In her research in the last ten years Christiane Trost has started to focus on the uses of the body monochord in music therapy. As a result of her investigations she has been able to demonstrate the effects of sound therapy on various illnesses. For example: coping with fear, rheumatism, epilepsy, insomnia, gastrointestinal somatoform disorder, recurrent depressive episodes, pain disorder, postoperative nerve injury, grieving, social phobia, anorexia nervosa, tinnitus, regulation of bone and blood system in osteoporosis with pathological results of the blood test with unclear genesis (leukocytopenia, thrombozytopenia).
Sound instruments with equally tuned strings are firmly established in numerous therapeutic fields and the focus of numerous clinical studies. However, most evidence based research, using a large group of participants, is conducted into only partial aspects of the physical and psychological process and only in one session, where as the author has investigated the whole psychodynamic process in several therapeutic courses of treatment over many months.
Based on several therapy courses, the body monochord is shown to be a highly effective tool in the psychotherapeutic context (creating a secure maternal sound space). The results of case studies with participants who could no longer be helped with other therapies or who are deemed to be in medical border areas are particularly impressive. Sounds are experienced in a multimodal setting and the resultant interaction of emotional, physical and artistic expression leads to a form of conscious understanding. Consequently, the mental state, self awareness, basic body feeling and general health of clients are approached in a holistic manner.
How this instrument can influence physical and psychological well-being and how these procedures can be used in the treatment of different illnesses is comprehensively explained. Her reasons why therapeutic work with the body monochord is so significant are especially convincing, at a time when, on a daily basis we are bombarded with visual, acoustic, sensory, fast-moving and emotional stimuli. The intense vibrations of this instrument induce a state of complete relaxation of the body tissue and at the same time an activation of body memory which, with the help of in depth trance work open up hidden areas outside our normal perception.
Important therapeutic results, such as the development of trust, improvement of self image and the ability to form relationships can be explained in the context of the effects of the body monochord. The therapist describes how people often retrieve a feeling lightness, release and oceanic limitlessness.