Music Therapy Benefits

Music Therapy on Alzheimer and Cancer Patients: Benefits and Effects Music therapy has been widely recognized as a great way to help individuals cope with their situations. Whether they are in the hospital, hospice, or nursing home, music therapists have been helping patients get through critical conditions. Music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. The American Music Therapy Association (ATMA) is an association that progresses development of music therapeutically in rehabilitation, special education, and in community settings. This association formed in 1998
with the National Association for Music Therapy and American Association for Music Therapy. Together, they have committed to the advancement of education, training, professional standards, and research to support the music therapy profession.
When people listen to music, they are in their own world. Sometimes, when they are wearing headphones, they do not pay attention to what is going on around them. They tend forget they are around people and just enjoy listening to their favorite song. This is just like music therapy. Most music therapist goals are to make sure they provide a satisfactory environment for sick hospitalized patients. With cancer patients it is hard to understand what they are going through.
Sometimes, these patients are very frustrated with their medical situations so, they are not able to communicate with their families. Music therapist must first form a bond with their patient so, they patient will be able to trust them and for the affect to be satisfactory. In the music therapy process there are three stages: contact, awareness, and resolution.
In the contact stage, music therapist and the patient forms a trust bond and a working relationship. In the awareness stage, the patient begins to focus and understand themselves. They guide them into creating a form of self-expression. In the resolution stage, relief and self-fulfillment as a sign of processing issues, thoughts, and feelings. The music therapy sessions give them a feeling of letting go (Bailey 6).
The different types of song in music therapy provides patients and their families with melodies and words which stimulate emotion and cognition. The family and patients are able to communicate their desires and problems on another level. Within the lyrics provides insight, they are able to remember and capture good memories and events throughout their
life. It is becoming more evident that music therapy has provided physical and emotional comfort to hospitalized cancer patients. Cancer patients often experience physical discomfort, anxiety, and depression. However, it has not been fully proven why music therapy is beneficial on cancer patients (qtd. In Bailey, 1984). The method Lacanne Bailey used to analyze their behaviors is quite exclusive. She first started off by choosing Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, she selected 50 patients from there who was the age of 14 and above. These individuals had to have evidence of no organic metal syndrome and be willing to participate. Among those who were qualified, they were randomly selected from the total population on the hospitalized patients. They were then split up into two groups, 25 in each group. One group consisted of children listening to tape recorded music, the other group consisted of children listening to live music. Each child had their own individual session, they were told to be seated in a bed or in a chair. They were given a verbal description of the procedure. They were told to fill out a questionnaire before listening to the music. The questionnaire included a list of words and numbers to describe how you feel at the given moment. The child was then able to choose five songs, listen to the chosen songs, and fill out the questionnaire. Again, they were supposed to answer the questions after they have listened to all of the songs based on how they felt.
The pre and post music scores from the live music group were compared to the pre and post music scores from the tape recorded music group. The results we separated by the averages of the two groups. The live music group reported more positive changes than did the tape recorded music group. Many children expressed to the music therapist their feelings after the session as enjoyable and soothing. On the other hand, the tape recorded session children expressed they preferred to hear the music therapist perform at their bedside.
Alzheimer Patients
The majority of Alzheimer disease patients experience anxiety and distress that may range to abnormal behavioral patterns. This is known as behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BSPD) and often worsen as the disease progresses. With these type of residents living in nursing homes, it can sometimes be a hassle to keep the other residents calm. To keep them in the correct state of mind, treatment is often sedatives, neuroleptics or antidepressants, however, music therapy can be implemented to lessen these harsh treatments.
Svansdittor and Snaedol started off with 47 patients in Iceland.
Each patients ranged from 71-87 in age and were all recruited for two nursing homes and two psychogeriatric wards. All of the patients were diagnosed with moderate to severe dementia. In the end, one patient ended up declining to participate. With the 46 remaining patients, 23 randomized patients were sent to a control group and the others were sent to a music therapy group. Again, the number of participants declined again due to being moved to a nursing home, deterioration to their condition, and death. In the end, there were only 38 participants. Twenty of them were sent to a music therapy group, while the other 18 were sent to a control group. The therapy group received 18 sessions of music therapy, lasting 30 minutes, 3 times per week for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, the patients were rated for the second time, and after 10 weeks, for the third time when the therapy group had not received any music therapy for 4
weeks.
There were 3 or 4 patients in each session. A collection of songs familiar to elderly Icelanders were selected initially by the music therapist and used throughout the study. Each song was sung twice. The patients not actively engaged say with others holding songbooks and listening. This way, each participant participated actively or passively. While the therapist sang a song with guitar the patients sang along playing an instrument of their choosing. Some patients were hesitant towards the instruments, but eventually joined when they saw others enjoying themselves with them. He patients even had the urge dance which was allowed.
Music therapy is one of the non-pharmacological methods used in the treatment of BPSD (qtd. in Svansdottir & Snaedol 6). Active participation could give some meaning to the lives of patients who have lost the ability to create meaningful activity. Anxiety is often a result of the patient’s difficulties in identifying their surroundings, this could be a target symptom of music therapy. Although there were not many drastic effects toward the patients in the experiments, the patients still enjoyed the sessions.
Many people are unaware of what music can do to the mind, body, and soul. The melody and lyrics in music make it seem like the therapist understand them. They feel like they can relate to their topic and understand their struggles. In the mind of a human being, music can be closure. With hospitalized and sick patients, the patient’s family may not understand and be able to feel for what they are going through. However, with music therapy, the patients have the ability to listen to the music and form a connection to the therapist that is performing.