Music + Neuroplasticity:
Rewiring the Adolescent Brain to Treat Mental Health Disorders
Music + Neuroplasticity:
Rewiring the Adolescent Brain to Treat Mental Health Disorders
“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”
~ Leopold Stokowski
Introduction
For my IB high school's MYP Project, I chose to delve into the neuroscience of music therapy and explore the link between the neuroplastic changes in the brain, resulting from music therapy, and the positive effects for adolescents suffering from mental health disorders. I focused on the most common mental health disorders affecting teenagers, in particular those related to anxiety, depression, and eating.
For my Product/Outcome, I decided to create this website geared specifically towards teenagers and their families. I'm hoping to raise awareness for music therapy as an effective tool to treat mental health disorders and a possible alternative (or valuable addition) to psychotherapy, exercise, or medication. This website is also a resource to teach people how to apply the neuroplasticity principles resulting from music therapy in their own lives, whether they’re suffering from a mental health disorder or not, so that they’re able to experience the positive effects of music therapy.
Where to start? I would recommend to first read through the section Mental Health Disorders, followed by Music Therapy and Neuroplasticity. After that, please give the Exercises a try! You may also want to check out the Resources page, as I've listed lots of great links to organizations, research, and books related to mental health disorders and music therapy.
I hope this website will prove to be meaningful and useful to you!
“Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter – to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water."
~ Albert Schweitzer
