DEAF PSYCHIATRY: A REVIEW OF THE DIFFICULTIES AND THE EFFECT OF AN INQUIRY ON CURRENT PRACTICE

Communication is a huge difficulty in researching Deafness in psychiatry and in practically assessing and treating deaf patients. This paper aims to review the difficulties surrounding the assessment and treatment of deaf patients, using a review of the current literature on audio-visual hallucinations as an example. It will also include a summary of the published inquiry into the care and treatment of Daniel Joseph (a profoundly Deaf man), and a review of the Department of Health consultation document and NHS England responses to that inquiry as evidence of why these difficulties have relevance in everyday practice. In structuring the paper in this manner, the author hopes to review the current state of healthcare provided for Deaf individuals within psychiatry, and what still needs to be done

DEAF PSYCHIATRY: A REVIEW OF THE DIFFICULTIES AND THE EFFECT OF AN INQUIRY ON CURRENT PRACTICE

Communication is a huge difficulty in researching Deafness in psychiatry and in practically assessing and treating deaf patients. This paper aims to review the difficulties surrounding the assessment and treatment of deaf patients, using a review of the current literature on audio-visual hallucinations as an example. It will also include a summary of the published inquiry into the care and treatment of Daniel Joseph (a profoundly Deaf man), and a review of the Department of Health consultation document and NHS England responses to that inquiry as evidence of why these difficulties have relevance in everyday practice. In structuring the paper in this manner, the author hopes to review the current state of healthcare provided for Deaf individuals within psychiatry, and what still needs to be done

THE USE OF MUSIC THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF SOCIETAL WELLBEING

Music Therapy can be broadly described as the use of Music in a therapeutic context in order to help improve mental health. Music Therapy does not simply imply the playing of music to patients, relaxing though this may be, but in fact it does involve more active involvement of the patient, so as to use the power of music in order to help improve the mental health of patients and in order to treat mental health conditions. We review the evidence for the effect of Music Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Sleep Disorders, and Dementia. Encouraging singing appears to be a good adjunct to treating all of these conditions, and it also seems to help bonding between mothers and children within families. Music appears to be beneficial to both the individual, and also to the improvement of social cohesion. The reasons for this must reside in the nature of music itself as an art form which supports human interactions within society

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MUSIC; A REVIEW AND SUMMARY

Present knowledge about the neurobiology of music is discussed and summarised. Music playing, reading and listening are all complex processes requiring co-ordination of various parts of the brain in hierarchically structured sequences. The involvement of the right hemisphere of the brain in musical functions is well established, however in fact both hemispheres are involved. Plasticity isheavily involved in all functions of the brain related to music. The role of mirror neuron systems of the brain appears to be of great importance and parallels exist in the development and functioning of language and music

THE EFFECT OF MUSIC THERAPY SESSIONS ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AND HOW TO MEASURE IT, WITH REFERENCE TO ATTACHMENT THEORY

Music therapy and attachment is an expanding field and the number of studies addressing the theoretical work is slowly growing. There are both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the effect of regular music therapy sessions on parent-child interactions and these cover a range of patient populations including: children at risk of neglect, parents with a trauma history, children coping with bereavement and a large number addressing the disability population, including autism spectrum disorder. These studies suggest that music therapy benefits the parent-child relationship through the improvement communication, especially non-verbal communication, and so increased the feeling of closeness and understanding. Following a review of the available literature, a pilot study is described using transcripts of video recordings of music therapy sessions, and subsequent colour coding and conversion of the data into pie charts provides a potential method of analysis that produces an “interaction profile” of each parent-child dyad. Preliminary results of this method of analysis suggest that music therapy sessions might be able to improve interactions through therapists addressing the power dynamics within a relationship. The new method developed in this pilot study to visualise and study the parent-child relationship in music therapy sessions was effective and could be used and developed by music therapy researchers in the future

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MUSIC; A REVIEW AND SUMMARY

Present knowledge about the neurobiology of music is discussed and summarised. Music playing, reading and listening are all complex processes requiring co-ordination of various parts of the brain in hierarchically structured sequences. The involvement of the right hemisphere of the brain in musical functions is well established, however in fact both hemispheres are involved. Plasticity isheavily involved in all functions of the brain related to music. The role of mirror neuron systems of the brain appears to be of great importance and parallels exist in the development and functioning of language and music

THE EFFECT OF MUSIC THERAPY SESSIONS ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AND HOW TO MEASURE IT, WITH REFERENCE TO ATTACHMENT THEORY

Music therapy and attachment is an expanding field and the number of studies addressing the theoretical work is slowly growing. There are both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the effect of regular music therapy sessions on parent-child interactions and these cover a range of patient populations including: children at risk of neglect, parents with a trauma history, children coping with bereavement and a large number addressing the disability population, including autism spectrum disorder. These studies suggest that music therapy benefits the parent-child relationship through the improvement communication, especially non-verbal communication, and so increased the feeling of closeness and understanding. Following a review of the available literature, a pilot study is described using transcripts of video recordings of music therapy sessions, and subsequent colour coding and conversion of the data into pie charts provides a potential method of analysis that produces an “interaction profile” of each parent-child dyad. Preliminary results of this method of analysis suggest that music therapy sessions might be able to improve interactions through therapists addressing the power dynamics within a relationship. The new method developed in this pilot study to visualise and study the parent-child relationship in music therapy sessions was effective and could be used and developed by music therapy researchers in the future

THE USE OF MUSIC THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF SOCIETAL WELLBEING

Music Therapy can be broadly described as the use of Music in a therapeutic context in order to help improve mental health. Music Therapy does not simply imply the playing of music to patients, relaxing though this may be, but in fact it does involve more active involvement of the patient, so as to use the power of music in order to help improve the mental health of patients and in order to treat mental health conditions. We review the evidence for the effect of Music Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Sleep Disorders, and Dementia. Encouraging singing appears to be a good adjunct to treating all of these conditions, and it also seems to help bonding between mothers and children within families. Music appears to be beneficial to both the individual, and also to the improvement of social cohesion. The reasons for this must reside in the nature of music itself as an art form which supports human interactions within society

DO GENERAL PRACTITIONERS FOLLOW GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS TO TREAT DEPRESSION? CAN THE SITUATION BE IMPROVED?

Several papers have been written to show that General Practitioners do not always prescribe according to the guidelines despite the availability of guidelines regarding the dosage and length of treatment with antidepressants to treat a depressive episode. Here we review the evidence as to whether GPs follow antidepressant guidelines, covering the data between 1996 and the present day, and discuss the implications of this evidence. We then propose solutions which could be used to improve adherence to the guidelines. We propose as one solution the development of joint Doctor-Practice Nurse clinics for the treatment of depression. The outcomes of these clinics should be auditable against the guidelines. Such a solution, when linked with easy access to advice and referral to Secondary Care Psychiatry specialists, argues for a collaborative care or shared care program for the treatment of depression in Primary Care