If you peruse through the articles on the webpages below you will see that the work we did is still spot-on track, and on the cutting edge.
Music therapy today is, as I said, superficial and nostalgia based. What I have been proposing takes the cyclic characteristics of musical stimulus into the deeper parts of the brain- where they are already KNOWN to have real effects. It is my intimate knowledge of the Internalized Musical Cyclical Forms (IMCFs), my knowledge of semiotics, and my research into neurology, that has afforded me the insights I've arrived at.
What you will note below is that DBS (Deep Brain Stimulus) is an invasive surgical approach to achieve the very same goals that I suggested can be obtained through a new kind of musical therapy based upon the guided use of the IMCF. Pulsations, or cycles, are the key.
It is also possible that the DBS approach combined with my IMCF approach could work together.
Either way- the first step is to conduct the experiments that I proposed in my summary. I was going to use the 10K seed money to purchase a portable EEG system that interfaces with a computer. But I found that I had to be a licensed neurologist to even buy one. Finding a practicing biofeedback neurologist to partner with also proved problematic due to the fact that they all are were struggling to make ends meet themselves.
Nonetheless as this article reveals, the Brain Machine Interface field is also advancing:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3890/
I am right at the cusp of both advancing fields: DBS and BMI. I can provide a key element in the puzzle that both fields are working on.
Below are relevant information on DBS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_brain_stimulation
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical procedure involving the implantation of a medical device called a brain pacemaker, which sends electrical impulses, through implanted electrodes, to specific parts of the brain (brain nucleus) for the treatment of movement and affective disorders. DBS in select brain regions has provided therapeutic benefits for otherwise-treatment-resistant movement and affective disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dystonia, chronic pain, major depression and OCD.[1] Despite the long history of DBS,[2] its underlying principles and mechanisms are still not clear.[3][4] DBS directly changes brain activity in a controlled manner, its effects are reversible (unlike those of lesioning techniques), and it is one of only a few neurosurgical methods that allow blinded studies.[citation needed]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved DBS as a treatment for essential tremor in 1997,[citation needed] for Parkinson's disease in 2002,[5] dystonia in 2003,[6] and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in 2009.[7] DBS is also used in research studies to treat chronic pain and has been used to treat various affective disorders, including major depression; neither of these applications of DBS have yet been FDA-approved. While DBS has proven helpful for some patients, there is potential for serious complications and side effects.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pd/2010/189371/
Case Report
Placement of the Internal Pulse Generator for Deep Brain Stimulation in the Upper Back to Prevent Fracture of the Extension Wire Due to Generator Rotation: Case Report
Department of Neurosurgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA
Received 14 June 2009; Revised 11 October 2009; Accepted 8 December 2009
Academic Editor: Francisco Grandas
Copyright © 2010 Ankur Garg et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
http://neurosurgery.ucsf.edu/index.php/movement_disorders_parkinsons.html
FAQ for Patients: Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease
Neurosurgeons: Philip A. Starr MD, PhD; Paul S. Larson MD
Neurologists: Jill Ostrem MD; Alec Glass MD; William J. Marks, Jr. MD
Nurses: Monica Volz RN; Robin Taylor RN; Susan Heath RN
Research Coordinator: Jamie Grace
Neurologists: Jill Ostrem MD; Alec Glass MD; William J. Marks, Jr. MD
Nurses: Monica Volz RN; Robin Taylor RN; Susan Heath RN
Research Coordinator: Jamie Grace
As you can see: pulse, is just another word for cycle. Stimulating the deep brain with controlled frequencies and vibrations is the key. The IMCF allows the patient to actually participate in this process rather than remain a passive recipient of static applications. Knowledge of IMCFs could also guide the pulsing stimulus of the DBS technique so that the pulses are not just linear, but cyclical- that is, the pulses themselves would be linked to longer(slower), and shorter (faster) pulsations: cycles within cycles.This is a "musical" component that so far has been lost on the practitioners within both fields.
