Art, Music Therapy: Seem To Help With Brain Disorders. Experts Want To Know Why; Anxiety, PTSD, Alz

[appalachiablue]

- NPR, Feb. 19, 2022. Ed. - "We know that when we receive music, even when we hear music, we're activating multiple parts of the brain." Studies suggest that this strengthens brain circuits that help repair damage. There are also hints that the brain changes in response to other art therapies, like dance, poetry, painting, sculpture, even leatherwork. But so far, there hasn't been much scientific study to back that up. -

When Michael Schneider's anxiety and PTSD flare up, he reaches for the ukulele he keeps next to his computer. "I can't actually play a song," says Schneider, who suffered 2 serious brain injuries during nearly 22 years in the Marines. "But I can play chords to take my stress level down." It's a technique Schneider learned through Creative Forces, an arts therapy initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

It's also an example of how arts therapies are increasingly being used to treat brain conditions including PTSD, depression, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. But most of these treatments, ranging from music to poetry to visual arts, still have not undergone rigorous scientific testing. So artists and brain scientists have launched an initiative called the NeuroArts Blueprint to change that. The initiative is the result of a partnership between the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute's Health, Medicine and Society Program.

Its leadership includes soprano Renée Fleming, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, and Dr. Eric Nestler, who directs the Friedman Brain Institute at Mt. Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine.

One goal of the NeuroArts initiative is to measure how arts therapies change the brains of people like Schneider. "I had a traumatic brain injury when I was involved in a helicopter incident on board a U.S. Naval vessel." That was in 2005. Later that same year, he experienced sudden decompression- the aviator's version of the bends- while training for high-altitude flights. The result was like a stroke. "On my right side of my body I lost all feeling." Schneider recovered from both incidents. But they took a toll on his brain. In 2014, he began having serious problems. "I had this progression of really bad seizures. At one point I was having 20 to 40 seizures a day." He also developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, & depression. - More,

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/19/1081263873/mental-health-art-therapy
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- NEA/Natl. Endowment For The Arts. Veterans' Voices: Michael Schneider. Michael Schneider is a retired Marine master sergeant who continues therapeutic arts engagement through his newly discovered artistic skill of crafting leather goods. Music therapy was a way for me to step out of my depression and comfort zone. https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/creative-forces/resources/michael-schneider

[catrose]

1. 30 years ago, as an orchestra musician and teacher, I had a pin that said "Art Saves Lives."

I wished there were room to add "especially mine." So, no, no rigorous scientific testing, just what I saw and experienced every day. Bring on the science!

[mopinko]

2. i used to make buttons and i did a 'make your own' table at an art fair.

a friend of mine asked for that one, so i made a few more. it was a big hit.

[onecaliberal]

3. My child is a music major in college right now.

Lots of music of all kinds in this house.