musictherapyacademy.com/blog

Contributed by: Stephanie An 

While I cannot speak on other experiences, I am writing to you about my journey and personal experiences. 

In the midst of a pandemic and media coverage of many innocent lives being lost, many of us may be experiencing an overwhelming amount of emotions. 

Although many will never truly be prepared for the loss of a loved one, it is not something we can always control throughout life. Losing someone dear to us is never easy and can affect us in many ways throughout our everyday lives. As the loss may reveal many emotions and thoughts that overtake...

By: Olivia Medari

          When thinking of mental illness, we often think of words such as stress, anxiety, or depression. We also live in a society that has also put a stigma on mental illness. When starting research on mental illness my findings suggested that the process to guard mental health is so ambiguous. In medicine, people treat mental illness with pharmaceuticals. For example, if a person has depression, the treatment procedure would be prescribing anti-depressants such as amitriptyline, amoxapine, or clomipramine. However, in a...

As humans, our connection to nature is vital for our mental health. Have you ever wondered about some of the therapeutic effects of listening to birdsong? 

This blog post explores this topic in greater detail, click the link below to learn more!

Why Bird Music Is Great For Relaxation, Stress And Anxiety:
https://chipperbirds.com/bird-music-for-anxiety/

McMaster University HTH SCI 4A15- Thesis: Post-Project Reflection Project: Using EEG to measure the effects of improvisational group music therapy on stress and anxiety: an exploration of feasibility

Submitted by: Daniel Friedberg
Supervisors: Annilee Baron, Rachael Finnerty

     One of the most significant lessons I’ve learned during my time in post-secondary education is that work is not about the end goal, it is about the process towards the end goal. As I worked through the stages and components of this thesis project, I was reminded of this again and again as I...

On Oct 21, 2019, our Director of Education Rachael Finnerty was a Guest Speaker in Gabriella Ocadiz's Music and Special Education class at McMaster University. One of the students, Sergio Raez Villanueva, shared his reflection on Rachael's presentation with us. Read Sergio's thoughts below:

Guest Speaker Thoughts

I found our guest speaker, Rachael, to be extremely amiable and welcoming as she explained and shared her experiences with the class. I do not know much about music therapy and her insight was extremely valuable to me as I do have a small background and a big interest in...

Contributor: Stephanie An

With times being very uncertain right now, many of us has found it hard to stay motivated to do our work or even have a sense of what we are feeling right now. The world is on lockdown, and we are being asked to stay indoors to help prevent the spread of this virus. Students have shifted to online learning, and many people have lost their jobs. Sudden changes like this are not easy to adjust to. All that is on the news lately has been sensitive content for many and as we see the number of lives affected by this virus, it has been heartbreaking.

While we all...

Prevalence

 Mental health issues are incredibly prevalent in the post-secondary student population and are only expected to continue rising. In Ontario alone, mental health disabilities in post-secondary students has increased by over 50% since 2013 (1). In fact, youth aged 15-24 are the most at-risk group for mental illness and substance abuse disorders (2). Student mental health is a diverse issue which not only affects the institutions that students are situated at, but society as a whole (1). Mental health disorders can impact an individual’s ability to work and contribute to...

What is Anxiety? 

We often hear words like “anxiety” being thrown around in daily conversations that we engage in or even in discussions we overhear. It is important to properly understand what anxiety is before exploring the role of music therapy for anxiety. Anxiety can be an emotional response to certain stressful situations which may cause worry.¹ Commonly, individuals may experience some anxiety when they are about to take an important test, for example.¹ This can be classified as state anxiety, because the anxiety is brought on by a specific situation and normally...

Loewy J, Stewart K, Dassler A-M, Telsey A, Homel P, Louis Armstrong T. The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants. 2013 [cited 2019 Sep 3]; Available from: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2012-1367

Music is a universal phenomenon, having powerful effects on the human body, mind and spirit from before we are born until the end of our lives. Some modern research suggests that music therapy can play a vital role in the health and well-being of infants, specifically for those in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). In a study performed by...