Positive and Negative Effects of Music upon Mental Health - Essay Example

Positive and Negative Effects of Music upon Mental Health Introduction Since time immemorial, humans have been known to be musical. Music is among the few activities which involve the use of the whole brain (Gebhardt& von Georgi 2007). The brain reads music differently from non-musical tones and connects this to numerous parts of the brain. Music is said to be intrinsic to all cultures, having positive effects in the improvement of memory and focus of attention in addition to improving physical development and coordination. Among the critical areas of human health that has benefitted from music is mental health, though this does not exonerate music from deterring efforts towards recovery in mental health. Indeed, there are negative effects which have been identified from scientific studies linked to music. This essay evaluates both the positive and negative effects that music has on human health, specifically focusing on mental health. Music Therapy and its History Music has been found to be beneficial to human health. Today, based on these benefits, music has found application in hospitals to help patients relax and ease or relieve pain, anxiety and confusion. Even counselling greatly leverages on music. Thus, the practice has evolved to a fully fledged clinical discipline widely used to offer support to people affected by disability, injury or illness as noted by the British Association for Music Therapy, BAMT (2015), referred to as music therapy. With this regard, people use a wide range of instruments and their voices in creating music language which give a reflection of their physical and emotional condition, thus enabling them “to build connections with their inner selves and with others around them” (BAMT 2015). This could be calming or exciting, poignant or joyful; it could stir memories, powerfully resonating with human feelings, helping in expression and communication with other people. As such, it has been beneficially used among varied populations including the developmentally disabled, the mentally ill, the elderly and those with multiple disabilities. It has been noted to be effective among children with mixed diagnosis. Some benefit has also been noted among those with emotional challenges. This use of music is no news to mankind. Historically, music was used in healing ceremonies. Such were the times when illness was considered to be a result of interaction of magico-religious forces. Thus, music and dance was used in this context to exorcise diseases and heal wounds (Goodman 2011). Aigen (2014) cites Kahum papyrus as the oldest documented form of medical practice in which incantations were used to heal the sick. Come the 6th Century, Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher, founded music therapy where the divine significance of music was critical in the restoration of health and harmony. Even by the Middle Ages, humans still considered disease as punishment for sin, with the mentally ill, for example, considered as being possessed by evil spirits. As the 18th century was drawing to an end, scientists began earnest investigation on the effect that music had on human body. This resulted in the comprehension of the effect that music had on functions such as respiratory rate, blood pressure, vibratory effects and cardiac output among others. With increased popularity, music therapy research towards the end of the 19th Century positively correlated music to psychological and physiological responses. In fact, it was around this time that music therapy emerged as a profession, postulated to have its origins in psychiatric hospitals. By the time of World War II, music had been appreciated as having positive effect on human health, used to soothe wounded soldiers in hospitals. Today, music therapy has been widely adopted worldwide because of the benefits it brings to human health. However, not all music types have favourable effects. Salman (2015) argues that the benefits of music therapy cited by the British Association for Music Therapy could partly be due to more emphasis on changes in overt behaviour as opposed to subjective determination of experiences. When too jarring or loud, music could be distracting, competing for attention on the subject matter of focus. As such, scholars such as Campbell and Doman (2011) argue for consideration of the type of music when undertaking music therapy. Music with racist, sexist or violent content could have negative impact on vulnerable children. Studies have also associated heavy metal type of music with psychiatric disorders, substance abuse and suicidal behaviours (Aigen 2014). Thus, the type of music is a critical consideration in selecting the music to be used for music therapy. Music in Mental Health Mental illness is a major healthcare concern with no prevention documented because it is a result of combined factors. Depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are among the most common mental illnesses with severe effects. These conditions are associated with hallucinations, delusions, disordered speech and thinking, extreme apathy, social withdrawal, emotional unresponsiveness and lack of initiative (Lake 2007). Because of these numerous symptoms, many different