The Orpheus Institute Home
SITE MAP Contact us
Get Involved Donate
The Orpheus Institute - Music as Medicine
MUSIC as MEdicine
The Orpheus Institute works to understand and apply the effects of music and imagery on the brain to relieve mental suffering from trauma or behavioral illnesses.
Music and art play a powerful healing role in person-centered medicine today. Music and art are found in every human culture. For millennia they have been recognized for their therapeutic value and healing qualities. The ancient Greek and Egyptian physicians believed that music and imagery could heal both the body and the soul. Many neuroscientists believe that humans are hardwired for music. The known effects of music on the brain has led to a new branch of research called neuromusicology which explores how the nervous system reacts to music and the ways music has a therapeutic effect on the mind, body and spirit.
The Orpheus Institute works with mental health professionals around the world in understanding and treating mental health conditions using the effects of music and imagery on the brain.
Music’s healing properties seem to lie in the ability of the brain to use music to make new connections. Rhythm and vibrations alter physical systems such as heartbeat, breathing, and balance. Music is shown to “unlock” nervous system connections that may prevent movement, speech, or memories; regulates stress hormones; reduces anxiety; and helps us decode emotional trauma.
Anyone who has listened to music knows the incredible power it can have over both thoughts and emotions.

Learn more on Music & Art as Medicine

 

Drawing and the Brain Images made up our thought processes before we had words, and although language is our dominant form of communication, we most efficiently form thought through images. Art is synonymous with expression, and expression is synonymous with emotional release. Emotions, which are difficult to articulate verbally, have greater opportunity for release through artistic expression. The act of creative engagement brings us into the present moment. It puts us in touch with who we are and connects us with others. It helps us break through our mental/emotional barriers and so we can move ourselves forward. Expressing creative imagination through art and music can be transforming healing process. Some of our defenses associated with verbalization can be averted through art activity. Music And Drawing When music, imagery, and our motor systems work together the healing results are dramatic. A growing body of evidence shows that the brain responds to music in very specific ways – and that specific types of music have very distinct effects on our minds. Music ties together our auditory and our motor systems – we move, dance, make facial expressions and keep time with music. What happens when you take uniquely composed music, used in a specific sequence, ask patients to draw freely while listening, and add in-depth interpretation of the artwork? Answer: a therapeutic result that far exceeds what the individual has articulated or that the therapist could previously see. Transforming Mental Health Therapy Using specifically composed music and a unique therapeutic process, called Catharsis Application Program (CAP), the team at the Orpheus Institute is demonstrating that merging the power of music together with graphic expression and interpretation is transforming patients and more rapidly unlocking healing in emotional trauma, cognitive conditions, addictions, and other psychological and behavioral conditions.
“The music helped the patients to bridge a stage of their therapy. By creating the right moment, this music, spread across a number of sessions, enters into resonance with the patients inner music, supporting emotional communication and the emergence of suppressed emotions and memories that can then be taken up in verbal psychotherapy. “ — Dr Jacqueline Verdeau-Pailles, Neuro-Psychiatrist
CAP is not traditional music therapy, in which a patient engages with and / or in music, but is a deliberate and structured approach that combines specific musical stimulation, drawing, and an interpretive process. Patients and practitioners are experiencing remarkable and exciting progress in those with mental and cognitive illness. With CAP, people are able to gently reveal otherwise “unspeakable” realities deep within their mental or behavioral illness and help relieve their suffering. CAP is an approachable and potent tool, based on a rigorous methodology and progression. It is providing practitioners pioneering tools for emotional healing and is helping thousands of people who are experiencing a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges.

Learn HOW CAP WE DEVELOPED

Learn more about the complete CAP Program

 A program which weaves art & music into a unique and unprecedented therapeutic intervention. A very structured methodology for accurately assessing the nature of a problem and for monitoring treatment progress. A groundbreaking artistic mediation which addresses deep emotional core issues unobtrusively and can overcome clients resistance to change.
CONTACT US MISSION DRIVEN, DONOR SUPPORTED CONNECT WITH US
The Orpheus Institute c/o Zaradich, 333 W. Broadway # 653 ANAHEIM, CA 92815 • USA We are a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to empowering people and communities to realize their full potential through the transformative power of music and art.
PARTNERSHIP Interested in partnership with us? Sponsor Training
Copyright 2022 Alain Amouyal, The Orpheus Institute • All Rights Reserved Terms & Conditions I Privacy Policy