Introduction and Use of Drum Therapy in a Secure Extended Care Unit (SECU)
Lawrence Nulty & Breanna Achterbosch, Registered Psychiatric Nurses, Ballarat Health Services-Mental Health Services, Victoria, Australia.
Methods
SECU staff attended external drum circle training in order to learn exercises and methods for facilitating a drum circle.
Cajon drums were selected for their ease of use, light weight and affordability.
Surveys were collected from eleven different drumming
session in SECU. Data collected during the implementation phase included:
Number of attendees to each session
Length of time spent at each session by each participant
Patients’ perceived mood before, during and after a session
Observed impact on affect and engagement.
At the end of the implementation phase staff and clients
were asked to fill out questionnaires about their experiences with drum therapy. Positives identified include physical
activity, emotional releasing, activity scheduling, reported enjoyment and opportunity to socialise.
Conclusion
Drum Therapy has been a welcome addition to the Activities Program at Sovereign House. It has allowed people who are otherwise socially withdrawn to participate in groups in a non
threatening way, and the laid back format allows people to engage for as long or as short a period of time as they choose. Drumming has been added to the weekly music session as well and people are able to sing and play guitar at these sessions too.
Introduction
Drum therapy is a form of music therapy that is appropriate for adult aged individuals and
requires no previous skill in a musical instrument. As identified by Bungay (2010), the goal is playing together for enjoyment, not eventual public performance.
The potential for anybody to participate and improvise expressing their emotions (Watson,
2002) regardless of skill or ability makes drum therapy a very accessible form of music therapy.
Indeed, research has found that drumming therapy transcends gender, race, age and nationality, allowing people to come together and engage in a non-confronting manner (Longhofer &
Floersch, 1993; Kelleher, 2001).
There is also current research indicating that music therapy and drum therapy aid in creating therapeutic brain waves associated with promoting calmness, and reducing levels of pain and anxiety (Lin et al., 2001; Haucket al., 2013). For these reasons drum therapy was identified as being appropriate to introduce to the current activities program at SECU.
References:
Hauck, M., Metzner, S., Rohlffs, F., Lorenz, J., Engel, A.K. (2013). The influence of music and music therapy on pain-induced neuronal oscillations measured by magnetencephalography. Pain, 154(4), pp 539-547.
Kelleher, A.Y. (2001). The beat of a different drummer: Music therapy’s role in dementia respite care. Activities, Adaptation & Aging, 25(2), pp 75-84.
Lin, L., Lee, W., Wu, H., Tsai, C., Wei, R., Mok, H., Weng, C., Lee, M., Yang, R. (2011). The long term effect of listening to Mozart K.448 decreases epileptiform discharges in children with epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behaviour, 21(4), pp 420-424.
Longhofer, J., Floersch, J. (1993). African drumming and psychiatric rehabilitation. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 16(4), pp 3-10.
Results
Session Surveys:
Lawrence Nulty
Registered Psychiatric Nurse
Sovereign House Secure Extended Care Unit
Ballarat Health Services– Mental health Services P.O.Box 577
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 3353 Email: [email protected]
Ph:61353204187
Drum Therapy takes place in a circle with several participants and a drum therapy leader who leads the group through various exercises.
5-10 minutes average engagement time
Unchanged or increased positive mood
Staff Questionnaire:
Six staff answered anonymously
Observed increase to positive mood after session
Observed clients looked forward to sessions
Observed clients
demonstrated increased levels of concentration
Clients reported an “emotional release” of frustration and negative energy from hitting the drums.
Noisy atmosphere caused distress to some clients and staff, hence
avoiding sessions
Four clients met with
independent person to discuss perceptions
Positives:
Physical activity
Emotional releasing
Activity scheduling
Enjoyment
Social opportunity Feedback:
Noise could be a barrier to participation
Introduction of other instruments would be beneficial
Clients:
Sovereign House SECU is a 12 bed facility located at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
People with severe mental illness not responding to psychiatric treatment as expected are admitted with the treatment goals being recovery and return to living in the most least restrictive environment possible.
