23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

York, 1969.
M U S I C T H E R A P Y A S C U L T U R A L
E N G A G E M E N T - O R : H O W T O C H A N G E T H E
W O R L D - I F O N L Y A B I T
Introduction
BRYNJULF STIGE
After the Second World War technology and economy
have gone through a fast development in many
countries. The individual's possibility to choose
education, job and place to live is much larger than
before. But, there are some dark sides of the road. The
gap between the rich and poor (both countries and
951
individuals) is increasing, and the technological
development has become a threat to the ecological
balance of the nature.
There are also some other, maybe less dramatic, but
still very important, dark sides of the road: stressproblems,
urbanization and flight from the countryside
and a splitting of areas of life which used to belong
together. In this situation many persons experience
their feeling of identity as threatened. The social
networks are changed, and often weakened. Quite a
few people experience loneliness and isolation. This
situation is bound to have concequences on these
individuals health and quality of life (Dalgard &
Sorensen, 1988), (Kleive, 1990). It is said that the
development of the society produce new clients much
faster than what could be treatened by a (growing)