Music And Altered States ─ Consciousness, Transcendence, Therapy And Addictions

This international collection examines the opportunities for using music-induced states of altered consciousness to promote physical and mental healing, treat substance dependence, and in spiritual and palliative care.The contributors describe the successful use of altered states and their therapeutic potential, providing examples from different cultures and clinical, therapeutic and spiritual settings. Their observations cover a wide range of music types capable of inducing altered states, including polyrhythmic music, monotonous drumming, Western pop, and Arab musical schemata, complemented by theoretical and clinical approaches to applications in music therapy.This book will be a useful reference for practising music therapists, musicologists, and ethnomusicologists, students and academics in the field.

David Aldridge is the author of a number of books within related fields including Spirituality, Healing and Medicine: Return to the Silence and Music Therapy Research and Practice in Medicine, both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Jorg Fachner studied social and educational sciences, worked in physiology and likes to play and listen to music. He finished his doctoral thesis on cannabis and music perception in an EEG investigation at the Chair for Qualitative Research in Medicine in 2001. Jorg's research interests, publications and scientific memberships focus on qualitative research aspects of music, therapy and medicine, music physiology, and psychology, youth und pop culture, altered states of consciousness, transcultural psychiatry and anthropology of the body.