People who work with young people have always known
that music has the power to transform lives.
But now fresh scientific evidence has emerged
indicating that a beautiful melody can reduce depression in children and
adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems.
It comes in a study conducted at Queen’s University
Belfast that was reported in the authoritative psychotherapists’ journal,
Therapy Today.
In what is believed to be the biggest investigation of
this kind, 251 children between eight and 16 years took part. All were being
treated for emotional, developmental or behavioural problems.
The children were chosen at random either to receive
their usual care from their Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service or music
therapy in addition to usual care.
The study, conducted with the Northern Ireland Music
Therapy Trust, involved 12 weekly individual sessions where the children and
young people were able to choose from a range of activities, including
improvisation, song writing, drumming and storytelling to music.
Early findings from the study suggest that the
children and young people enjoyed significantly improved levels of self-esteem
and reduced depression compared with those who received treatment as usual.
Their communication and interactive skills also benefitted and, best of all,
the gains appear to be sustained in the long term.
The activity that the young people enjoyed most was
writing their own songs and composing their own lyrics to music, which
researchers believed boosted their ability to communicate their feelings more
generally.
Nearly all of the young people, 97 per cent, chose to
write autobiographically about how they were feeling.
Julian Knight, Creative Director of Creative Futures,
a charity dedicated to raising aspiration and quality of life for
underprivileged young people through taking part in music and arts projects, said
the Queen’s University study accorded well with his own organization’s
research.
Among a range of activities, Creative
Futures specialises in programmes for Looked After Children and Young People
which use music (song-writing, singing, instrumental playing and music
production) to raise aspiration, build confidence, and self-esteem, trust and
responsibility, enhance social interaction and communication skills, and above
all inspire participants.
Adriana
Thomas, Participation Officer from Hounslow Children and Young People’s Service
said:
“A young boy who is normally extremely quiet came to me and told me
about something that was troubling him. I was then able to feed this back to
his social worker and the issue is now being explored in the sessions this
young boy has with our Clinical Psychologist … over the course of the three
days I was able to have lots of conversations with the children about their
feelings, worries, behaviour and issues about their care. I know this was possible because the children
were in an environment that made them feel relaxed, confident and empowered.”
The
young people themselves who have taken prat in the project also expressed the
impact it has had on them:
“I can express
my feeling and sing. It just expresses me.”
“We got our own
CD and when I heard it I was like “that is not me!” but it was…this is so great”
“It would be
really great if we can perform and show everyone what we’ve learnt and how we
all started not knowing a lot about the instruments and how we can create music
with anything. Even if you’ve never experienced music before, even though
you’ve never touched an instrument before you can still try this and still
create music. It would be really great
if all the band could just…knock ourselves out!”
Creative Futures’ work is aimed at those
aged 7 to 18 years, and usually takes the form of out-of-school programmes
either after school or as intensive holiday courses.
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