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Sound, Spirituality Transformation How might
sound therapy, offered with spiritual care,
affect those suffering from a mental illness?
www.LaughingBoy.ca St. Josephs
Hospital West 5th Campus By
Stephen Hudecki
The Case
Commentary
Affect

• Reclaiming sense of self and ones own life.
• Desiring to know happiness
• Surprised by how deeply sound affects awareness
  and mood.
• After 8 years of grieving sons death, wanting
  peace.
• A discovery of the strength power of
  visualization.
• A change in victim-identity self-loathing.
• Expression relief of rage/anger at parents,
  God self.

Sound Therapy is a return to ancient cultures
use of instruments, repetitive rhythm, trance
inducing drones and impressionistic sounds to
promote imagination, inner-vision and emotional
expression. Sound therapy was received/utilized
repeatedly in this case study. Spiritual Care
therapy was also provided with an emphasis on
mindfulness in addition to Narrative and Solution
Focused Brief Therapies. With therapy, a new
awareness emerged regarding thinking patterns,
attitudes, beliefs and the ability to decide or
discern newer attitudes and beliefs from old
patterns. There is need for a more exhaustive
literature review and additional research re
integrating therapeutic approaches of sound/music
therapy and spiritual care therapy.

• A single case exploration of the use of sound
  therapy as part of spiritual care for a female in
  patient and out patient with depression, trauma
  and loss
• A 55 year caucasian female
• Married - 2nd marriage
• Three children - one deceased
• Only child
• Biological father kind-hearted but not know by
  her.
• Mother Step-father (abuser)
• Voluntary admission after suicide ideation.
• History of childhood marital sexual trauma
• History of complicated grief

Research Methodology
A qualitative research method was used and an
informal case study conducted to explore the
phenomena observed in a clinical setting
regarding the affect of offering spiritual care
in conjunction with sound therapy. In this
study, the researcher provided weekly sessions of
sound therapy and spiritual care with a single
patient for a 12-16 week period. The sessions
were 60 to 90 minutes in duration. The patient
had voluntarily self-selected based on positive
feedback from a co-patient about her experience
with the same type of therapy. The patients
initial attitude and approach was Ill try
anything. The use of sound instruments, while
not obligatory, was used regularly and in
conjunction with, and in lieu of, talk therapy
such as Solution Focused Brief Therapy and
Narrative Therapy. Instruments include the Remo
Ocean Drum Sabian Thunder Sheet Remo Buffalo
drum and Oscar Drum (shown in order to your
left) As session notes were reviewed,
therapeutic themes revealed themselves. Such
themes included emotional release,
change/transformation, insight, community,
connectivity, forgiveness and freedom.
Patient History
Literature Review

• (peer-reviewed medical and scientific literature
  in English in the PubMed database, selected
  evidence-based databases, and Government sources
  unless otherwise noted.)
• Current research on Neurobiology of Music
• Altered states of consciousness (Harner, 1990)
• Balanced hemispheric brainwaves (Atwater, 1999)
• Neurophysiological Theory of Trance (Marusich,
  1991)
• Imagination (Achterberg 1985)
• Childhood sexual abuse (CSA)
• Exploration of post traumatic stress disorder
  (PTSD) therapies with emphasis on EMDR
• Probability of Depression, Anxiety, Dissociative
  disorders
• Consultation Dr. Heidi Ahonen PhD, MTA
• Grief Counselling
• Buddhism and Grief Counselling (Wada Park
  2009)
• Grief accompanies mental illness (Lafond, 1994)
• Consultation Cynthia Vander Kooij BMT MTA CPRP
• Spirituality in Psychiatric Hospitals
• Windhorse Buddhist Therapy (Knapp
  KoenigHuguelet 2009)
• Move belief from fixing to a persons capacity
  for transformation (Karasu MD)
• Religious Coping and Spiritual Transformation