Music Therapy Anyone?

Dr. Ibrahim B. SYED

Play this while reading first!!


In 1944 Edgar Cayce, who healed thousands of people while in a trance state, said "Music is the medicine of the future."(1)
Currently, some religious scholars in the Islamic world denounce music. This paper analyzes the Islamic perspective on music and singing, and concludes that using music as a therapeutic agent in medicine is not forbidden.

Documented evidence shows the power of music can be tapped to heal the body, strengthen the mind, and unlock the creative spirit. Published papers and journal articles offer dramatic accounts of how doctors, musicians, and healthcare professionals use music to deal with everything from anxiety to cancer, high blood pressure, chronic pain, dyslexia, and even mental illness. During childbirth, music can relieve expectant mothers' anxiety and help release endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and thereby dramatically decrease the need for anesthesia.

Exposure to sound, music, and other acoustical vibrations can have a lifelong effect on health, learning, and behavior, for such exposure stimulates learning and memory and strengthens one's listening abilities. Music has been used as a treatment or cure from migraines to substance abuse.

One thousand years ago, Muslim physicians were in the forefront of medicine and used innovations and therapeutic techniques that are now considered modern. They treated mental illnesses by confining patients in asylums with twenty-first-century techniques of music therapy. In Fez, Morocco, an asylum for the mentally ill was built early in the eighth century, and asylums for the insane were built in Baghdad (705), Cairo (800), and Damascus and Aleppo (1270). In addition to baths and drugs, the mentally ill received kind and benevolent treatment, and were exposed to highly developed music-based therapy and occupational therapy. Special choirs and live bands were brought daily to present singing, musical, and comical performances to patients.

Malik al-Mansur Sayf al-Din Qalawun built the al-Mansuri hospital in Cairo (1284). Its most outstanding characteristic was that, just like today's advanced hospitals, provisions were made to entertain patients with light music. Professional storytellers were appointed to narrate stories and jokes (radio, TV, and computers perform these functions today). People who called the faithful to prayer would sing religious songs in their melodious voices before the morning call to prayer; so that afflicted patients might forget their suffering. This hospital still renders such services today.

Medical benefits

Music therapy has been lost for more than 1,000 years in the Muslim world and in the West. In the last three decades or so, the West has shown tremendous interest in using music therapy to treat several diseases and ailments. No one knows exactly how music heals, but it looks like our brains are wired to respond to it.

Dr. Clive Robbins, a co-founder of the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy at New York University in New York City, says: "There is something intrinsically musical about the brain's neurological structure and the muscular function of the human organism. At a nonverbal level, music activates our minds, integrates our attention, and seems to help regulate some body functions."(2) He has treated a child afflicted with cerebral palsy with music therapy in order to teach the child how to balance his body, coordinate his limbs' movement, and communicate. It has made him motivated and intent.

The right song seems to work in more than one way—distracting us from pain, boosting one's mood, reviving old memories, and even prompting the body to match its rhythms. Music has long been appreciated for its calming effects, but new research shows it also may have the power to restore and keep us healthy. Soothing sounds, from Tibetan chants to Beethoven symphonies, are being given scientific credit for preventing colds, easing labor pains, and even boosting anti-aging hormones. One study found that surgery patients who listened to comforting music recovered more quickly and felt less pain than those who did not. The International Journal of Arts Medicine reports that infants in intensive care units go home three days earlier, eat better, and gain more weight if the staff talks and sings to them.

Clinical studies and anecdotal evidence from music therapists suggest that the sound of music is soothing and comfortable. For example, music is credited with lowering cortisol, a stress hormone, as much as 25 percent; boosting endorphins, the body's natural opiates or feel-good drugs; reducing pain after surgery and reducing the need for sedatives and pain relievers; making patients recover from surgery faster and with less pain; possibly preventing colds; raising blood levels of Immunoglobin A (immune system fighter) to a whopping 14.1 percent; and easing labor without drugs. It also seems to help premature infants in intensive care; stimulate the brain's neural connections and promote children's spatial ability and memory; lower blood pressure as much as 5 points, reduce heart rate, improve cardiac output, and relax muscle tension; and manage non-pharmacological pain and discomfort.

But these are not all of its benefits, for research shows that music also improves the mood and mobility of people with Parkinson's, decreases nausea during chemotherapy, helps patients participate in medical treatment, decreases length of hospital stay, relieves anxiety and reduces stress, eases depression, enhances concentration and creativity, brings positive changes in mood and emotional states, increases awareness of self and environment, gives a sense of control over life through successful experiences, provides an outlet for expressing feelings, improves memory recall and thereby contributes to reminiscence and satisfaction with life. In addition, music therapy may allow for emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way.

