Effect of Indian Classical Music on the Modifiable Factors of Coronary Heart Disease
Synopsis
Music has recently been considered to be an effective mode of therapy in patients with various kinds of diseases. It has successfully been used in Japan and certain Latin American countries with their own traditional music.
A study has recently been conducted in India to study the effects of Indian classical music in reducing tension, anxiety, stress, blood pressure, and pain (modifiable factors of heart disease). The project explored the possibilities of music both in therapy, and as a therapy, so that it could be used both as a preventive, and as a curative tool in coronary heart disease treatment. In music therapy, the therapist is not concerned with the aesthetics of music, but only with the functioning of music in giving relief and cure to the patient.
In this study, specially trained musicians; indologists-pathologists with inter-disciplinary knowledge of yoga, music, ayurveda, jyothisha, and literature; clinical psychologists; and physicians well-versed in human behavior, psychology, and pain and palliative care, worked together. Different methods of research were used on several patients in this study of music therapy.
This paper presents the whole study – including the methods used and the details of the patients before, during, and after the study – and proves the effectiveness of Indian classical music in the treatment of coronary heart disease.
Number of Words: 6,800
Number of Pages (including tables): approx. 30
Price: FREE
The paper is written by Dr. Suvarna Nalapat, a medical doctor with an MD in Pathology. Her special field of interest is human values in healthcare, which involves the study of human consciousness, its roots in spiritual traditions, and how they can be utilized for the betterment of society, nation and the world at large. Music is the universal language and medium through which the Advaitha can be achieved for physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health. With this in mind, Suvarna Nalapat has done extensive study on Indian classical musical traditions and their effects on the human consciousness.
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