Posted by TJO on January 22, 2006, at 14:07:19
Hi,
TIME Magazine: Mozart in therapy and medicine
In the TIME Magazine issue dated January 16 2005, Peter Gumbel
reports: "[Mozart] has been cast in many roles ... But over the past
decade, Mozart has increasingly been placed in a role that is perhaps
the most controversial of all: as healer of mind and body. In this
New Age interpretation, Mozart is the ultimate composer-therapist whose
music can help treat ailments ranging from acne to Alzheimer's disease
and even, it is claimed, make you and your kids smarter. Some of
these claims are based on science ... But much of the supporting
material is anecdotal." Gumbel cites John Hughes, a neurologist at
the University of Illinois Medical Center who specializes in epilepsy;
Hughes tells Gumbel that "80% of the time [playing Mozart for
patients] has a beneficial effect on seizures." Gumbel adds,
"Mozart's musical sequences tend to repeat regularly every 20-30
seconds, which is about the same length of time as brain-wave patterns
and other functions of the central nervous system. His conclusion is
that the frequency of patterns in Mozart's music counteracts irregular
firing patterns of epilepsy patients."
Wonder if this could be useful for anything besides epilepsy (Like maybe Bipolar Disorder??)Tammy
poster:TJO
thread:601817
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060122/msgs/601817.html