therapeutic approaches have been adopted, at times simultaneously. Medicinal, psychological and sociological approaches to treatment have been postulated to contain the changes in brain chemistry, characteristic of mental illness according to Butters, Webster and Hill (2011). The aim is to contain the identified symptoms within considerable limits. Just as in other health disciplines, music therapy has also been used in mental illness. The maiden studies in music therapy with regards to mental disease patients could be traced back to the early 1900s. During this time, Aigen (2014) observes that music was undertaken as a consolatory activity by musicians in numerous mental hospitals. Since then, this has widely spread throughout the world.The significant effect of music on psyche, and by extent, on mental disorders, remains unchallenged based on the idea that since music has been an integral component of cure process among numerous cultures over years, it should as well play a crucial therapeutic role in mental disorder dynamics. BAMT (2015) shares in these sentiments citing music as offering alternative therapy to patients undergoing counselling and psychotherapy. It is useful to those who find it difficult to express, differentiate between or connect with emotions. According to Gebhardt and von Georgi (2007), this follows neurological studies largely citing the impact of music on, not only the cortex, but even the simple emotional systems. Indeed, differential mental disorder patients would exhibit different emotional modulation. As such, the impact of music in mental health setting could have either be positive or negative. The Positive Effect of Music in Mental Health Music promotes stress response Stress has been greatly linked to mental illness, coming from the perception of the environment being taxing or endangering the well being of the involved individual. This follows the observation that stress alters brain connectivity (Simon 2013). This hampers response to flight and fight stimuli, further weakening the capability to calm down. This could be considered as detrimental to mental health as it works the reverse of the treatment for mental health. According to Goodman (2011), the hypothalamus is intertwined closely with the sympathetic nervous system, SNS and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal, HPA, the two main stress systems. These two systems work together to orchestrate numerous physiological and psychological processes to maintain the homeostasis that is destabilised courtesy of stress. To measure the degree of this destabilisation, saliva samples would be used to measure hormone cortisol for HPA and salivary alpha-amylase, sAA for SNS. Additionally, it has been noted that stress induces chemicals which impair prefrontal cortex functioning. Acute stress causes chemicals, specifically norepinephrine and cortisol, to mute the reflective tendencies thus foster aggression (Chanda & Levitin 2013). The pro-inflammatory and neurotoxic effect of stress have been closely associated with negative health outcomes, including increasing susceptibility and severity of depression, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia among many others. Music has been noted to reduce stress and even further reduce the impact that stressors have on the mentally ill that could deter their health. In a study relating music to stress response, Thoma et al. (2013) note that listening to music has beneficial effects on the functioning of HPA axis. In particular, it reduces HPA stress axis activation. There were significant changes in cortisol levels when listening to music in medical interventions. Chanda and Levitin (2013) who critically reviewed the neurochemistry of music from various studies, also support this argument, specifically citing music with low pitch, slow tempo and no lyrics as having been greatly related to stress and anxiety reduction among patients, including the mentally ill. During medical procedures, passive listening to music considered as relaxing and soft have been linked to reduced serum cortisol. This argument on the specificity of therapeutic music has also been documented by Simon (2013) in a report on stress. With this regard, music, specifically the classical type, slows down the heart and pulse rate, lowers blood pressure and decreases stress hormone levels. The effect of this on mentally ill persons would be to enable them cope well in a stressful environment and further reduce the levels of the chemicals that promote stress and thus detrimental to mental health. In fact, findings showing that cortisol levels reduce when people are exposed to music, as documented by Chin and Rickard (2014), serve as an indicator that music relieves stress. Otherwise, cortisol levels would have been released in greater amounts as the body fights against stress. As such, listening to music could be said to be beneficial in promoting stress response of which the mentally ill would be among the great beneficiaries. Music calms and relaxes Relaxing music is known to induce sleep. In fact, BAMT (2015) observes that relaxing classical music provides a cheap, easy and safe solution to insomnia. This would be particularly true for background music therapy. According to Baker and Bor (2008), this