Music can lead to Awakenings (see what I did there?)

Okay, unpopular opinion, I’m not the biggest Robin Williams fan. I know, I know everyone loves him and his movies. Maybe I need to watch more of them, maybe I haven’t given him the right opportunity. I will, alright! His movies are on my list. I think I was more interested in watching the movie Awakenings because it was about people with mental health issues, and these movies intrigue me. Also, that it was based on a true story made me even more interested. Not that we’re reviewing Robin Williams acting but I will say he did a good job and I enjoyed his acting, as well as the movie. I was expecting more music and healing to be involved in the movie, but wasn’t mad that there wasn’t more of it. The subtleness of the affects of music on these patients is something I liked about it.

One of the scenes that shows the power of music was before Leonard was administered the drug L-dopa, but after Dr. Sayer figured out what each patient who was catatonic had in common. The commonality was that they all suffered from encephalitis. Dr. Sayer tried music therapy with some patients and many of them had reactions. He first put on a classical record and you can see one of the patients slightly changed her facial expressions. I believe it was an orderly (I don’t think he was a doctor, it didn’t specify in the movie) figured out that two of his patients would react to only certain songs. This was when two patients were eating and one patient reacted to big time music while the other patient reacted to a Jimmy Hendrix song. I think this has to do with the fact that music affects the hippocampus by increasing neurogenesis which allows the production on new neurons. The hippocampus produces and retrieves memories, (Pegasus, n.d.). Saguya and Yonetani found that people with dementia were responding better to the music they grew up to. If I had to guess, the woman reacting to the “big-time” song, maybe started going catatonic when this music was popular while the man listening to Jimmy Hendrix maybe went catatonic when he was popular.

Another scene was when the whole group, after everyone started taking the L-dopa medication, went out dancing and listening to music. I believe this was an example of co-pathy. You can tell that all the individuals were having a great time after being immobile for so many years, their spirits were lifted and it seemed that all of their emotional states became more homogeneous.

The third scene is towards the end of the movie when Leonard is having his reaction to the medication and his tremors are very strong, but he is visiting with his female friend. She told him she went dancing over the weekend and he comments that he has never done that before. He then says that he isn’t going to meet with her anymore and his friend stands up and starts dancing with him. This begins to slow his tremors down to a complete stop as they are dancing. Dancing has been shown to improve mood and concentration as well as physical ability in people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I believe this is due to the fact that the brain is working with the body to help create fluid motions which is what was happening with Leonard.  

I think it is extremely sad about the amount of time lost between the patients’ childhoods and their awakenings. I can only imagine how frightening and frustrating that would have been to realize that so much time had passed. I think music played such a prominent role for many of them because it doesn’t seem like the facility they were staying at played music at all. Once music was played for them, it was obvious that some patients really reacted to it. A man who did not speak after he started taking the L-dopa medication was able to play the piano. This was probably a skill he had learned before he became catatonic and was able to remember how to play it once he came out of that state. Music might have been a really big part of his life before he became catatonic and once he was able to get out of that state, it continued to be a big part of his life while he was in the facility. There was another woman who was singing in her free time which is probably something she used to do before she became catatonic also.

I think with the research that has been done that has shown positive results on music and healing, that it should be considered a serious method. According to the Pegasus article, “Your Brain on Music,” music can help Parkinson’s patients, make you smarter, evoke memories, assist in repairing brain damage, and have numerous other positive outcomes, (Pegasus, n.d.). Music is also natural and nonintrusive. There are no side effects that can take place if you listen to music like there are with all the different medications there are out there. I am not knocking medication, I know it can work wonders and has helped so many people. Music could go along with medication, just like they suggest medication and therapy for some people who are depressed or have anxiety. It would only be beneficial if music was used as a method of healing.

I’m attaching a link to a PBS video that goes inside making music in order to heal. The video is only about eight minutes long and shows people making music for the purpose of healing. It also shows some tests being done to see how music affects the brain. An opera singer, a member of The Grateful Dead, and an Indian classical musician started creating music during the pandemic specifically for the purpose of healing. Doctors and a neuroscientist explain in a different way from lecture, how music can help patients. I think this video was interesting because you can watch some of the different tests being done to show what music does to the brain.  

Inside Music that Heals

References

Pegasus, n.d. Your brain on music. The Magazine of the University of Central Florida. https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/