tic harp can be very effective in easing the issues of neurologically challenged children. There are numerous other effective harp interventions with the pediatric population documented in “The Harp Therapy Journal. “ (1998-1999.) Remarkably, harp therapy can touch the
patient’s entire universe: families, friends and staff reported increased relaxation and lower blood pressure and respiration rates in studies conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Cancer Center, as reported in “The Harp Therapy Journal,” by Sarah McKee. Harp therapy and meditation can be
used with children, adolescents, and adults quite effectively. One client had ADHD, was highly anxious and his parents com- plained that he never rested and never slept. Unusually receptive to music, they asked if harp therapy might be helpful. We started to discuss special images like lying on the beach at his grandmother’s house in Florida, and petting Oscar, the Labrador retriever. I was able to tuck in some mildly hypnotic suggestions along with soothing images, accompanied by specifically designed harp melody and rhythm, and was able to induce complete relaxation and restfulness. He actually fell asleep the first time we did this. He came back for several sessions, and then I designed a special CD for him alone. He used the images and music before sleep and rehearsed them in his mind when he began to feel anxious and restless at school. His parents reported a dramatic change not only in his ability to sleep, but in his focus and ability to hold still and attend, both at home and at school. This is a child who was not responsive to medications and had a poor outcome with traditional psychotherapy. His parents became more positive and continued working with me on parenting issues, and the tension and despair in the home dramati- cally lessened.
Another client was a woman in her twenties with anxiety and eating disorders. A ballerina, she was driven to perfection by
parents who were loving but anxious and demanding themselves. Both were highly successful in their own careers and held great expectations for their only child. But as the pressures of school and ballet stud- ies mounted and decisions about college vs. ballet companies loomed ahead, her perfectionism and stress mounted. I worked with her around issues of self-image and ex- pectations, and intervened with the parents, too. But her sessions were also coupled with intense relaxation and harp therapy, with music designed to bring deep comfort and healing.
Another client was a man in his thirties
who decided to attend dental school. He had been a successful student in high school and undergraduate work, but the increased demands for performance and long hours of schooling and homework at the gradu- ate level left him frantic. He found himself freezing before taking exams, his mind going blank. By the time he called me, he had repeated two years of dental school and was close to being dismissed from the program. We began by desensitizing him to test-taking with a wide range of creative visualizations, meditations, and relaxation therapy, inter- spersed with soothing, flowing harp therapy. He was highly responsive after the very first session and stated that he was able to take control back of his studies with this help. Another recent client was a sixty-two
year old woman whose husband was seri- ously ill with cancer and requiring consider- able care at home. She had stopped doing the normal activities that usually calmed and nourished her, such as working out at the gym and having lunch with friends. She had lost weight and was having trouble sleep- ing. Her daughter bought her a session of harp therapy for Christmas, so that she might find a private space to relax and refuel. At the end of the session she commented, “Oh, I didn’t think I could relax like that ever again, I feel so blissful and soothed and comforted…I just didn’t want you to ever
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stop playing for me! I am coming back next week. This is too important.” I was trained through the Music for
Healing and Transition Program, where I learned to improvise on modes, scales and chord progressions, according to patient needs. I often extend or adapt musical pieces to differing rhythm, meter and tempo, de- pending upon the patient’s condition. Each patient presents the opportunity to create a musical collage completely spontaneously, making the work even more interesting. After being trained as a psychologist in a tradition- al program and practicing psychotherapy for thirty years, I was not yet totally convinced of its effectiveness. During my internship at a local hospital, I conducted research with hip replacement patients, immediately follow- ing surgery. Before playing my harp, patients reported stress and pain levels of 9 and 10, on a scale of 1 to 10. Following ten minutes of harp therapy, all patients reported stress and pain levels down to 0, 1 and 2. I knew then that I was on the right track.
Marcie Gueret Swift, M.Ed. NCSP CMP has been a Nationally Certified School Psycholo- gist for over 30 years, specializing in the evaluation and therapy of children, adoles- cents and adults with learning and emotional issues. Marcie earned her certification as a Music Practitioner at the Music for Healing and Transition Program nearly a decade ago and is Board Certified and a Diplomate in Behavioral Health, through the American Association for Integrative Medicine. Marcie is available for individual therapy to address anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain and inat- tentiveness in both Suffield and Simsbury, and may be contacted at 860-668-7472. To read more about harp therapy or to buy her recently released CD, Thread of Life, combin- ing her harp music with guided imagery and meditation, visit her website at marcieswift. com. or email her at
marcieswift@msn.com.
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