involves music heard between an average of 8 to 12 hours in a day as the routine of a hospital to allay anxiety and relax. This works by reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system which in turn causes a drop in anxiety, respiratory rate and blood pressure. The associated distraction from thoughts and muscle relaxation positively correlates to sleep. This benefit is useful in mental health as patients are known to face numerous physical and psychological pressures (Lake 2007). Easing such pressures could positively influence their health. Music has a positive effect in reducing stress and promoting relaxation. With this regard, slow, classical music has been noted to play a significant role. As a stress reliever, it could be used while undertaking normal activities. Campbell and Doman (2011) explained how this works by first examining the physical relaxation effect of music. Here, music causes tense muscles to relax making it possible for one to release part of the tension carried on a stressful period of time. By relaxing tense muscles and reducing negative emotions, music offers the appropriate therapy for the mentally ill. Secondly, music helps in stress-relieving activities. This has been particularly associated with activities such as yoga, guided imagery or self-hypnosis which makes one feel energised while exercising and for post-exercise recovery. Finally, music fights back negative emotions. This is particularly so for upbeat tunes which takes the mind off the stressor bringing the feeling of optimism and positivity (Chin & Rickard 2014). Combined together, these effects cause a relief on the mentally ill, enabling them to cope up better with their condition. Music and mood improvement It is widely said that music heals the soul. Indeed, in almost every culture, this holds as many people have found music to lift their spirits. Salman (2015) observes from previous studies that some specific musical tones, when combined with mind-body or somatic therapies, offer non-specific mood benefits. Listening to music, specifically with soothing sounds, could curb the severity of depressed mood, common among the mentally ill. This could be explained from the argument that listening to music has beneficial impact on endorphins and other neurotransmitters which mediate in the improvement of depressed mood. Baker and Bor (2008) confirm this argument from their analysis of the psychological effect of various music types on the young people, noting that music has psychotherapeutic benefits, citing Vivaldi, Mozart, bluegrass, reggae, Salsa and Klezmer as some of the music variants which bring cheer and brightness. It is this cheer and brightness that serves an important role in mental health, providing a solution to the social withdrawal symptoms and also curbing the associated depression. A similar effect arises from improvement on emotions of the mentally ill. This is deduced from the observation that use of music in everyday life, UofM influences everyday states such as arousal, vigilance and concentration (Gebhardt, Kunkel & von Georgi 2014). This has been noted to be important for patients with mental disorders, such as the borderline personality disorder, where it would be used to influence regulation, substituting for non-suicidal self-harming tendencies. Moreover, negative emotions negatively impact on moods. Music provides a solution to this, with the genre with upbeat tunes noted to take off the mind from whatever could be stressing a person at a given time (Gebhardt & von Georgi 2007). Considering the argument by Lake (2007) that mentally ill persons exhibit greater tendencies of antisocial behaviours which makes them isolate themselves and have their thoughts drift far away, this category of patients could wander away into stressful thoughts which negatively impact on their moods. However, music releases stress and causes one to be more positive and optimistic, in turn reducing negative emotions. A reduction in negative emotions improves on moods which benefits mental health. Music and its positive effect on learning and IQ Learning disability is one of the key challenges facing the mentally ill. According to Butters, Webster and Hill (2010), such persons find it challenging to read, write and speak, which could be a major barrier when they seek for services. As such, they would have to be reminded of appointments or things they were to do and keep time. This leads the mentally ill to be dependent on other people in their daily living. Playing an instrument or listening to music could improve learning among this category of patients. Music has specifically been noted to enhance specific types of higher brain functions including spatial-temporal reasoning, emotional intelligence, mathematical abilities and literacy skills. Campbell and Doman (2011) explain this argument using the Mozart effect which states that listening to classical music, specifically Mozart, has an effect of enhancing cognitive test performance. This argument has been further expounded by Baker and Bor (2008) who deduces from numerous studies that this applies to any music as long as it is personally enjoyable. This means that if the mentally ill play music instruments or listen to music, their cognitive skills would