As any campus tour guide will tell you, Brown already has more students in a cappella groups per capita than any other school. But that number grew this Wednesday when Menia Pavlakou started a new singing group for students with anorexia and bulimia.
The group will provide an outlet for students suffering from eating disorders, and its activities and impact will also be the subjects of Pavlakou's thesis project. Pavlakou currently holds a courtesy appointment with the Department of Music after completing one music degree in Greece and a master's degree in music psychology at Sheffield University in England.
"I am very interested in the everyday effect of music outside of therapy, and how people use music to consciously alter their moods," Pavlakou said.
Because singing involves the entire body, Pavlakou said she thinks a singing group will provide a friendly, safe and non-critical atmosphere where students with anorexia or bulimia are free to explore their voices and bodies.
Heather Bell, a nutritionist at Health Services, said she was familiar with the concept of expressive art therapy.
"Arts and music can be very emotionally powerful and people have the potential to communicate thoughts and feelings through art that they are unable to articulate verbally, and that means in a good - or potentially vulnerable - way," Bell said. "People can feel opened up and very exposed."
A veteran of several a cappella groups herself, Pavlakou said she personally has found expressive art therapy to be therapeutic and liberating, providing her the opportunity to learn more about herself.
As a graduate student in England, Pavlakou led a short singing workshop called Sing Out Project, also for students struggling with eating disorders. Students in the group told Pavlakou they had learned things about themselves and gave her positive feedback, she said. The group at Brown is currently unnamed.
Higher Keys member Emily Borromeo '09 said she benefits from her group's dynamic and the freedom of a cappella singing.
"When you're singing, you don't have to think about classes or anything but making beautiful music," Borromeo said. "It's just a completely separate, carefree and therapeutic experience."
Pavlakou said she chose to study the effect of music on students with eating disorders in part because of her experience with friends and family who have suffered from eating disorders. She is also interested in using music to relieve the stress that can overwhelm students in a highly competitive intellectual atmosphere.
To combat these forces, students will work together and individually, Pavlakou said. "In a singing group, everyone's contribution will be important and there won't be a need to compete and feel in control," she added.
Beverly Williams, a psychotherapist who works in Psychological Services, said she is hesitant to list Brown's atmosphere or academic competition as causes contributing to eating disorders.
"Eating disorders have a complex nature," Williams said. "I think that body image and food become an issue for billions of different reasons because everyone is unique in their circumstances, childhood, media exposure and genetic predisposition."
Pavlakou emphasizes that the singing group is not a form of therapy and that she is not a trained therapist.
"My focus is on the group as a musical project and anything else that may happen to come along with it, including how the members feel," Pavlakou said.
Despite these disclaimers, Pavlakou's lack of psychiatric training has raised some concerns from members of Health Services and Psych Services.
Williams said she was wary of endorsing any program that did not use a therapy-based methodology.
"I've been trained as a clinician. I tend to set things up with a clear outcome and therapeutic context. As a psychologist on Brown's campus I'm concerned for the well-being of students," Williams said. "If something positive happens I would be very happy, and if it isn't positive we will try to be helpful in healing and treating students."
Due to Pavlakou's lack of psychiatric expertise, Bell recommended she enlist the assistance of a psychiatrist as a resource and support to supervise certain aspects of the group.
"When you create a group for people with a certain issue and plan to process this issue, even if there is no intent of therapy, there can still be significant psychological content," Bell said. "If you are someone with no background in psychology you may underestimate potential triggers, and you may find yourself overwhelmed as well."
A music student herself, Bell said singing requires listening to, being aware of and responding to the body, which could be overwhelming for someone simultaneously trying to address an eating disorder.
Pavlakou said the results of the group are difficult to predict.
"I suppose it will affect people on whatever level they allow it to, whether it's solely to relax, to express their emotions or to admit that they have a problem," Pavlakou said.
Diaries, questionnaires and voluntary interviews will allow Pavlakou to collect information for her thesis. Pavlakou plans to move to the United States permanently and said she will continue the group next year if there is significant interest.
In contrast to Pavlakou's workshop in England, this group is open to both men and women and may include a performance aspect, if there is interest.
"At Sheffield people told me they wished there had been a performance because it would have been nice to have a goal to work towards. I'm not planning to do anything except see what the members of this group want the objective to be," Pavlakou said. "Obviously it's a very sensitive subject so I'm not starting a performance group."
Advertising in Morning Mail, the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, the Swearer Center for Public Service as well as through the Daily Jolt and the graduate student listserve has already yielded responses from a dozen students interested in joining the group.
