- Samay Ajmera shared his journey with music therapy and how he uses it to help people combat their mental issues.
- Music therapy encourages calmness, strengthens motor skills, and improves cognitive abilities, according to the National Health Service (NHS).
Music has long been recognized as one of the effective forms of therapy to provide an outlet for expressing emotions, as per the American Psychological Association (APA).
Samay Ajmera, a 26-year-old mental health specialist, shared his journey with music therapy and how he uses it to combat mental illness. He is a trained music therapist and mental health specialist from the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute in Pondicherry. He studied music and its impact as an integrated health service. During the course of his involvement with music therapy, he witnessed the psycho-physiological benefits of music therapy on patients with varied illnesses.
“Whenever I’m asked about how or when my relationship with music began, I’m unable to find an exact time or event as an answer,” Ajmera answered when asked about his journey with music. When he was a teenager, he experienced stress, anger issues, unhappiness, and conflicts of thoughts due to various academic and personal reasons.
“I have always been passionate about music and the human mind since I was a child. In college, I wanted to study psychology but for some reason, I pursued a degree in Mass Media instead,” he said further.
It was 2016 when Ajmera discovered that he could connect and understand people through music therapy. He dealt with numerous people suffering from several mental health issues that inspired him to utilize music to help them. “Learning music therapy has always been a very big part of my life. I will never forget that it has helped me through some of my darkest days and also made me capable enough to help people with psychological issues,” Ajmera added.
According to him, music therapy can help people improve their self-esteem, alter pain perception, improve memory and cognition, reduce hypertension and anxiety issues. It is the most effective method for psychological patients as it provides a safe and non-judgmental environment for self-expression and communication. He even suggested that music therapy along with related medication and psychotherapy is extremely beneficial for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder patients.
At present, Ajmera lives in Mumbai and works in the field of mental health and developmental disabilities. He shared that he considers himself extremely fortunate to study such a subject through which he can bring positivity into people’s life.
Experts at NHS say that music therapy can be helpful for people experiencing Alzheimer’s diseases, depression, chronic anxiety, emotional dysregulation, negative thoughts, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It encourages positive feelings like calmness and confidence. It also strengthens motor skills and improves cognitive abilities.