improve. This would mediate in their learning deficiencies. Even further, music progresses memory development. To understand how music affects memory, a literature review by Campbell and Doman (2011) showed that Mozart music having 60 beats per minute activates both the right and left brain. It is this simultaneous action of the right and left brain that maximises learning and fosters information retention. Whereas the information of study activates the left brain, music would activate the right brain. Similarly, singing or playing an instrument, which are activities that engage both brain sides, promote the information processing capability of the brain. In fact, the literature reviewed by Chanda and Levitin (2013) in a study of the neurochemistry of music shows that listening to music aids in recalling information. This operates in a simple way: the information that was learned when listening to a song would be recalled by mentally playing the song. In fact, musical training has been noted to be more effective with this regard than just listening to classical music (Aigen 2014). This is a critically positive aspect with regards to mental health where learning disability is the norm, an aspect that could be of great significance to children with mental disorders. Music as an immune booster Mental illness comes with its challenges of infectious diseases. In fact, Butters, Webster and Hill (2010) observe that a majority of mentally ill persons die earlier than an average person because of such infections. Some of these conditions include diabetes, respiratory diseases and varied infectious diseases. Severe mental disorder is considered as a predictor of high infection rates for diseases like hepatitis and HIV AIDS. This could be attributed to the socioeconomic disadvantage that faces this category of people and their greater affinity for risky behaviours like intravenous substance abuse. In fact, people with schizophrenia have been noted to be at a much greater risk of being infected with tuberculosis as compared to the general population because of factors such as poor nutrition, previous period spent in institutions and substance abuse history (Lake 2007). Thus, the mentally ill are people who face an intense risk of contracting varied infections. The immunity that comes with music would thus be beneficial in mental health with this regard. Scientists have noted that some specific kinds of music create positive emotional experience which causes some immune-boosting hormones to be secreted Chin & Rickard (2014). This contributes to the reduction of illness causing factors. Moreover, the decreased level of the hormone associated with stress, cortisol, as a result of listening to music boosts immunity in the sense that high cortisol levels deter immune response. Evidence has been given on the immune-boosting capability of music where Gebhardt, Kunkel & von Georgi (2014) cite a 2014 study which showed that Mozart K 448 caused a reduction in seizure recurrence in addition to epileptiform discharges among children with epilepsy. Similarly, music has been said to deter early-stage tinnitus from growing into a chronic condition. It is this immune-boosting capability of music that could be borrowed in mental health to curb the associated infections. Related to the immune boosting effect of music is the fact that listening to music lowers the need for drugs. Mentally ill patients usually have numerous drugs prescribed to them so as to curb the associated undesirable symptoms. Ingestion of large quantities of drugs could turn out toxic to the body thus causing secondary complications (Butters, Webster & Hill 2010). As a solution to this, listening to music could reduce the amount of drugs that mentally patients would be required to take in due to the substitution effect it has with this regard. This postulate is supported by Chanda and Levitin (2013) whose review of studies on the engagement of music with neurochemical systems concluded that listening to music lowers the need for opiate drugs to contain postoperative pain. This follows the understanding that listening to music stimulates the brain to release endogenous opioid peptides. Even though the study did not explicitly link music listening benefit to mental health, it would be appreciated that the opiate effect of music could be applied in mental health where patients suffer varied forms of physiological pain so as to contain the condition and at the same time curb on the amount of medicine ingested that could cumulatively be toxic to the body. Social affiliation impact of music Music arouses social affiliation, a significant positive effect in mental health. One of the major undesirable symptoms associated with mental illness as cited by Butters, Webster and Hill (2010) is antisocial behaviour. In fact, antisocial personality disorder, a chronic type of mental disorder, causes the patient to disregard what is right or the feelings of others. It causes the patients to be harsh, law violators and violent, with no signs of remorse. This could hamper the path to recovery for the mentally ill. Scientists have noted that synchronised activities like music and dance advance the feeling for social connection, particularly bonding and interpersonal trust. When rhythmic activities