Exciting new research suggests that our brains respond to music almost as if it were medicine. Music may regulate some body functions, synchronize motor skills, stimulate mind and even make us smarter. According to Suzanne Hanser, D. Ed., a lecturer at Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine: "There is no set prescription or a particular piece of music that will make everyone feel better or more relax. What counts is musical taste, kinds of memories, feelings and associations a piece of music brings to mind. Some people relax to classical music, others like the Moody Blues. The key is to individualize your musical selections."(3)

Depression

Research conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine provides some interesting results. For one group of 20 people aged between 61 and 86, moods rose and depression fell when they listened to familiar music they selected, on their own or with the help of a music therapist, while practicing various stress-reduction techniques. A control group who missed out on the music and the exercises saw no improvement during the 8-week study period. It helps to perform gentle exercises, depending on one's fitness level, while the music plays. Movements should be light and flowing. Breathe to the music, and gently come to rest when the music ends.

Insomnia

A study from the University of Louisville School of Nursing Research indicates that 24 out of 25 people with sleeping problems nod off more quickly, sleep longer, or get back to sleep more easily after listening to classical and New Age music. The music must be quiet and melodic, have a slow beat and few, if any, rhythmic accents. To be effective, one should skip the after-dinner coffee or tea and avoid telephone calls and TV after 9 p.m. Softer and quieter music should be played as bedtime approaches. Listen to the music in bed with a tape recorder or a CD player equipped with a silent on/off switch. One should lie quietly and take even, deep breaths.

Stress

Many studies have found that soothing melodies can ease anxiety and quiet both blood pressure and heart rate even under very stressful conditions. Everyday stress also responds to music. Select music that grabs your attention and, at the same time, relax your body so that all of your worries slip away. Slow music, like a love song sung by an accomplished singer or a calm instrumental piece may be perfect. If a slow tune gives your mind time to fret or obsess, switch to something livelier. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position and where you will not be disturbed. After a few minutes, perform a relaxation exercise.

Article taken from http://www.fountainmagazine.com/article.php?ARTICLEID=73

Can A Muslim Be Depressed?

By: Sahar El-Nadi

One of my readers, a university student of psychology sent this list of questions which bother her:

“What does Islam say regarding self-hatred and self-harm? Does Islam condemn situational depression? What about clinical depression? What about depression over our limited human knowledge -our inability to fully understand everything- is it a trust issue with Allah?”

Actually this is a very interesting issue, because according to psychological studies, a considerable percentage of people alive today are subject to some kind of depression, even small children (http://www.depression-guide.com/depression-statistics.htm ), so it is important to explore this issue in relation to being better Muslims.

The Islamic system aims to create balance in a Muslim’s life, by putting life matters into perspective, rearranging priorities accordingly, and harmonizing all circles of relationships between the individual and his inner and outer environments:

“Seek the life to come by means of what God granted you, but do not neglect your rightful share in this world. Do good to others as God has done good to you. Do not seek to spread corruption in the land, for God does not love those who do this” (Quran, 28:77)

People feel depressed or sad when this harmonious emotional and hormonal equilibrium is disturbed, in which case Islam steps in, not to condemn the feeling, but to offer a solution for regaining psychological and mental balance.

What is Depression?
There is a difference between situational depression (temporary deep distress or sadness) and clinical depression, which is a mental health disorder that can affect the way you work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy pleasurable activities http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/depression/a/depression1.htm . A depressive disorder is more than a passing mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness, and it cannot be willed or wished away, because it’s a change in the chemicals of the brain (neurochemistry) which trigger a certain mood, and it needs professional help for treatment.

What causes Depression?
The causes of depression are numerous: genetic, psychological, and environmental factors are often involved. Yet, the relation between the chemistry of your brain and your experience in life is a two-way street: true your brain affects how you handle your life situations, but also the way you solve your problems and handle challenges greatly affect the mood-chemistry of your brain. So people who have low self-esteem, who are consistently pessimistic, who are readily overwhelmed by stress, or who have a severe physical illness are prone to depression.

Can a Muslim be Depressed?
To become Muslim, you submit your will to God alone and no one else, and you believe and trust that He will take good care of you, no matter what happens, as long as you keep your side of the relationship with Him. You admit your limitations as a human, so you go through life looking ahead positively, worrying only about what’s in your knowledge and ability as a human, and you leave the rest to God’s wisdom.

