ABSTRACT

Aim: There is an evident relationship between the beneficial psychosocial aspects of music therapy and positive health effects in participants, both in the mental sphere and social health, which allows admitting that the level of appearance of psychosocial risk in individuals with phenylketonuria can decrease in the area of public health, thus affecting positively the quality of their functioning in the community on an everyday basis. Within the framework of the therapy the author examined whether the structured music therapy technique has a positive effect on psychosocial functioning of adults with phenylketonuria on an everyday basis in Poland.

Materials and Methods: As part of long-term research the author introduced his own model of structured therapy for adults with phenylketonuria based on a number of elements, including: controlled expressiveness according to H.C. Traue (1998); interdisciplinarity; the phasicity of therapy according to R.J. Lueger (1995); the complexity of the specificity of factors connected with barriers of functioning of the disabled in the daily life; inclusion of family in the therapy; taking into account of the advantages of participants’ functioning in the therapy. The findings were obtained by means of participant observation in a group of 72 individuals aged 45–55 observed for eight years.

Results and Conclusions: The overall clinical impression convinced the author to ascertain that the levels of improvement in the area of interpersonal communication, relations and self-assessment ranged from minimal to moderate for different participants of the therapy. The least improvement was obtained by patients with more intense distrust, frequent or constant thoughts connected with traumatic situations, experienced on a particular day, and those patients who showed aggressive behavior instead of communicating their stress verbally. A few patients in the group revealed development in a more adult style in the preferences of their independent roles towards their parents or partners. Some of them gained more trust, and several of them improved their ability to express themselves with a smaller intensity. Consequently, they became more accepted socially. The ascertainment is discussed in the light of the model of disability of individuals with a deeper intellectual disability and practical implications are suggested. Implications for rehabilitation are as follows. Firstly, the author ascertained positive health consequences in participants, in the sphere of both mental and social health due to their participation in music therapy sessions conducted with the structured technique. Secondly, in the face of strong emotional responses towards the leaders, it seems that the key factor in music therapy sessions is selecting patients and therapists with regard to their personality styles and their preferred working techniques. Thirdly, specialists working with individuals with intellectual disability must acknowledge the meaning of social support for physically disabled individuals and their families. Furthermore, therapists should focus their effort on providing assistance in experiencing and observing by participants their disturbed perception and primitive defense mechanisms in a sufficiently changed quantity so that they can systematically improve their abilities in order to modify and neutralize their extremely negative reactions on an everyday basis. Additionally, the social environment should accept the fact that, owing to regular participation in music therapy, the level of participants’ social functioning rises significantly, which translates into their acceptance and social adaptation. Last but not least, the social environment should accept the fact that intensification of problems in the sphere of emotional and social functioning was higher in those patients who participated in music therapy sessions irregularly.