such as music are presented by groups of people, synchrony tendencies result, a reflection of the social coordination effect. Chanda and Levitin (2013) argue that vasopressin and oxytocin, the neuropeptides responsible for the regulation of social behaviour, could be the possible mediators of the social effect caused by music. However, in this study, the researchers only explore the effects of oxytocin, leaving that of vasopressin unexplored. Released by the pituitary gland, oxytocin organises the social behaviour of an individual. This would be beneficial in curbing the antisocial behaviours among the mentally ill and thus foster recovery. Similarly, it could also be considered that music has been used to de-stigmatize the mentally ill. Through various music performances, people could be enlightened on the plight of the mentally ill and thus arouse the positive supportive attitude towards the mentally ill in the society. Salman (2015) reports of a song project by Maudsley and South London NHS Foundation Trust aimed at raising awareness of the experiences of the mentally ill such as those suffering from depression and schizophrenia. The project which involves classically-trained pianists and singers seeks to use classical songs as a form of art in public performance collaborations to reduce stigma associated with mental illness. The compositions give real-life experiences of patients of mental illness and the experiences of their families and caregivers, just to show proper ways of handling the mentally ill to aid in their healing. The Negative Effect of Music in Mental Health Delusions and Hallucinations Even with these numerous benefits of music in mental health, it has been noted that music could also have detrimental effects. Specific music genres have been noted to be detrimental in mental health. Loud music has specifically been associated with delusions and hallucinations. According to Campbell and Doman (2011), some levels of music could negatively impact on human health, with loud music seemingly causing the mentally ill to experience delusions or hallucinations. Perhaps, the explanation by Chanda and Levitin (2013) on the chemistry of schizophrenia explains how the body functioning of a mentally ill patient negatively reacts to loud music. With this regard, it is noted that genetics, to a great extent, determine the brain usage of specific chemicals. Schizophrenic patients suffer from a chemical imbalance as concerns their brain chemicals, dopamine and serotonin. Serving as neurotransmitters, these chemicals foster the communication among brain nerve cells with an imbalance affecting the reaction of the affected individual to stimuli. This explains why a schizophrenic patient, and by extent the mentally ill, would be overwhelmed by sensory information from loud music which could be easily be handled by normal people. It is this challenge in processing various sounds that leads to delusions or hallucinations among the mentally ill. Increased depression Common among teenagers today, the MP3 revolution has made it uncommon to see people listen to music even for over eight hours a day. This could be for varied reasons, including blocking out crowds, giving energy while exercising and lifting up their moods. This has been noted to accentuate depression among the mentally ill. Heavy metal music has particularly been observed from a study on the psychological impact of music by Chin and Rickard (2014) to have the greatest impact with this regard, especially when the same song is listened to over and over again to escape from reality. In fact, Baker and Bor (2008) argue that listening to heavy metal music could be an indication of someone suffering from anxiety or depression. With depression inherently being a major undesirable symptom in mental illness, music that enhances the condition negatively impacts on mental health and recovery from mental illness. Aggression and antisocial behaviour The antisocial impact of music has been widely documented, which is a negative effect in mental health, bearing in mind that the condition is associated with social withdrawal. According to Baker and Bor, music triggers “the activation of aggressive thoughts, emotions, expectations and memories, weaken inhibitions against aggressive behaviour, desensitize reactions to violence, and reduce empathy towards victims” (2008, 286). In their study, these researchers observed hard rock and heavy metal genres of music as great contributors to such behaviours. These music genres were associated with hampered family relationships, reckless behaviour and low self esteem. Goines and Hagler (2007) associate such music, and any other music with noise exceeding 80dB, with increased aggression and decrease in behaviour considered helpful to others. Therefore, preference for some music types, including rap, hard rock and heavy metal could be an indicator of mental disturbance in an individual, with continued listening to such music only threatening to worsen the condition considering the associated promotion of aggressive and antisocial behaviour. However, such arguments have been quashed by some researchers who choose to view music preference as relates to behaviour from a different perspective. In fact, Baker and Bor (2008), despite