This site references two additional websites and a mailing address that are available for additional information. This short web page describes an experiment that examined the effects of music therapy and guided imagery on healthy adults. It describes the many different changes that resulted from the patients in the experimental group compared to the control group. This book explains activities that can be used with patients with mental illnesses. When working with these patients, instruments must be in tune to make the music sound harmonious.
Patients find the setting more at ease when the seats are placed in a circle or a semicircle.
A music therapist should have a variety of activities that don't take too much time. A music therapist should play a song that relates to the feelings of the group and see if he or she can possibly change the mood. Music allows for an emotional release. One example given by Juliette Alvin described a psychiatric residential home for adolescent boys. The music therapists gave a concert, treating the boys as any other intelligent humans and filling the show with humor.