BRITAIN: Abide With Me, a hymn written in the mid-1800s, is one of the most common tunes heard in musical hallucinations, a psychiatrist said yesterday.Everyone occasionally has a catchy tune they just can't seem to get out of their heads but in a musical hallucination the song is heard as if it were really being played.
Dr Nick Warner, a psychiatrist based in Wales, told a Royal College of Psychiatrists' conference in Liverpool that Abide With Me, a favourite at funerals, was a particularly recurrent tune in musical hallucinations. He and his colleague, Dr Victor Aziz, studied 30 elderly people who experienced musical hallucinations.
The tunes ranged from Don't Cry for Me Argentina to Yes, We have No Bananas
But just over half heard some sort of religious music, either hymns or Christmas carols.
"Outstanding was the fact that the hymn Abide With Me turned up six times in 30 people," he said in an interview.
About one in 10,000 people over 65 years have musical hallucinations, which are most common in elderly people suffering from hearing problems.
The composers Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven also had musical hallucinations.
The average age of participants in Dr Warner's study was 78.
Most were elderly women living alone.
He suspects that in the subconscious mind the tune written by Henry Lyte gives people a sense of comfort and hope.
"The words of Abide With Me are tremendously uplifting, hopeful words about heaven and God not abandoning us when we are dying," he said.
The hymn, which was one of Gandhi's favourites, is particularly popular among Anglicans.