Study Of The Effects Of Group Music Therapy On University Students

Music purifies peoples'mind and spread pleasure, helps people communicate and understand each other, inspires and enlightens them. Music therapy, a combination of music and psychological treatment, has existed for thousands of years. Its early form can be recognized in various ritual services of ancient times. As a modern science, however, it only came to existence about 60 years ago. As we know more about music and ourselves, both physically and psychologically, music therapy has become an indispensable branch in modern psychological therapy and medical treatment.Modern music therapy was introduced into China around 30 years ago and its application has just started and is mainly confined to hospitals. Given the fact that psychological health of university students has received much attention in recent years, it becomes timely to study how to apply music therapy to help students deal with the various problems that they face in their studies and daily lives, and explore implementations that best suit them. In the present study, we aim to employ group psychological treatment and music therapy to help university students solve their daily problems and explore how to help them develop a healthy character.We first survey the relevant literature about music therapy and summarize the status of present research with the aim of laying down the framework for the present study.We have chosen 12 volunteers to form an experimental group and have organized 2 group therapy activities of 90-120 minutes per week, which lasted in total 4 weeks. We then have studied the effects of these group therapy activities through questionnaire and interview by comparing the responses of the 12 volunteers before and after the therapy.Our results showed that group music therapy has greatly enhanced the self-recognition of the members of the experimental group. As a result, the students became more understanding, more willing to accept others, and more eager to attend various social activities. Both the questionnaire and interview clearly showed that after the treatment the members became more open and optimistic about life in general.Through the present study, we have accumulated valuable experience and learned how to apply music therapy to university students. Meanwhile, we have found out some characteristics of music therapy in this particular setting and clarified certain common misunderstandings among the students about music therapy and psychological health.Finally, we have tried to understand, in retrospect, the drawbacks of the present study and proposed how to improve such a study and/or the effects of such music therapy treatments in future. We have also provided some specific suggestions on applications of music therapy to university students.