Chapter 7: Music as a Cause of Disease and as a Healing Agent

"We trust that the magic of sound, scientifically applied, will contribute in ever greater measure to the relief of human suffering, to a higher development and a richer integration of the human personality, to the harmonious synthesis of all human "notes," of all "group chords and melodies" - until there will be the great symphony of the One Humanity."  (Roberto Assagioli)

To begin this chapter Roberto Assagioli gives historical examples of the therapeutic use of music, as presented in anthropological research, literary works, philosophical writings and medicine. He then goes on to detail the elements of music: rhythm, tone, melody, harmony, and timbre.

Assagioli first examines the negative effects of music, stating that music can be very artistic, aesthetically expressive, but still harmful. He says that harmfulness can arise because of the particular listener, how a piece is situated in a program, how long that program is, and so forth. He also clearly identifies music that "arouses the instincts and appeals to the lower passions" as likely to produce "injurious effects," as is music that is melancholy and depressing. Further, he finds too much dissonance and irregular rhythms to be not only a product and reflection of the modern stress and strain, but also psychologically damaging. He implies that such music is "an aural drug" and that it may lead to "a nation of neurotics which even the skill of the psychiatrist may be hard pressed to cure." In addition, he discusses the effects of performing music on musicians, and the need for them to avail themselves of rest, relaxation and "all the available means of psychotherapy." Music in films is examined as well. Assagioli notes that the influence of music can be stronger when the consciousness is more focused on the visual. The music is taken into the unconscious mind and can affect the person profoundly in body and psyche.

Next, Assagioli addresses the positive effects of music. He writes, "Music can indeed be a powerful healing agent." Not least, music can effect a condition of relaxation and restfulness that is difficult for modern people to achieve on their own. He notes that a major university was using music to reduce tension in people who were being prepared for surgery.

Music can also free emotions in those who have repressed emotionality, and it can lighten the moods of those who are bitter and worried. It can give joy - which is good for both body and soul. He mentions, as well, that music can enhance memory. In relation to psychological healing, music can have an almost psychoanalytic function. Music "can help in repressions and resistances and bring into the field of waking consciousness many drives, emotions and complexes which were creating difficulties in the unconscious."

Yet, there is also a psychosynthetic role for music as well. Here, Assagioli identifies three kinds of psychosynthesis: spiritual psychosynthesis; inter-individual psychosynthesis and cosmic psychosynthesis. He goes on to describe these and to make some recommendations about the types of music that can facilitate each kind of psychosynthesis.

Spiritual psychosynthesis is facilitated by music that appeals to the religious dimension, "lifting us above the level of everyday consciousness ... into the higher realms where light, love and joy ever reign." Examples of the kind of music he recommends include Gregorian chant, Palestrina, J.S. Bach, Handel, Cesar Franck, Wagner, and Scriabin.

Inter-individual psychosynthesis, the harmonious connection in groups of individuals, is aided by "music which expresses collective emotions and aspirations." Some examples are national anthems, workers songs and choruses from some operas. I might add that school songs, well-loved folk songs and marches and fanfares can also knit people together. Assagioli says that "The highest and most effective musical expression of the psychosynthesis of humanity is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ... ."

Cosmic psychosynthesis involves the individual's understanding and acceptance of the laws underlying cosmic order and his or her participation in it. Music brings effective healing when it starts with the whole, according to Assagioli, quoting Pontvik. Accordingly, music brings into harmony and balance tensions that symbolize archetypal forces. Certain music, particularly that of J.S. Bach, evokes religious symbols, according to Pontvik.

The discussion of music therapy that follows provides a number of rules to be observed in conducting music therapy. These rules range from the rather simple to the more complex. The simple rules prescribe that the therapist give patients information; help them relax; don't overwhelm them; use repetition, but not too much; be careful of the loudness of the music; and have time to relax afterwards.  The more complex instructions require more knowledge and discernment on the part of the therapist. These include making a careful choice of music, adapting it to the social/cultural situation of the patient; selecting music that counteracts the difficult state - but maybe choosing music that expresses some of the same mood with which the patient is struggling. Assagioli acknowledges that it is difficult to know the "subjective effect" of any given piece of music, since how the person responds depends on many factors, not all of which the therapist can know.

