I won’t even start to list the possible inside references Jon incautiously opened up by that last post. But since he did raise the issue of physiological effects of music, I’ll add this from the NYT to the list:
Musical hallucinations were invading people’s minds long before they were recognized as a medical condition. “Plenty of musical composers have had musical hallucinations,” Dr. Aziz said.
Toward the end of his life, for instance, Robert Schumann wrote down the music he hallucinated; legend has it that he said he was taking dictation from Schubert’s ghost.
Patients reported hearing a wide variety of songs, among them “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and “Three Blind Mice.”
In two-thirds of the cases, the music was religious; six people reporting hearing the hymn “Abide With Me.”
There is no standard procedure for treating musical hallucinations. Some doctors try antipsychotic drugs, and some use cognitive behavioral therapy to help patients understand what’s going on in their brains. “Sometimes simple things can be the cure,” Dr. Aziz said. “Turning on the radio may be more important than giving medication.”
