Music is pretty powerful. It’s the undeniable euphoria and buzz that comes from hearing a song you love, the effect akin to walking on sunshine whilst watching lambs frolic king gleefully after you’ve just necked your morning triple shot coffee. It’s the ability of a song to transport you to a place, time and feeling that you thought was long lost in the midst of time. It’s the potential to totally change your mood from Jekyll like to that of Hyde. But it is not just in everyday life that music has some ‘magic’ qualities.

There’s no denying that music has a profound impact on mental and physical wellbeing as well. A study by Nature Neuroscience in 2011 found that listening to music produces dopamine, the chemical released at moments of enjoyment, just like other stimuli such as food, sex and exercise, making it an enriching part of a healthy life. Research has shown that those levels of dopamine are nine percent higher when the listener actually enjoys the music, so the music itself doesn’t have to be of a certain clever kind to benefit you.

And so, music can be used as a treatment to make people happier, healthier, and recover from illness. Far from new age nonsense, this is tried and tested science. Music therapy, that is the use of music to treat patients with mental and physical ailments, has earned its place in the medical world and is a core option available on the NHS. There are also voluntary and charity groups such as Core Arts, Creative Routes and Music in Hospitals all working to deliver the benefits of music therapy to those suffering from a range of conditions, both mental and physical. All aspects of music – playing, listening, singing and writing – are included in music therapy, and sessions aim to reduce tension and anxiety, allow the opportunity for expression and communication, help people engage, and have proven physical benefits.

First developing as a profession in World War I, music as an aspect of healing rituals has existed for centuries, and it was in the 18^th century that scientists first began to investigate the impact of music on the respiratory and cardiac systems of the body. Louis Roger’s theoretical work A Treatise on the Effects of Music on the Human Body, published in 1748, discussed how the regularity of the beat helped focus and concentration, and the vibrations had an impact upon blood flow and nerves. Some people even cite its use right back to the Bible, when David played the harp to King Soul to rid him of bad spirits.

Numerous recent studies have also revealed benefits for patients suffering both physical and mental ailments. A 2009 trial of patients with heart disease found that just one thirty minute session of music therapy could significantly improve health, and Mozart’s Sonata K448 has been proven to reduce the frequency and severity of epileptic attacks.

An explanation of how this works can be seen in the process called entrainment, where music is used as a tool in helping sufferers of strokes recover and regain the ability to form thought patterns that will help decrease depression, reduce anxiety and improve the mood. Essentially the parts of the brain controlling particular functions become synchronised with a beat, selected to stimulate a particular and more helpful brain state.

Clearly a powerful stimulant, the relaxing effects of music therapy have been indicated by reductions on blood pressure and pulse rates, an increase in oxygen saturation, and thus ultimately less pain. Aristotle believed that ‘by music a man becomes accustomed to feeling the right emotions,’ and for those having difficulty engaging with the emotions that work for them, music therapy is an excellent way to practice.

The more often people engage with music, the greater the cognitive benefit. Like anything, practice makes perfect, and by stimulating neural pathways in the brain that are not as often used in everyday life, the brain literally gets a whole beneficial workout.

Music is not only an impressive art form, but also a life-changing resource with the ability to improve both a person’s health and wellbeing. In short, music truly does sound good.

Using words to soothe the emotions and alter thoughts is the root of bibliography – the use of literature to help people deal with psychological, social and emotional problems. The concept dates back to 300 BC when ancient civilizations placed inscriptions over library entrances that stated that within the building was healing for the soul. Aristotle considered literature to have healing benefits and reading fiction to be a way of treating illness and in Titus Andronicus William Shakespeare encourages the audience to ‘Come, and take choice of all my library, And so beguile thy sorrow … ’

Although stemming from ancient cultures, one of the first times it was applied to medical care in the UK was after World War I to help treat the emotional trauma suffered by returning soldiers, when engagement and occupation with books in psychiatric institutions was seen to be beneficial for the patients’ general sense of wellbeing. More recently it has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) UK as a useful start in treating mild and moderate depression, anxiety and panic and some other mental health problems. In Ireland GPs suggest specific titles through the Power of Words scheme and on the other side of the world, Central West Libraries in New South Wales has developed a Books on Prescription scheme.