After listing the rules, Assagioli address some more specific situations, including finding out how patients have responded to music in the past by having them fill out a questionnaire; using music as an adjunct to anesthesia; using music to influence people's interactions with each other; having patients perform music to help in their healing; and using music in hospitals and prisons.

Three sections are appended to the chapter. The first is the Questionnaire on Musical Therapy. The second is a suggestion for musical therapy for obsessive ideas, which would require that the therapist be skilled in musical composition, as it involves using two pieces of music, and then putting them together in way that bridges and alternates the two. The third is the poem, "The Bird of Paradise," written by Francesco Chiesa after hearing a violin recital.

Since the time this book was written, music therapy has developed tremendously. Music is regularly used in most of the ways outlined by Assagioli here. It is also used with guided imagery for emotional healing, in energy healing for chakra healing and strengthening, in work with dementia patients to aid their memory and mood, and in medical settings, including surgical operating rooms and recovery rooms. Music therapy is offered in many settings, including prisons and jails, medical facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and schools. Music is used in shamanic journeying, in chanting to induce meditative states, and to achieve states of spiritual ecstasy, especially if combined with dance.

Chapter 6: Technique of Imaginative Evocation of Interpersonal Relationships

In this chapter Roberto Assagioli discusses how a therapist can help a patient/client "achieve the right inner attitude towards other people and to successfully perform intended actions involving others." He sees this happening in two stages. The first stage involves eliminating that which hinders the patient from holding that right attitude, and the second stage "is a gradual training in developing facility in outer interpersonal relations." The first stage involves catharsis of emotional blocks and increased understanding of negative emotions. The second stage involves imagining the right attitude in a specific relationship and creating a kind of internal model of how that relationship can be warm, loving and harmonious.

In another section of this chapter, Assagioli addresses the attitude of the therapist, stating that interpersonal relationships can be facilitated by the way in which the therapist regards the patient. Referencing the work of Henri Baruk, he says his own approach "consists in the attitude of addressing oneself to the better part of the patient, together with (a)  spirit of confidence, of trust in and appreciation of the patient." In a further explication, Assagioli states that one needs to view the patient not only as  having the "unaffected" aspect of moral conscience, but also the Self. He emphasizes that the role of the Self is not only moral, but also spiritual. He further explains that the conscience "that issues from the spiritual Self is quite different (than the harsh super-ego that Freud identified). It is a wise, loving type of moral conscience; it is not harsh, and follows to some extent the principle so well expressed in the words of the Christ: "Love thy neighbor as thyself.""

In the very last section of the chapter there is a general commentary on all the techniques discussed in this and earlier chapters. Assagioli points out that techniques should be used with patients in a way that takes their particular situation into consideration, and each patient should be regarded as uniquely themselves, rather than "as a member of a class." Finally, he gives some thoughts about research, stating that he feels "that research can be more profitably directed towards the intensive study and treatment of a comparatively small number of cases - resulting in detailed and thoroughly discussed case histories - than towards a more general treatment of the large number of cases needed for statistical purposes."

Chapter 4: The Rest of the Story

For this week's study we began with the subsection of chapter 4 subtitled, "Technique for the Training and Use of Imagination." This section contained a number of exercises for strengthening the ability to image in a variety of modalities: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory, tactile, olfactory. I was impressed with the degree of importance Roberto Assagioli placed on being able to image in these ways, both in the sense of registering/recalling experiences, but also in allowing the imagination to be creative, allowing images to flow and change. Further, I found interesting his claim that part of what needs to be developed regarding the imagination is the capacity to stop or not attend to images and sensations.

Since this work was first published, of course, the use of imagery in education, therapy, sports, artistic performance and medicine has flowered. Interestingly enough, the attention paid to developing imaginative capacity does not seem to have grown along with the tremendous increase in its use.  The differences among individuals for different imagery modalities are fascinating. Assagioli attributes psychological  meaning to these differences, I wonder if they have actually been researched? For example, is it really the case that auditory imagery is more connected with the dimension of emotion?

