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Tag: music therapy

  • Orchestra Aims To Help Musicians With Mental Health Struggles

    Orchestra Aims To Help Musicians With Mental Health Struggles

    “I cannot count the ways the orchestra helps me. It has allowed me to overcome the shame I felt about living with mental illness,” said one member.

    When he is conducting an orchestra, there’s nothing that alludes to Ronald Braunstein’s struggle with bipolar disorder.

    That’s because, according to The New York Times, Braunstein finds that music helps him cope with and manage his diagnosis. In fact, he believes this so much that he has founded the Me2/Orchestra for performers who are dealing with mental health struggles. 

    Braunstein graduated from the Juilliard School in his early 20s before traveling to Austria for a summer program at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1979, he won the Karajan International Conducting Competition and was the first American to do so. From there his career blossomed. 

    At the time, he did not know he had bipolar disorder. He was not diagnosed until age 35. But he says in looking back, he sees how it affected his career. 

    “The unbelievable mania I experienced helped me win the Karajan,” he told the Times. “I learned repertoire fast. I studied through the night and wouldn’t sleep. I didn’t eat because if I did, it would take away my edge.”

    “My bipolar disorder was just under the line of being under control,” he said. “It wasn’t easily detected. Most people thought I was weird.”

    In Vermont, after being dropped by his manager and terminated from a job, he met a woman named Caroline Whiddon, who he later married. Whiddon had been the chairwoman for the Youth Orchestra Division of the League of American Orchestras and had struggled with depression and anxiety.

    Braunstein contacted her in hopes of founding an orchestra for those who struggled with mental health issues. 

    In 2011, the Me2/Orchestra was born. Then in 2014, Me2/Boston was created. Both orchestras have about 50 members, ages 13 to 80, and perform six to eight times per year. 

    The orchestras are nonprofits and all musicians volunteer their times. Each year, Whiddon takes part in a letter-writing campaign to raise the money for expenses.

    “When we perform at a hospital, center for the homeless or correctional facility,” Whiddon said, “the cost of that performance is covered by corporate sponsorships, grants or donations from individuals, so the performance is free to those who attend.”

    Each time they perform, according to the Times, members of the orchestra discuss their mental health struggles and answer questions from the audience. 

    Jessica Stuart, 34, tells the Times that she had stopped playing violin in her 20s after her diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Now, as an orchestra member, she is back to playing.

    “Joining the Me2/Orchestra in Boston in 2014 was the first time I had played in years,” she told the Times. “I cannot count the ways the orchestra helps me. It has allowed me to overcome the shame I felt about living with mental illness. I no longer feel I have to hide an important part of my life from the rest of the world.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Music Therapy Help Ease Anxiety For Pregnant Women?

    Can Music Therapy Help Ease Anxiety For Pregnant Women?

    Researchers examined whether music could work as a tool to help calm symptoms of anxiety in pregnant women.

    With four prior miscarriages, 42-year-old Elizabeth Larsen of Huntley, Ill., struggled with severe anxiety during her pregnancy. But Larsen says she found relief through music therapy, in which music is used to improve health.

    New research indicates that mothers with anxiety during pregnancy, like Larsen, can benefit from such therapy.

    “I wanted to find wellness tools to ensure that my baby and I would have a safe and wonderful birth,” Larsen told The Washington Post. “Music therapy opened up my bodily senses and helped me to relax.” Recently, researchers studied music and mental health during pregnancy. There were 409 participants, all in their third trimester of pregnancy.

    None had a history of anxiety. Of the group, half underwent music therapy where they listened to a relaxing CD three times per week. The other half of the group did not do so. Upon completion of the study, researchers found that those who had taken part in music therapy were overall less anxious than the other group.

    “During pregnancy, fears and anxieties about the health of the baby are very common. Many of the women in our study were anxious about the stress test, an ultrasound that examines the health of the baby,” lead researcher Jessica Garcia-Gonzalez told the Post.

    She added that the study indicates that “anxiety during pregnancy can increase a woman’s risk of postnatal anxiety and depression, but music therapy can help reduce stress.”

    According to Postpartum Support International, anxiety and depression before and after a child’s birth are not rare. The organization says about 6% of pregnant women and 10% of new mothers struggle with anxiety, and about 15% of women grapple with depression after a child is born.

    Karen Kleiman, a psychotherapist who specializes in maternal mental health, told the Post that it is vital for mothers and pregnant women to seek treatment for such issues. “Anxiety is associated with prenatal health concerns like preeclampsia, preterm delivery, and low-birth weight, which is why it’s important for women to learn coping strategies to minimize their worries during pregnancy,” she said.

    As a board-certified music therapist and birth doula, Kate Taylor told the Post she often provides music therapy for her clients. “I use music as a teaching tool,” she said. “We might analyze song lyrics or listen to instruments or music that can aid in relaxation. Songs can bring up intense emotions for women, which can help them connect with the baby, and openly share their worries and feelings about motherhood.”

    For Larsen, music therapy resulted in a more calming pregnancy overall. “During our sessions, we listened to the acoustic guitar,” she told the Post. “At home, I listened to relaxing music on my headphones. The music calmed my anxiety, which helped me stay positive.”

    View the original article at thefix.com