Music Psychology Center (MPC) has formulated an innovative psychological approach to create neural changes in the brain that may lead to positive behavioural patterns. These patterns could facilitate the ability of an individual to transcend underlying mental health conditions.
Together with Sobriety Foundation, Inc. (SFI), under the leadership of Program Director, Mr. George Gonzales, SFI has agreed to conduct this innovative psychological approach utilizing music as a form of psychotherapy.
At present, MPC is facilitating Music-Enhanced Therapy to SFI’s clientele focusing on an amalgamation of therapeutic approaches with music to generate neurocircuitry, neuroplasticity and neurosynthesis.
The process by which we’re able to perceive a series of sounds as music is incredibly complex, Silbersweig and BWH psychiatry colleague Samata Sharma, MD, explained in a 2018 paper on the neurobiological effects of music on the brain. It starts with sound waves entering the ear, striking the eardrum, and causing vibrations that are converted into electric signals. These signals travel by sensory nerves to the brainstem, the brain’s message relay station for auditory information. Then they disperse to activate auditory (hearing) cortices and many other parts of the brain. It is noteworthy that different parts of the brain are activated, depending on the type of music—for example, melodic versus dissonant—and whether we are listening, playing, learning, or composing music.
Music can alter brain structure and function, both after immediate and repeated exposure, according to Silbersweig. For example, musical training over time has been shown to increase the connectivity of certain brain regions. “If you play an instrument like the violin,” he said in a recent Zoom interview, “the areas in your brain that are associated with the frequencies of the violin are more stimulated and the synaptic connections are richer.”
We may not realize it when listening to a favorite tune, but music activates many different parts of the brain, according to Harvard Medical School neurologist and psychiatrist David Silbersweig, MD. These include:
- The temporal lobe, including specific temporal gyri (bulges on the side of the brain’s wrinkled surface) that help process tone and pitch.
- The cerebellum, which helps process and regulate rhythm, timing, and physical movement.
- The amygdala and hippocampus, which play a role in emotions and memories.
- Various parts of the brain’s reward system.
MPC Research Director believes that Music-Enhanced Therapy may pave the way to a more dynamic approach in psychological intervention and possibly even cognitive enhancement. “There will be more significant changes in our brain structure if all of the empirical-based therapeutic methods that include music would be synthesized in our new program.” – Prof. Jose Maria G. Pelayo III, MusPsy
SOURCE/s:
Music Psychology Center (MPC) 2021
Sobriety Foundation, Inc. (SFI) 2021
Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute 2021