Live Music for Vets Soothes PTSD

Article from LA TIMES: "Live Music at Fresno's VA Hospital Makes a Big Difference"

A local harpist just sent this article to me and it talks about how VA patient's in waiting rooms enjoy the live music and makes them less stressed and at ease when going in for their appointments.

Today was my first day playing for the Mental Health floor at the VA hospital and it was received so wonderfully by the patient's coming and going to their appointments and by the staff. People came out of their offices to hear the music and thanked me so much for providing this wonderful service.

One patient was finished with his appointment for the day and took some time to stand by me and chat a while. Right away, I felt an interesting connection with this guy. He was upset and fed-up with his "treatment" and I sympathized. He said, "I need more of this (pointing to my music) and less of that (meaning his therapy sessions)" I laughed and said I knew what he meant. He talked about how he started to feel like one of the masses, and that he is doing his own research with his condition and that some doctor's are not responsive to patient's who take this into their own hands. We discussed how music therapy needs to be brought back into traditional forms of treatment, and less pill-pushing.

Even though I provide a peaceful service, I tend to notice that I light a fire under people sometimes. I tend to get them to think of change, and repressed emotions surface. I have to laugh at the amount of times that I just randomly run into someone, have a discussion, and then something bubbling under the surface appears. People have gotten angry, have cried, have realized not-so-pretty things about themselves, or realizing that they need to change something in their lives. I'm a mover and a shaker!

Anyway, back to this guy, his therapist walked by and then he spent the next 10 minutes ranting about what we were previously talking about and I think it was necessary for him to get it off his chest (though I do think his therapist was like "where is this coming from?")

Not 5 minutes later, and another guy does the same to his therapist! So I hope I was providing peaceful treatment...or at least acknowledgement from these patient's that they're fed-up with certain methods of treatment that are run into the ground, or are sick of feeling like another one in the herd.

I sympathize with this because I have also had years of mental health treatment and I understand the frustration. Some therapists were gold, most were just "doing their job" and I never really felt understood individually and they were eager to get me on some sort of meds and out the door. After getting to know myself for quite a while and my patterns, I also did my own research and self-help into specific matters.

The director of my school program (Christina Tourin) has a new series of playing harp in group settings. Like a harp therapy group. I think this type of thing would do wonders for these patients.