Lost Voices and Moments of Change
By Christin Perry-Michalik
“Moments of Change”- We feel them in different environments and recognize the feeling of things shifting when change happens. New research in the journal Frontiers in Psychology carried out by Professor Jorg Fachner and Dr. Clemens Maidhof of Anglia Ruskin University is shedding scientific light into what therapists have felt for decades. “Moments of Change” happen when therapist and patient are connected and they feel in sync with each other. Light bulb moments happen, and then change occurs. EEGs (electroencephalograms) are showing that electrical signals in the brains of music therapists and patients sync together at the same moment that both later identified as the time in the session when therapy was really working. This new research gives tangible evidence of these moments of connection and this change that is experienced in the brain and can actually be seen in the data.
While this research shows these moments of change happening in a clinical environment, we have to wonder if these moments of change may happen in other moments in which there is connection between people through music. Lost Voices musicians have described feeling this moment of change in which they feel particularly connected with a child and through writing a song they feel a change happening in that child. Mental health professionals recognize that the relationship between two people is the most important component of the healing process. Many children, especially those that have experienced traumas, struggle with trusting again and finding these moments of connection. Lost Voices musicians work with children in putting their thoughts, feelings, and experiences into writing and performing music, and through this process feel this connection and these moments of change.
This brain syncing has also been studied in the field of attachment. The father of Attachment Theory, John Bowlby, identified attachment as happening neurobiologically between an infant and their caregivers. Bowlby’s attachment theory developed in the 1950s says that the early attachment formed between infant and primary caregiver sets the stage for that infant’s pattern of attachment in other relationships later in life. More recent studies in attachment have shown synchronicity of oxytocin (the chemical in the brain associated with connection and love) between the primary caregiver and infants/toddlers in secure attachment relationships. When securely attached infants and toddlers are connected with their attachment person, their oxytocin levels are shown to be synchronized with the oxytocin levels of their primary caregiver. As mentioned above, this attachment is important beyond the infant stage, as it sets the stage for attachment in relationships later in life. These relationships are integral in healing life’s traumas. In other words, pain in relationships hurts us, and it is the establishing of relationships and feelings of connectedness that heals us.
In-utero we hear our mother’s heartbeat and begin our journey with rhythm, emotional soothing, and connection with others. We continue our path of being rocked as babies to be soothed, tapping pencils to calm nerves, and seeking the rhythm of music to feel balance and peace. Music has a long history of bringing people together and connecting us. Science is now showing us what we have always known – music helps to create connection between people, and this connection helps to create these moments of change that help heal us.
Lost Voices was built on the concept of utilizing music as a way to connect with children to help them in their healing process and creating these moments of change.