After a brief subsection on the formation of a psychosynthesis treatment plan, Assagioli moves into discussion of the "Technique of Ideal Models". He points out that we all have models of ourselves that have limitations, are in conflict with each other, and do not lead to our full development. He recommends that these false models be identified and even debunked, while preparing to build a truer model of oneself. He also makes it clear that the process he is advocating involves the patient visualizing him or herself possessing the qualities they are trying to build in, and that the process includes creating successive models as the person builds up their weaker psychological functions, strengthens desirable qualities, and moves to integrate them. Assagioli discusses how the choice is made about what to strengthen and develop, stating that "In the planning both therapist and patient agree which part of the program to take up first, and this includes the choice of the functions or qualities to be developed through this technique of model building and acting." He also discusses the situation in which a block or resistance is experienced in trying to build up a quality, and the concomitant need to move back and forth between working with the negative aspects, while building up the positive aspects.  For example, alternations may be needed between being compassionate towards one's anger or hostility even while aiming for peace and understanding with other people.

The subsection on "Technique of Symbol Utilization" presented much material on the use of symbols, kinds of symbols, and the procedures for using symbols. What I found most fascinating in this subsection was Assagioli's statements about the "functions" of symbols.  "Their primitive and basic dynamic function is that of being accumulators, in the electrical sense, as containers and preservers of a dynamic psychological charge or voltage. Their second function, a most important one, is that of transformers of psychological energies. A third function is that of conductors or channels of psychological energies. ... Symbols as accumulators, transformers and conductors of psychological energies, and symbols as integrators, have most important and useful therapeutic and educational functions. And this can be considered also in reference to psychodynamics because integration is really a function of energy, specifically the function of what has been called syntropy as contrasted with entropy. Syntropy means a heightening of the tension of the voltage of psychological and also biological energy." I am intrigued to explore these notions of psychological energies and their accumulation, containment, transformation, and channels.

Some Comments Related to My Practice and Reflection this Week - from Marsha

I was delighted with the suggestion that this week each of us practice with one of the techniques outlined in the first part of Chapter 4. It seems that individual engagement with specific techniques might stimulate good conversation among us this week.

I was most drawn to the section on the “development of the will” and the exercises therein. I very much appreciated Assagioli’s brief description of the six stages of the will. And I spent some time considering his distinction in stage six between the “dynamic power of the will, the one-pointed driving energy” and the “persistence and endurance” elements of stage six. That is to say that I spent time puzzling over which seems to be more highly developed, or at least habitual, in my own life and behavior.

That unresolved, I proceeded to the exercises described in the section on Mobilizing the Energies - and immediately encountered more puzzlement. Attempting Exercise I Part A, activities 2 and 3, I found it difficult to formulate the advantages of a well-trained will and to picture myself with a strong will as more or less context-free mental exercise. That is, I found it very challenging to conjure a well-elaborated image of myself being purposeful, focused and decisive outside of a situation, a context which would give meaning power to the purpose/focus/decisiveness. So I floundered a bit on this exercise.

I did attempt to practice some of the Exercises of the Will in Daily Life – especially the intention to “make haste slowly” in the routine demands of life. I did make an effort to check in as frequently as I remembered throughout the last several days, to catch myself rushing – if not outwardly, at least inwardly – and to return to a more mindful, thoughtful, careful action. The other technique that I worked with was the one related to physical exercise. Actually, it seemed rather the same as making haste slowly in that it focuses on precision and attentiveness in action – rather than just wildly energetic action. This was very useful for me as I have engaged in regular physical exercise for years – running on a treadmill and working with weights. But the attention to using the activity to train the will added a new dimension to my workout. So, I appreciated the practice with these techniques, attempting to train the will.

In the end I come back to stage one – aim, purpose, intention. As Assagioli says, “without a conscious aim, there can be not pure will” (p.112). And this, it seems to me is the essential (or I should say, existential) issue: Toward what do I aim? What is the “highest conceivable aim or purpose” (p. 113) toward which my will should be trained? The exercise this week brought me back to the words of Sören Kierkegaard – “purity of heart is to will one thing” and his attending questions: “what kind of life do you live, do you will only one thing, and what is this one thing?”