Abstract
DR. ARTHUR H. HARRINGTON, late superintendent of the State Hospital for Mental Diseases, Howard, Rhode Island, states that in some public institutions in the United States the value of music systematically applied with a therapeutic purpose has been recognized as an aid in institutional activities (Mental Hygiene, 23, 601; 1939). He has found that though technical instruction for groups of patients has only a very limited value, and does not produce sufficient return for the time and effort expended, mass and group singing of properly selected compositions under proper direction with the psychological aim always in mind, has a definite therapeutic value. Instrumental music of a subdued type seems to have a desirable psychological effect at meal-times, when it produces quiet and repose. In Dr. Harrington's experience the physical act of singing increases a number of bodily functions, stimulates respiration and heart action, gives increased oxygenation to the tissues and often has a favourable effect upon morbid mental states.
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Music in Mental Diseases. Nature 144, 1008 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/1441008b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1441008b0