Full Title: The effect of group music therapy on quality of life for participants living with a severe and enduring mental illness.

A 10-week group music therapy project was designed to determine whether music therapy influenced quality of life and social anxiety for people with a severe and enduring mental illness living in the community. Ten one-hour weekly sessions including song singing, song writing and improvisation, culminated in each group recording original song/s in a professional studio. The principal outcome measure was the WHOQOLBREF Quality of Life (QoL) Scale; other instruments used were the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Qualitative data were gathered through focus group interviews and an analysis of lyric themes. Statistically significant improvement was found on five items of the QoL Scale. There were no changes on the BSI indicating that QoL improvement was not mediated by symptomatic change. Themes from the focus groups were: music therapy gave joy and pleasure, working as a team was beneficial, participants were pleasantly surprised at their creativity, and they took pride in their song. An analysis of song lyrics resulted in 6 themes: a concern for the world, peace and the environment; living with mental illness is difficult; coping with mental illness requires strength; religion and spirituality are sources of support; living in the present is healing; and working as a team is enjoyable.

J Music Ther. 2009 Summer;46(2):90-104. Grocke D, Bloch S, Castle D.

by Debra Burdick, LCSW

Although parenting can be one of the most rewarding and joyful roles in the world, at the same time it can also be one of the most demanding, frustrating, exhausting and even overwhelming jobs in the world. If you are like most parents, you know that parenting a child can sometimes be really hard. Parents are on demand 24/7.

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Botulinum toxin (Botox) injection is the only conventional medical treatment available for patients with spasmodic dysphonia (SD). Some patients are reluctant to receive Botox treatment due to concerns about unknown long-term side effects, expense, and dependence on repeated injections. The purpose of the study was to report the perceptual and physiological changes in the vocal functions of an SD patient treated with classical homeopathy. The results were similar to a previous case report: classical homeopathy seems to be capable of amelioratiny SD symptoms beyond the short-term effects of Botox injections. Although the physiological mechanism of homeopathic healing is not fully accounted for by the current bio-medical models, it may be an effective therapeutic alternative for some SD patients.

Homeopathy. 2009 Jan;98(1):56-9. Xue SA, de Schepper L, Hao GJ. Speech Science Lab, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, 5th Floor, Prince Philips Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. axue@hku.hk

Jane Nash is a Clincal Hypnotherapist, Master Hypnotist and NLP Master Practitioner. Her practice spans Sale, Bairnsdale and Melbourne in Victoria, Australia . She has a Masters in Education and is currently pursuing a doctorate combining Education and Hypnotherapy as well as training in Forensic Hypnosis techniques. She is also an experienced teacher and writer and presently writes courses in advanced Hypnotherapy and Applications of NLP for colleges in California and London.

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