Directed Figurative Imagery: Regarding the Question of the Therapeutic Infl uence of Baroque Music

During the course of many centuries the problem of the impact of music on human beings has aroused interest in philosophers and thinkers, generating numerous theories and conceptions. A serious stage of development of musical therapy occurred in the Baroque era. During that period for the fi rst time scholars made the attempt to provide a systematization of the means of musical expressivity according to the principle of their perception, while the musical compositions created during that period are also broadly used in present-day musical therapy. Baroque instrumental music taken as a principle for the method of the directed fi gurative perception is seminal for working with elderly people with Alzheimer’s disease. Figurative perception and directed apprehension of music are traditionally considered to be the initial stage of a group psychotherapeutic process and is used for preparation of the participants for a session of psychodrama. On the basis of existing systems (those of Helen Bonny and Joseph Moreno) the author of the article developed an independent methodology, the aim of which is to establish and expand verbal communication with patients at an intermediate (moderate) stage of the Alzheimer disease. In addition to the main goals the achievement of which is pursued by activities in directed fi gurative perception, the music chosen in consideration of the patient’s individual characteristic features arouses a therapeutic impact on him, being conducive to the rehabilitation of personal memories and the optimization of the human being’s psycho-emotional state.