concurring with the findings from literature review on the impact that hard rock, rap and heavy metal music has in promoting aggressive and antisocial behaviour, note that whereas it would not be explicitly said that preference for certain types of music causes aggression and antisocial behaviour, it would be generally agreed that music preference could be an indication of the underlying vulnerability or emotional disturbance. Appreciating this counterargument, Aigen (2014) cites limitations in the respective studies, providing support for antisocial tendencies as a result of listening to some kinds of music. As such, it would be critical to sift the music used for therapy in mental health as some could be detrimental. Sleep Disturbance Previously, music has been said to be effective in causing sleep. However, especially if noisy, it could be a cause for sleep disturbances. According to Lake (2007), sleep plays a critical role among the mentally ill as a prerequisite for proper mental and physiologic functioning. Noisy music in an environment where these mentally ill stay could cause sleep disturbance, which, when chronic, causes changes in moods and decreased performance which becomes detrimental in mental health setting. Goines and Hagler (2007) specifically cite music with noise exceeding 30dB as a major cause for sleep disturbance. Furthermore, nocturnal noise has been greatly associated with long term psychological effects with such night noise annoyance increasing total noise annoyance for the subsequent 24 hours. Those with mental disorders have been noted among the group of those that could be significantly affected by such noise. Gebhardt, Kunkel and von Georgi (2014) explain this observation from the fact that mentally ill patients exhibit high insecurity scores and thus the greatest beneficiaries of UofM. This is because of pathomechanism associated with mental illness where patients lose their natural abilities to maintain their cognitive-emotional equilibrium, which include the ability to handle music in a healthy way. The primary forms of sleep disturbance include frequent awakenings, difficulties falling asleep, alterations in depth and stages of sleep, reduction in REM sleep and waking up too early. These forms of disturbances lead to increased heart rate, vasoconstriction, increased blood pressure, increased body movement, cardiac arrhythmias and increased pulse amplitude. The response and threshold of each of these effects could be different. The secondary effects that come along with this include depressed mood, decreased performance and fatigue (Talwar 2006). Such effects negatively impact on mental health. According to Goines and Hagler (2007), noisy music accelerates and intensifies latent mental disorders development. This explains the association between noisy music and mental-health indicators and high rates of mental hospital admissions. In fact, for the elderly and children with underlying depression, vulnerability to such effects could be high due to lack of adequate coping mechanism. Non-reduction in positive symptoms On the same note, music has been noted not to reduce the positive symptoms in mental illness. In mental illness, positive symptoms refer to the long-lasting and pervasive symptoms which only respond to high psychotropic medication dosage; it represents a distortion in thought content which has been noted to be resistant to change (Butters, Webster & Hill 2010). This differs from the negative symptoms which show a range of emotional expressiveness that is restricted including loss of interest or pleasure, affective flattening and social withdrawal. The study by Talwar et al. (2006) which focused on schizophrenia as a form of mental illness concluded that music therapy does not provide the effective treatment for the positive symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Therefore, music could be non-beneficial in mental health. Having appreciated that music could negatively impact on the mentally ill, it would be important that therapists select the appropriate music with therapeutic function. After all, Lake (2007) observes that different genres of music affect the neurochemical action on depressed mood differently such that while some rhythmic patterns and styles of music arouse beneficial changes, others cause negative mood changes. It is with this idea that Talwar et al. (2006) recommends familiar songs for such patients which have been noted to promote nonverbal communication and expression, in a study that also found female mental illness patients to be more responsive to music therapy than their male counterparts. Poor music performance and changing-state sounds due to acoustical variations do not auger well in mental health therapy as this impairs the ability for recalling the order of items. With mental arithmetic calling for the ability for retention of order information, the music used for therapy among the mentally ill should be well organised. This argument has been supported by Gebhardt, Kunkel and von Georgi (2014) who observed that even though orderliness and ego-strength could be considered as a lack of interest, t-tests showed greater support for order in music meant for therapeutic functions. In fact, even when employing the rightful music, the