Music helps people balance their emotions

At the workshop “Culture and psychological balance therapies” held on July 24 and 25, 2008 at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Dr. Tran Thu Huong, lecturer of Psychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, presented a paper discussing music therapy for disabled children. This is a psychological therapy that is still quite new in Vietnam but is considered quite effective in helping disabled children integrate into normal life. We had a short conversation with Dr. Tran Thu Huong on the sidelines of the workshop.

Reporter (PV): Madam, what kind of disabled children is the art therapy method you presented at the workshop aimed at?

- Dr. Tran Thu Huong (Dr. TTH): In my article, I only talk about the concept of disabled children in the most general way. These are children who have some physical defect that leads to a significant reduction in the performance of some functions compared to normal children. We know that disabilities are caused by many reasons: congenital, post-natal trauma, poisoning during pregnancy; accidents; caused by other diseases;… And there are also many different types of disabilities: disabilities in movement, disabilities in sensory organs (blindness, dumbness, deafness, etc.), intellectual disabilities (developmental delay), and other types of disabilities.

At this workshop, I discussed the use of art methods mainly for children with intellectual disabilities and sensory disabilities (blindness, muteness).

PV: So what is the goal of music therapy for children with disabilities?

- Dr. TTH: Teaching children to feel and express the emotions that are suppressed in their bodies, helping them develop better their ability to express and communicate, expanding their contact with others and the outside world. This allows children with disabilities to have a life somewhat close to a normal life.

PV: What scientific theoretical basis confirms the effectiveness of using music to bring mental stability to disabled children?

- Dr. TTH: You know, the experience of sound is recorded very early in our mental life, from the time we are in the womb. Scientists have proven that: Sound participates in the development of the child thanks to the early relationship established between mother and child. Therefore, if during pregnancy, the mother pays attention to regularly listening to melodious, stable and bright music, then the normal child after birth will have good premises for its development.

From the moment a child is born, the most used and most used way to approach him is music. It is the voices of the people around him, the richness of the loudness of the voice, the specific duration that creates sinusoids of intonation, rhythm and the movement of the whole body. These things attract the child's attention and encourage him to change and orient himself to the world of verbal communication. This basis helps us to easily explain the formation of emotions in children, the meaning of those emotions and the structure of the child's emotional world.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2008/8/11/p7252411-large.jpg" border="0" alt="Dr. Tran Thu Huong (Photo: Thanh Ha)" title="Dr. Tran Thu Huong (Photo: Thanh Ha)" width="320" align="right" ]

The words that surround the child represent some content of the messages transmitted. The child can be nurtured from the initial musical symbols within it, very quickly develop the language messages it receives, is absorbed by adults, and establish communication relationships based on the experiences it learns. According to the author Peretz (2003), the sounds that create melodies express human emotions: love, anger, revenge, nostalgia, and all that people feel in the process of living and existing.

For children with disabilities, listening to sounds as well as repeating sounds and rhythms will create conditions for children with disabilities and children in difficult circumstances to adapt better to the ever-changing environment and express themselves. More specifically, through music, children with disabilities can be created, comforted, expressed and can become creative. Like normal children, children with disabilities have the right to be creative and music is one of their creations, one of the forms of creative impulses, sometimes very difficult to see but always alive. Thus, music gradually becomes the most useful means and tool for children with disabilities in the process of establishing social relationships.

PV: Can you describe the specific ways in which music therapy works with children with disabilities?

- Dr. TTH: There are several ways in music therapy as follows: teaching children to feel and express themselves through an object that makes sounds: children listen to it, listen to others, play with others; teaching children to learn rhythmic passages and reproduce them; observing the expression of others; asking children to reproduce a piece of music; helping children to understand music and learn lyrics; remembering sounds, lyrics; teaching children how to immerse their whole body in capturing their sensations, their feelings, their imagination and emotions.

PV: So what is the most important point in music therapy?

- Dr. TTH: The emphasis in the impact of music is to create a response in children, and open an effective channel of communication. Not yet music, but right in the sounds created and perceived, we and children can start a dialogue, an exchange, a guidance to break down barriers in communication. In other words, music therapy can be necessary for children with disabilities, because children can use music as a way of expressing and communicating with the world around them.

A key concept that is mentioned in the process of music therapy is the concept of harmony. In different ways of all world music, the harmony of music must explain the harmony of the universe, of nature and the harmony of human beings. Therefore, a rich timbre, a beautiful melody, an exciting rhythm are all valuable means to help children harmonize with themselves and with the world. This is the true, profound role of music therapy. Music exists in this way and has a special meaning in treating mental and physical injuries and disorders in disabled children.

PV: So is music therapy used as a separate treatment method or must it be combined with other treatments to achieve the desired effect?

- Dr. TTH: Music therapy cannot be used alone but must be combined with other therapeutic methods (such as relaxation therapy, ...) to form a sensory approach, aiming to relieve psychological difficulties through sounds and melodies, while supporting the reduction of injuries, physical and psychosomatic disorders. Music therapy is a technique in art therapy.

According to Winnicott, music therapy, like other art therapies, can lead children with disabilities to participate actively and creatively in social relationships. This method requires less time than traditional speech therapy methods.

PVHave you personally participated in any music therapy sessions for disabled children and what were the results?

- Dr. TTH: Not yet for children with disabilities. I am "risking" using this therapy in the treatment and care of a mildly autistic child and an aggressive child, but I have only stopped at letting the children listen to sounds, listening to instrumental music for children. Every time I work with children, I often turn on music to create a sense of peace for them in a space filled with bright, gentle melodies, while letting them play games such as clay modeling, drawing, etc. It can be said that music helps children calm down and helps me establish a connection with them. Through that, children have learned a necessary principle of discipline, expanded their world of contact and become more gentle. Currently, these two cases are still being continued.

PV: How is music therapy applied in Vietnam today?

- Dr. TTH: In Vietnam today, there are not many facilities, nor many experts using music to treat psychologically traumatized groups in general and disabled children in particular as a scientific therapy. However, from a cultural perspective, this therapy has been used for a long time in folklore. It is very natural. Those are the lullabies of our grandmothers and mothers when we were children. It permeates us and helps us build deep connections with the natural world and with society.

PV: In your opinion, should music therapy be included in research and taught as a professional skill for psychology students in the future?

- Dr. TTH: It is indeed advisable. In fact, this therapy is considered one of the many techniques of psychotherapy. Guiding psychology students to understand, master and skillfully use techniques and treatment methods for psychologically damaged subjects in society is the basic goal in training future clinical psychologists in the Department of Psychology.

PV: One final question, in your opinion, can music therapy be applied to other groups of people besides children with disabilities or in some other specific cases?

- Dr. TTH: Music therapy can be used with anyone, not just with children with disabilities or with children in difficult circumstances. We ourselves, whenever we have certain stresses that are difficult to relieve, have problems that are difficult to solve, ... can use music to calm us down. Music helps us to balance our own emotions.

- PV:Thank you for the chat.