The Schubert Treatment

For readers of Oliver Sacks and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

A celebrated art therapist plays the cello for patients with autism, neurodegenerative disease and terminal illness—and offers a moving reflection on the extraordinary power of music to enrich our lives, all the way to the very end.

When Claire Oppert plays the cello, miracles happen. Children with profound autism, patients in extreme pain and distress, even people on the threshold of death smile, cry, laugh, sing and dance. “When you play, I’m not sick anymore,” one man tells her. “I feel happy, I feel alive.”

In The Schubert Treatment, Oppert recounts her remarkable story of healing suffering through music, alongside portraits of the many people she has helped. Born into a family of doctors and artists, Oppert trained as a classical cellist and began playing at a center for autistic youth, where she witnessed how music could connect with even the most difficult-to-reach patients. Later, she began working as an art therapist with people with neurodegenerative diseases and palliative care patients, eventually conducting clinical trials that proved the effect of her “Schubert treatment”: using music as a counter-stimulation to reduce pain and anxiety during stressful procedures.

Oppert’s crystalline, lyrical vignettes of the patients whose lives she has touched are punctuated with anecdotes from her own life as a musician, as well as reflections on the meaning of art and the human need for connection and creativity. Compassionate, uplifting, and deeply humane, The Schubert Treatment is a testament to the incredible power of music to heal our bodies, minds, and souls.

Claire Oppert is a classical cellist and art therapist. For over twenty years, Claire has been working as an art therapist, in particular for children with autism, people with neurodegenerative diseases, and palliative care patients. Along with teaching music, she speaks at medical schools and universities, and she has authored several scientific publications, focusing on the links between art and care. She has recorded seven albums and won prizes in numerous international competitions. She lives in France.