Existential concerns can cause serious distress as one tries to understand: why am I here, where am I going, what’s the point of living if I’m going to die anyway? As a Muslim, you get affected by life’s troubles and disturbing thoughts like everyone else, but you’re well equipped to deal with them because you have a clear roadmap of where you came from, where you’re going and why, so you have a head-start having this fundamental knowledge from its source. In other words, you’re resistant to existential emptiness, your focus is on taking control of your life to make the most of it according to the purpose it was given to you for, and you make decisions that won't cause you to feel worse in bad times.

Someone who feels completely lost and alone in the face of a crisis would be hopeless, helpless and depressed, but someone who constantly feels supported by a compassionate God who genuinely cares, who listens to desperate pleas, and who grants generous help, has a better chance of getting back on track much faster because there is a strong helping hand to reach for while dealing with life’s troubles.

Depression is not condemned in Islam:
Islam doesn’t require us to be superhuman. If one experiences negative feelings, he is encouraged to resist them with positive thoughts and actions if possible, or to seek professional help if the case is clinical, exactly like any other form of illness.

We’re required to take charge of our lives since we’re accountable for our deeds and decisions, both for ourselves and for others who will be affected. We’re not allowed to hate or harm ourselves; instead we’re taught dignity, self respect and protection; both as a right and a duty:

“And make not your own hands contribute to your destruction; but do good; for Allah loves those who do good.” (Quran, 2:195)

“Nor kill or destroy yourselves: for verily Allah has been to you Most Merciful!” (Quran, 4:29)

Self hatred results from low self esteem in reaction to feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, or guilt. A Muslim feels dignified and honored because The Creator bestowed upon him special privileges:

“We have honored the children of Adam and carried them by land and sea. We have provided good sustenance for them and favored them specially above many of those We have created” (Quran, 17:70)

And even if you’ve committed the worst sins, you always have hope of God’s mercy:

“And never give up hope of Allah's soothing Mercy: truly no one despairs of Allah's soothing Mercy, except those who have no faith.” (Quran, 12:87)

There is no place for despair because you have confidence in knowing that it’s God Himself who is in charge of everything, the All Seeing, All Knowing, and All Fair and Wise God:

“And for those who fear Allah, He always prepares a way out, and He provides for him from sources he never could imagine. And if anyone puts his trust in Allah, sufficient is Allah for him. For Allah will surely accomplish His purpose: verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion.” (Quran, 65: 2-3)

You’re certain there is no impossible situation which has no solution:

“So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief: Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.” (Quran, 94: 5-6)

You also have a simple and effective prescription against transient grief and anxiety:

(O Allah, I am Your slave, son of Your slave, son of Your female slave, my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every Name belonging to You which You named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Qur’an the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety)’

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “No person suffers any anxiety or grief, and says (this supplication) but Allah will take away his sorrow and grief, and give him in their stead joy.”

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Sahar El-Nadi Holds a BA in ancient history and culture from Cairo University. She worked in many people-related careers in parallel, including presenting public events and TV programs; instructing training courses in communication, thinking skills and cross cultural issues, and managing multinational e-communities on the internet, with award winning online projects since 1998.

She is currently a Consultant for IslamOnline.net and ReadingIslam.com, answering questions about Islamic culture in English. Her work focuses on utilizing interpersonal skills to better represent local culture in various media channels. In 2006, she created and launched Don’t Hate, Educate! www.zero-net.net a creative cross-cultural communication project following the Danish cartoons crisis. As a result, she was selected among the Women Leaders for the World by the Business School of the University of Santa Clara, California. She’s married to a Danish Muslim and lives in Cairo, Egypt.

Say Thank You Allah

When ever we feel pressured with life or is unsatisfied with something, remember that we are not alone. What ever it may be, Allah knows everything. Infact He gives us all this tribulations so that we become more gratefull and be more closer to Him. So lets thank Allah.

Raihan-Thank You Allah

The Sky Is Clear
the Air Is Clean
the Land Is Green
thank You Allah

the Path We Walk
the Lines We Talk
the Thing We See
thank You Allah
thank You Allah

say Thak You Allah
thank You Allah

bila When I Sleep
when I Eat
when I Breath
thank You Allah
thank You Allah

say Thak You Allah
thank You Allah

in The Night Or In The Day
every Morning After Prayer
i'll Never Forget To Say Thank You

there Are Times When I'm Alone
feel Alright Or Not So Strong
i'll Pray To You And Say
thank You Allah
thank You Allah

so Friends Everytime Remember
allah The Most Merciful
say Thank You Allah
thank You Allah