Music therapy refers to the use of music art to adjust people's expressions and promote the cure of diseases. It is the product of the combination of medical psychology and music. With the intensification of the rhythm of modern society, people's work and study pressure is increasing, and psychosomatic diseases are also increasing. The practical value of music therapy in clinical treatment is getting higher and higher. Therefore, we need to systematically analyze music therapy, understand its mechanism, master its scope of application and treatment methods, so as to better apply this therapy to practice.

Music therapy, as its name implies, is to treat patients with music. K. Bruscia, a former president of American Music Therapy Association and a professor at Temple University, said in his definition of music therapy that music therapy is a scientific and systematic treatment process, which includes the application of various methods and genre theories, instead of thinking that music therapy is just a simple treatment, as some people misunderstand. Music therapy is based on all music-related activities, such as listening, singing, instrumental performance, dancing, art and other activities, instead of thinking that music therapy is just listening to music and relaxing, as some people think. The process of music therapy must include three factors: music, patients and specially trained music therapists. Without any factor, it cannot be called music therapy. The treatment process without music participation is not music therapy, because music is a basic factor of music therapy, and music therapy achieves the purpose of treatment through the role of music. Of course, any activity that is not intervened by the treated person and the specially trained music therapist is not music therapy. Some people buy some so-called "music therapy tapes" and listen to them at home, which may have some relaxing effects on body and mind, but it can't be called music therapy, because without the intervention of music therapists, there is no key driving force for the therapeutic relationship between therapists and patients.

First, the development history of music therapy

Music therapy has a long history. More than 4,000 years ago, ancient Egypt used music to relieve the pain of patients, saying that "music is a good medicine for the soul". Music therapy in the United States began during World War II, playing music only to alleviate the pain of the injured, and then gradually developed into the current scientific system. In China, the history of understanding the magical function of music can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The classic work Huangdi Neijing put forward "five tones to treat diseases" two thousand years ago, and Historical Records said: "Therefore, those who enjoy music are turbulent in blood, flowing in God, and righteous." At that time, music was mainly used as a means of health preservation and pleasure, and gradually developed into a means of treating diseases with music now. [1] Although music therapy has a long history, music therapy, as a systematic therapy method and a complete systematic discipline, rose in the United States in the mid-20th century, marked by the establishment of 1950 National Music Therapy Association. The British Music Therapy Association was founded in Britain from 65438 to 0958. Music therapy in Japan started at 1960 and 1995. The Association of Clinical Music Therapists was established in Japan, and the examination system for clinical music therapists was promulgated in 1996. Since then, according to the statistics of the World Music Therapy Federation, music therapy has been carried out in 45 countries in the world, and 150 universities have opened music therapy education. As a modern discipline, music therapy is marked by the development of music electrotherapy in Shenyang 202 Hospital 198 1. At present, although music therapy association has been established in China, music therapy is still in its infancy, and both clinical practice and theoretical basis need further exploration and development. [2]

Second, the principle of music therapy

Music therapy is a therapeutic method to change patients from uncomfortable and unhealthy psychological and physiological state to more desirable state through carefully selected music. The influence of music on the human body is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, neurophysiologists have proved that music has a direct impact on the neural structure, especially the cerebral cortex. Music mainly affects people's higher nervous activity, has a direct impact on people's brain limbic system and brain stem reticular system, and can make new exciting foci appear in the cerebral cortex. In addition, music can promote the activities of the digestive tract, affect the cardiovascular system, make blood vessels unblocked, accelerate the elimination of waste in the body, and contribute to the recovery of diseases. Second, music can arouse people's thinking, memory, association, imagination and other factors, arouse the same feeling and arouse people's voices. Therefore, long-term effective music appreciation can alleviate people's bad psychosomatic reactions, Zhi Tao's temperament, and change their character and taste. Third, the different melody, speed and tone of music can make people have different functions such as calmness, relaxation and excitement, so as to adjust their emotions and achieve the effects of analgesia, blood pressure reduction and hypnosis. Fourth, the ever-changing beautiful melody and touching music can give people physiological * * * vibration, emotional stimulation, emotional enlightenment and philosophical enlightenment, and can also stimulate potential to achieve psychological empathy, suggestion, fantasy, induction and other therapeutic effects.

In foreign countries, some people think that music plays a therapeutic role by acting as a dispersant for unpleasant * * *; Langer believes that music evokes listeners' memories of some non-musical events in life and plays a therapeutic role; Radosi and others believe that this is only the function of music itself. Falthen's research says that the interaction between brain, action and human immunity, as well as the positive emotions of entertainment can improve people's health index and enhance human immunity.

In a word, music is used in medicine. First, it can * * the cerebral cortex in a variety of ways, so that patients feel less about the outside world; Second, it can arouse patients' happy thoughts and feelings and temporarily forget their environment; Third, music has a direct inhibitory effect on the central nervous system. In addition, the charm and pleasure of music will attract socially withdrawn people to participate in the social activities of music, thus changing their self-enclosed state.