Arts in Medicine and PTSD

Arts in Medicine and PTSD

 

I recently attended the grand opening of the Helping Hospitalized Veterans new facility in St. Petersburg, FL. This is an organization that provides Art Kits to not just hospitalized Vets, but to any Vet that feels the need to engage in an activity that brings them a sense of community, helps them to overcome physical as well as mental challenges and gives them a sense of healing from within. Most of their issues come about by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. The United States Government estimates place the number of torture survivors in the United States at over 400,000 (The Federal Register, 2004). The Department of Veterans Affairs Website lists the statistics below.

• About 7-8% of the population will have PTSD at some point in their lives.
• About 5.2 million adults have PTSD during a given year. This is only a small portion of those who have gone through a trauma.
• Women are more likely than men to develop PTSD. About 10% of women develop PTSD sometime in their lives compared with 5% of men.
• In about 11-20% of Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom), or in 11-20 Veterans out of 100.
• In as many as 10% of Gulf War (Desert Storm) Veterans, or in 10 Veterans out of 100.
• In about 30% of Vietnam Veterans, or about 30 out of 100 Vietnam Veterans.

Although we always associate PTSD with our veterans of war, this disorder can strike victims of abuse, children of war torn nations and anyone in general who have been subject to a highly stressful event or situation in their life. PTSD is becoming so common that there is a plethora of studies being conducted on the role that the Arts play in the healing process of the individuals who suffer from this disorder. One of the cases I read was “Dance/movement therapy approaches to fostering resilience and recovery among African adolescent torture survivors”. In his abstract Harris talks about two initiatives that were undertaken by enlisting South Sudanese refugee youths, resettled to the U.S and with youths in Sierra Leone. Dance/Music therapy was introduced in the forms of drumming and acting out war scenes through expressive dance. The findings were that “ DMT approaches are shown to embody revitalizing psychosocial support in the aftermath of massive violence.” (Harris, 2007). There are many art forms that are being used in the treatment of PTSD. In my research I found Scrapbooking and Journaling, Photography, Sculpture, Drawing and just about every art form that exists. It is very clear that by the many years of extensive research in all art forms that the Arts have truly found a home in the treatment and healing of PTSD.

References:

“How Common is PTSD? – NATIONAL CENTER for PTSD.” NATIONAL CENTER for PTSD Harris, David Allan. “Dance/movement therapy approaches to fostering resilience and recovery among African adolescent torture survivors…” Torcher 17.2 (2007): 134-55. Print.

Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/how-common-is-ptsd.asp&gt;.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/how-common-is-ptsd.asp

Uploaded October 2,2013

The Federal Register, 2004; 69(55):13308

Other researched sites

Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma

Founded in 1994, Advocates for Survivors of

Torture and Trauma (ASTT), a non-profit

Organization in Baltimore, Maryland, has as

Its mission “to alleviate the suffering of those

Who have experienced the trauma of torture?

To educate the local, national, and world

Community about the needs of torture survivors,

And to advocate on their behalf.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19289895

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16537321

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8926145

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8229911

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1602434

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18524339

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17728491

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8070995

http://www.postindependent.com/news/grandjunction/8110432-113/veterans-center-smith-arts

Ancient Christian Wisdom/relaxation http://ancientchristianwisdom.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/chronic-pain-relaxation-training-and-a-place-of-rest/

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07421656.2006.10129335#.UkDcs9Ksim4

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197455608001081

Music Therapy,Healing and Relaxation:

Music Therapy,Healing and Relaxation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGCXn-svShw

If you have ever been in the hospital or visited a doctor’s office or been put on hold while you are trying to fix a major problem with your computer, you may have noticed that rather annoying music playing in the background. You know, you sit there listening and can’t for the life of you figure out how they slowed down Metallica that much that it sounds like a cross between lounge music and contemporary soft rock? Disturbing? Yes, but isn’t it amazing that a few notes of a rock tune can be tweaked enough to cause an emotion of disdain and utter vexation? Why is it, or what is it about music that has the ability to stir up so many different emotions and in so many different ways in so many different people and personalities? Music, since the beginning of time has always been a form of communication or language.  It has been used not only as a means of language through rituals and battle cries, but it has also been a great source of comfort and healing.  Take for instance the use of music in 1 Samuel 16:23, NKV; Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. Even in Biblical times, they knew music had healing properties. Today we are finding Science to back up these ideas that music can in fact heal. In a Coronary Care Unit 80 patients were randomly assigned to a relaxation, music therapy, or control group. “The patients that received the MT (music therapy) revealed that lowering apical heart rates and raising peripheral temperatures were more successful in the relaxation and music therapy groups than in the control group.” (Guzzetta, 1989). There are medical journals filled with clinical information about how music is used in the neurological sciences to speed up recovery and induce healing. (Baker & Roth, 2004). In the medical journal Active Music Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease: An Integrative Method for Motor and Emotional Rehabilitation, the findings are very clear, “MT is effective on motor, affective, and behavioral functions. We propose active MT as a new method for inclusion in PD rehabilitation programs.”( Pacchetti, Mancini, Aglieri, Cira, Martignoni, Nappi, 1999).  Music is in fact a great tool for healing and relaxation, and in the words of Olivea Dewhurst-Maddock, Sound Therapy ” Healing relies on an openness to the whole; a willingness to relinquish whatever frustrates or delays — mistaken ideas, negative feelings, poor diet, inadvisable lifestyle — and to accept a wider spectrum of responses with new ideas, experience, and priorities. Healing is communication; and music, in its universal nature, is total communication. In the deepest mysteries of music are the inspirations, the pathways, and the healing which lead to one-ness and unity.” 

References:

Baker, Falicity, and Edward A. Roth. “Neuroplasticity and Functional Recovery: Training Models and Compensatory Strategies in Music Therapy Neuroplasticity and Functional Recovery: Training Models and Compensatory Strategies in Music Therapy.” Nordic Journal of Music Therapy 13.1 (2004): 20-32. Print.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08098130409478095#.UkNUY9Ksim4

Guzetta, CE. “Effects of relaxation and music therapy on patients in a coronary care unit with presumptive acute myocardial infarction..” Heart & lung : the journal of critical care 18 (1989): 6. Print.http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/2684920/reload=0;jsessionid=POGwDEZE9U9qgpTIVqR8.14

Pacchetti, Claudio , Francesca Mancini, Roberto Aglieri, Cira Fundarò, Emilia Martignoni, and Giuseppe Nappi. “Active Music Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease: An Integrative Method for Motor and Emotional Rehabilitation.” Guzetta, CE. “Effects of relaxation and music therapy on patients in a coronary care unit with presumptive acute myocardial infarction..” Heart & lung : the journal of critical care 18 (1989): 6. Print. 62 (2000): 3. Print.http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/62/3/386.short