09
MUSICTHERAPY IN THE HISTORY
There are reports of the use of the music therapy since the start of the human history. The Paphos of Lahun (document of 1800 b.C. where we see that the ancient Egyptians use to treat his deseases with the help of the music therapy, and the influence of the music on the human body) contains the first record of the therapeutic use of the music until now found. And, more than this, we can see the use of the music therapy in:
• Egyptian temples
• Biblical times when David played harp to deliver King Saul from an evil spirit.
• Greek mythology, because Apollo was the God of the music and medicine.
• Aesculapius, whom people believed healed diseases of the mind through music and songs.
• Plato, that used to say that music affected emotions and could influence the character of an individual.
• Aristotle, that taught the music affected the soul, and used to describe the music like a force capable of purify the emotions.
• Pythagoras, that developed healing through the rhythmic intervals of musical melody, giving it the name of purification.
• Around 400 B.C, Hippocrates played music for the mentally ill.
• Aulo Cornélio Celso advocated the sound of cymbals and running water for the treatment of mental disorders.
• The philosopher Aristotle believed that music produced by wind instruments, such as the flute, aroused strong emotions and could lead to a state of liberation.
• At the time of the Christianization of Europe, music was used as a drug agent, such as opium and other narcotics.
• In the Renaissance there was a
resurgence and a new emergence of empirical medicine and with it, after the new medical discoveries, music was primarily included along with the new therapies.
• Around the 1940s, music therapy was applied to soldiers from the Second World War due to the condition of the different malaria acquired on the battlefield.
• In 1950, the National Association of Music Therapy in the USA was created to promote the progressive use of music in medicine. (From this date on, the profession of music therapist, duly trained and up-to-date) can be considered.
• The 60s of the last centuries were (re)directed with the use of music for the alteration of states of consciousness that can be used for the treatment of distinct physical and / or psychic pathologies.
• At the end of the 20th century, the use of music for therapeutic purposes has increased in importance in most of the industrialized world.
• Nowadays and understanding music as an expression of Man for himself, it is possible to perceive the existence of a change in the scientific paradigm in order to favor understanding of music therapy and the existence of changes caused by music through therapy.