are often characterized as "alternative" therapies or as "holistic" therapies (Alternative Medicine Therapies, 2005). Music therapy, as described by Alternative Medicine Therapies (2005), is one such approach to healing that has roots in the ancient past and has even been described by the Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato.
Music therapy has been described by one of its clinical agency practitioners, Prelude Therapy (2005) as one of an assortment of alternative therapies that can be effective in treating a variety of neurological problems exhibited by adults (as well as adolescents and children. Specifically, Prelude Therapy (2005, p. 1) offers the following definition:
Music Therapy is the prescribed use of music and music-related strategies, by a qualified music therapist, to assist or motivate a person towards specific, non-musical goals. Music therapists use their training as musicians, clinicians, and researchers to effect changes in cognitive, physical, communication, social, and emotional skills. Music therapists work in a variety of settings, including educational, medical, psychiatric, wellness, and gerontology facilities.
It is the purpose of this report to examine the usefulness of music therapy specifically in the context of treatment of adults experiencing stress and its related psychological and somatic symptoms. Evidence generated via empirical, scholarly research suggests that music therapy is useful in this and many other contexts and that rendered by a trained clinician, music therapy can reduce stress and anxiety levels, encourage relaxation, ameliorate somatic symptoms, and assist the adult client in returning to normalcy (Bonny, 2002).
Music seems, according to Prelude Therapy...