Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that many aspects of human behavior are centered on raising self-esteem and a universal drive to defeat death by living up to the standards set by society (Pyszczynski, Greenberg and Solomon, 1999). These psychological structures give a person protection from the potential for anxiety brought about by their awareness of the inevitability of death. Worldwide research has provided support for this theory. Research on these theories is based on the hypothesis that since self-esteem can protect a person from anxiety, then building up a personÆs self-esteem should reduce their anxiety level. Self-esteem has been shown in studies to covary inversely with anxiety, and also that threats to self-esteem lead to a state of anxiety. Studies have shown that subjects who raise their level of self-esteem report less anxiety in response to viewing graphic depictions of death. Depressed patients with low self-esteem have been shown to respond strenuously to being reminded of their mortality.
People have been found to use a variety of techniques to deny their mortality (Pyszczynski, Greenberg and Solomon, 1999). Dual-Process theory proposes that people defend against conscious thoughts of death using proximal defenses to remove these thoughts either by suppressing them with distractions, or pushing them off for the future. Unconscious thoughts of death are controlled by distal defenses using symbolic self-concepts and culture-based reality.
The proximal defense system of distraction to avoid thoughts of death would seem to be an appropriate theory within which to try music therapy, particularly in hospital patients who have just undergone life-threatening surgeries and so have had to deal with the possibility of the reality of their death. Music can be relaxing and soothing, calming the nerves and, as has been shown experimentally, reducing physiological signs of stress such as elevated blood pr...