"The psychiatrist told me, "Your daughter is a schizophrenic and always will be." At the age of sixteen she underwent a complete personality change as a result of a severe hypoglycaemic attack, and a fall in which she struck her forehead on a file cabinet. From being active and popular, with a wonderful sense of humour, she became irritable and suspicious, dropped her friends and became a regular recluse. She would not talk on the phone nor eat at the table, but took her meals to her room to eat behind closed doors. Her co-ordination was poor, very mechanical, like a doll. She became unable to sleep and would go days without even an hour's sleep. That was ten years ago. She has been doing Sound Therapy for six months and is better in so many ways I hardly know where to begin. She will initiate conversations again, and occasionally I hear her deep joyous laughter that I have missed so much these past years. She is calmer, and has obtained her driver's licence, she has started work on her education, with the assistance of a tutor provided through a special program, and she wears a Walkman to class. The Walkman is worn from the time she gets up until bedtime every day. She has come so far that I really cannot say enough about this wonderful therapy.

'As for myself, I have recently been working a twelve hour shift, doing private duty on a stressful case. Before Sound Therapy, I did well to get out of bed and work just eight hours, and never kept a clean house. During this case, I am able to do chores at home too. I listen a short time and get twice the amount of projects accomplished.

'Then there is my mother, who had a massive coronary and came to stay with me after ten days in hospital. I put her to listening to the Sound Therapy tapes as many hours a day as possible. After two months, the doctor said she was well enough to live alone again, so she is now back in her own apartment. Every morning she gets up at 7:30, puts her Walkman on and takes a walk around the apartment complex. Not bad for eighty-four years old!

'Now I have begun an experiment with a man who has been in and out of psychiatric wards for the past twenty-five years. He is presently home but goes to a day care centre. I loaned him my music tapes and my Gregorian Chant tape. He has been listening for two weeks now, and says his depression is lifting, and also says, 'I feel alive between my ears for the first time in twenty-five years.' He wears the Walkman to the day care centre, Veteran Administration Hospital, where one of the psychiatric nurses also is wearing a Walkman and Sound Therapy tape.'

Reba F. Adams
RN - Dallas, Texas
USA