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Music Vs Sound
In the simplest of terms, music can be said to be a special case of sound when the sound waves follow a rhythmic pattern and are pleasing to the human ear. Of course this definition is pretty subjective as one person may not like a particular type of music while the other person enjoys it a lot.
Even otherwise the perception of the sound and its effects also depend on the state of mind of the recipient. The best example in this case could be the cries of a child which are perhaps the best music for a mother but might be pure disturbance for another person. Still we will go by the general concept of music and proceed further with our discussion.
Psychological Disorders and Anger Management
In this age of high stress and competition, psychological disorders are raising their head even more than physiological disorders and areas are anger and stress management are receiving huge attention. These are very practical areas which are related to the everyday hustle and bustle of life and hence solutions to these are sought all across the world.
Psychological disorders not only impact the particular individual who are affected by the disease but also have an impact on their families and society as a whole. Such patients show inability in socializing, communication, and effective self expression.
There has been documented evidence that music plays an important role in treating such conditions and medical experts globally are using such therapies increasingly to heal people or at least supplement the main treatment along with this in severe cases.
It would not be possible to give a detailed description of the entire medical research but given here are a couple of randomly chosen examples which show that medical research does find a positive correlation between music and healing.
1. Therapeutic Music for Patients with Psychiatric Disorders published by Dr Holly Covington @ Holistic Nursing Practice
2. Creativity and mental health: A profile of writers and musicians by Pavitra et al @ Indian Journal of Psychiatry
Infact many researchers are of the opinion that NeuroMusic is going to become quite popular in the future. Some interesting facts which different researchers have found include these
- . A child gets soothed by sucking mother’s milk as an Oxytoxin named Cuddle Hormone is released. The same was found to be released by listening to certain types of music.
- . The different ragas induce different effects in the brain like happiness, dullness depending on how they are uttered. Infact you might remember the popular story of Tansen who used to do things tantamount to miracles while singing different ragas. Perhaps he was fully attuned to the effects of music on human body and nature.
Old Wine in New Bottle?
Although knowledge is borderless and there cannot be any copyright or intellectual rights in the true sense of the word, these terms have mostly sprung up in the commercial era. Still it must be mentioned at this stage that though these concepts might seems new to the modern age scientists, the rishis and seers of the days of the yore were already familiar with the power of sound. The term does not denote any particular sect or religion but cuts across these lines. You can find verses relating the power of sound energy in nearly all ancient traditions. I am not using the term “religions” to give a more secular perspective to this issue
How Does It Work?
Irrespective of the origin of this science and knowledge, the main question is how does it work and why should psychological disorders or anger care even two cents about some patterns of sound playing externally and having to do nothing with the situation.
Well the answer to this is pretty simple, if understood in the correct manner. The mind is the most powerful instrument and can be used to make or break a person. Yet it is the entity which possibly receives the least attention and a typical modern day person is mostly bothered about taking care of the physical body and supplying the right nutrition to it, but the underlying platform is often ignored resulting in such condition.
Science vs Spirituality
Spirituality and science both agree to a great degree on the fact that even though seemingly intangible, the mind is certainly supreme over matter. If the mind of the person is calm, positive and focused then the person can really work wonders and remain stable in any kind of situation. But if the mind is weak, then any slight disturbance in circumstances causes a havoc and the person can become a wreck and inflicted with psychological disorders and can be under undue stress and anger.
The sound vibrations help to calm and soothe the mind and act as the catalyst which literally creates a chain reaction of soothing the mind, the nerves and the body. You do not need to be a scientist to understand this and every one of us knows how light it feels to listen to music (of the right kind depending on one’s choice) and how it works wonders.
Om and Chanting
We have already published a separate article on the effects of chanting. It has also been found in medical research that the pronunciation of OM sound leads to a deep relaxation of the body and mind and leading to heightening of awareness, sensitivity to sensory transmission, which all go a long way to heal the body and mind for the better.
A Thought
The question that arises is that if the basic concept is so simple, why does it require a person to go to trained psychologists and doctors and not do it himself or herself. Actually it is just that in the hustle and bustle of modern life, man (and woman) has forgotten to take care of the very basic things of life. In this age of complexity we always try for more complicated things and very simple things seem unnecessary and a waste of time.
We just forget that simplicity is not the ornament of the weak, but is a symbol of ultimate strength. It requires huge courage and determination to remain simple and yet be evolved in the highest possible manner. So once the mind becomes calm and reflects on its simple and natural state of being, all the ripples and waves disappear on their own, leaving just calm and peace. This peace is the nectar of life which all religions of the world ask us to drink and does not refer to any preparation by an alchemist in search for the supposed elixir of life.
I hope this article was able to justify the modern day approach for treating psychological disorders and relate them to the very basic principle of calming the mind.
Dr. Divya Mittal
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