Different forms of bibliotherapy exist. Some is very much within the self-help genre, whereas other therapists ‘prescribe’ personal reading lists based on the type of literature a person favours, whereas others still offer guided group reading sessions, known as creative bibliotherapy. This is what Sharon Dunscombe, who runs Tales for Tea offers, via the practice of sharing great works of literature by reading them aloud, together. She describes this as a ‘deeply personal and social experience’ where the text and pleasure of reading is enough in itself, but can be enhanced by the experience of engaging with it in a group. Sharon believes that ‘It is my duty as a bibliotherapist to make connections; personal connections between the content of the books and the people I read to, thus promoting a therapeutic response.’

It was after running reading groups in a junior school whilst studying for her Level 3 NVQ that Sharon came to bibliotherapy. She discovered that the children responded very well to the stories being read to them by unconsciously relating their lives to the works she was reading. She describes herself as ‘a complete bibliophile and [I] have eaten books and words like bowls of warm nourishment from a very early age!’ Reading is not just something that children benefit from, and groups are starting up all over the country for people from all walks of life.

Rachel, author of Black Rainbow, a writer and bibliotherapist, who, amongst other workshops, works with prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, knows first hand the value of using poetry and prose as an aid to psychological healing and wellbeing. When faced with depression, suicidal thoughts and hospitalisation, ‘an illness that left me inconsolable and tormented by pain and fear’ her mother began to read to her. The poems and passages she read became props for Rachel. ‘I clung to particular lines and phrases as if they were carefully constructed life rafts: a particular favourite was an excerpt from Corinthians: “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness” which I repeated to myself in the style of a mantra or prayer. As I began to recover, I grew to rely more and more on the healing power of consoling poetry and prose. As I gradually re-learnt how to focus my attention and read for myself, I sought out texts with a compassionate voice that helped me feel less alone; as well as pieces of writing that transformed my perspective.’

Experiments by Professor Philip Davis from the School of English at the University of Liverpool suggests that complex prose and poetry increases electrical activity in the brain. Rachel believes that ‘We can draw a relationship between reading poems and increased focus plus the ability to engage in something outside of oneself, thereby separating oneself from the ‘ego’: an important component of mental health. ‘ Reading is a personal endeavour using internal processes but featuring external voices, and therefore useful in focusing the reader on examining their ‘self’ and coming to terms with their emotions and challenging accepted but unhelpful thoughts, via prompts from others in a safe and contained environment.

Samuel Crothers, the man who coined the term bibliotherapy described its stages as Identification, Catharsis and Insight.  Essentially, the reader identifies with some aspect of the story, finds release in sharing with the character’s feelings, and gains insight into how to apply that to dealing with their own emotions.

There can be no doubt that literature transforms us and the process of reading is a very healing process, but the way in which it does so can vary significantly. Words can help people realise emotions, and the result can be that emotions deep inside are then able to be expressed and shared. Books can help to provide different perspectives and the suggestion of an alternative course of action. They may be inspiring, through the story or character. For some it is the actual doing, the practice of devoting half an hour a day to a regular activity, which can help provide a sense of solidity for some people, as a safe place unchanging and apart from difficulties faced in the world and a place of escapism. Others may simply respond to the rhythm of the words and the flow of sentences, finding themselves absorbed and in an almost meditative state.

The exact benefits may not be rigidly defined, and we may never be able to conduct laboratory experiments or collect reams of data to prove the case for bibliotherapy being of medical assistance, but it certainly is another tool in the world and an asset to support mental health. As Rachel writes in Black Rainbow – ‘Words were what I knew, what I had always relied on.’