Music Therapy

Posted by Elaine Moore Jul 30, 2007

Music therapy is a form of holistic medicine used to induce relaxation, reduce pain, boost immune function and reduce stress. Reducing oxidative stress is one of the easiest natural therapies available for helping the immune system heal in people with autoimmune diseases.

Hospitals and health care providers are embracing music therapy’s “feel-good properties” in a range of health care settings. Many hospitals today allow patients to bring in their favorite background music to be used during surgical procedures. A study in last year’s Journal of Advanced Nursing reports that inpatients and outpatients alike who listened to music for an hour each day for one week reduced their chronic pain symptoms by up to 20 percent and reported an even greater decrease in their depression symptoms.

Meanwhile, a University of Miami researcher found that Alzheimer’s patients became more active, slept better and cooperated more with the nursing staff after undergoing four weeks of music therapy.

In addition, the Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona recently received national certification as a music therapy internship site, a distinction that the facility’s music therapist writes is “definitely a feather in our cap.” She notes that she has employed music therapy at the facility by singing Amazing Grace at a dying patient’s bedside as well as by helping expectant mothers relax by writing lullabies before delivery.

The American Music Therapy Association describes music therapy as an established healthcare profession that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Music therapy improves the quality of life for persons who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities or illnesses. Besides the benefits already mentioned, music therapy interventions can help enhance memory, express feelings, promote feelings of well being, improve communication, reduce depression, and improve the response in physical therapy programs.

Some researchers consider the beat of the music to have a relaxing, healing effect and others feel that music helps people stay in the here and now, focusing on the present rather than on their worries and fears.

Resources:

Music Therapy, Indiana University School of Music, accessed July 10, 2007

Et Cetera: Music Therapy gains traction in various care settings, Health Care Advisory Board Daily Briefing, July 24, 2007.