necessity of a combination with body-centred therapies or relaxation techniques should be emphasized. Conclusion Music is inherent in cultures across the world, used for various purposes. Because of this nature, the history of music therapy could be traced back to time immemorial, through periods of major revolution, to offering a solution to relax and ease or relieve pain, anxiety and confusion among patients in the modern-day hospital setting. In fact, music therapy has matured into a clinical discipline in modern healthcare practice. Mental health has leveraged on the neurochemical benefits of music to foster recovery and promote health among patients. With this regard, music promotes stress response, offers psychological calmness and relaxation, improves on IQ and learning and fosters social affiliation. This positive impact results from the ability of music to inhibit the release of neurochemicals norepinephrine and cortisol, promote relaxation of the mind, foster learning and memory which in turn positively influence psychological, emotional and cognitive processes. In turn, this provides significant receptive and active therapeutic effect among the mentally ill in an effort to maintain a balance of health. However, the positive effect of music depends on its absolute pervasiveness, that is, free availability for improvement and enhancement of lives. A myriad of negative effects of music in mental healthcare have been recorded, including delusions and hallucinations, increased depression, increased aggression and antisocial behaviour, sleep disturbance and a non-reduction in positive symptoms which are undesirable. Noisy music and rap, hard rock and heavy metal genres of music have been widely associated with these negative effects. Albeit no neurochemical explanation has been given to this as compared to the numerous of such explanation on the positive effects of music, it would be generally observed that due to the pathomechanism of mental illness, mentally ill patients have challenges in naturally maintaining their cognitive-emotional equilibrium, making them unable to handle some forms of music in a healthy way. Therefore, music could have either positive or negative effect in mental health depending on the resultant neurochemical action. Effective therapeutic music in this context should be calm and relaxing as opposed to being noisy and poorly performed. Music with rightful tones that would foster positive health effects should be considered. References Aigen, KS 2014, The study of music therapy: current issues and concepts, Routledge, Abdingdon, OX. Baker, F & Bor, W 2008, ‘Can music preference indicate mental health status in young people?’ Australian Psychiatry, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 284 – 288. British Association for Music Therapy, 2015, Music therapy, viewed 27 April 2015 http://www.bamt.org/ Butters, A, Webster, M & Hill, M 2010, Literature review: understanding the needs of people with mental health conditions and/or learning disabilities and the implications for the Pension, Disability and Carers Service, Department for Work and Pensions, Research Report, Norwich, No. 654, viewed 28 April 2014, https://www.gov.uk/ Campbell, D & Doman, A 2011, Healing at the speed of sound: how what we hear transforms our brains and our lives, Hudson Street Press, New York, NY. Chanda, ML & Levitin, DJ 2013, ‘The neurochemistry of music’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 179 – 193. Chin, T & Rickard, NS 2014, ‘Beyond positive and negative trait affect: flourishing through music engagement’, Psychology of Well-Being, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 25 – 38. Gebhardt, S & von Georgi, R 2007, ‘Music, mental disorder and emotional reception behaviour’, Music Therapy Today, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 419 – 445. Gebhardt, S, Kunkel, M & von Georgi, R 2014, ‘The use of music for emotion modulation in mental disorders: the role of personality dimensions’, Journal of Integrative Psychology and Therapeutics, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 54 – 60. Goines, L & Hagler, L 2007, ‘Noise pollution: a modern plague’, Southern Medical Journal, vol. 100, pp. 287 – 294. Goodman, KD 2011, Music therapy education and training: from theory to practice, Charles C Thomas Publisher Ltd, Springfield, IL. Lake, JH 2007, Textbook of integrative mental health care, Thieme Medical Publishers, New York, NY. Salman, S 2015, ‘The music of mental illness: how a new project aims to challenge stigma’, The Guardian, 23 March, viewed 28 April 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/ Simon, H 2013, Stress, University of Maryland Medical Centre, viewed 28 April 2015, http://umm.edu/ Talwar, N, Crawford, MJ, Maratos, A, Nur, U, McDermott, O & Procter, S 2006, ‘Music therapy for in-patients with schizophrenia: exploratory randomised controlled trial’, The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 189, no. 5, viewed 28 April 2015, http://bjp.rcpsych.org/ Thoma, MV, Marca, RL, Brönnimann, R, Finkel, L, Ehlert, U & Nater, UM 2013, ‘The effect of music on the human stress response’, PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 8, viewed 27 April 2014, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Read More