Music+Therapy

MUSIC THERAPY

Definition:
Music therapy is defined by Judith Turner in The Encyclopedia of Medicine as //a technique of complementary medicine that uses music prescribed in a skilled manner by trained therapists. Programs are designed to help patients overcome physical, emotional, intellectual, and social challenges. Applications range from improving the well being of geriatric patients in nursing homes to lowering the stress level and painof women in labor. Music therapy is used in many settings, inc////ludin////g schools, rehabilitation centers, hos////pitals, hospice, nursing homes, community centers, and sometimes even in the home.//

(there are more types of music therapy aside from the above...) Although music therapy dates back to ancient times, in the United States it began around the late eighteen hundreds. It began to develop as a profession around the times of World Wars one and two. Music was used in Hospitals as a way to address veteran patients' traumatic war injuries. Soldiers would return home from war injured, depressed and mentally disturbed with the horrifying experience of war becoming their biggest fear. Many committed suicide as a result, but others sought help at hospitals and psychiatric institutions. Along with other forms of treatment, Veterans participated actively and passively in activities involving music that helped ease pain and eliminate it's perception. Studies have shown that by bringing peace and relaxation, specific forms of music help to lighten pain and distress. With the help of music therapy, doctors in that time saw an improvement in the physiological, psychological, emotional and cognitive states of their patients as music brought them peace and helped them put their traumatizing experiences behind them.
 * Ways music therapy can be done: **
 * learning to play an instrument: helps patients with developmental delays and brain injuries develop motor skills
 * creative movement: helps improve coordination, strength, balance and gait.
 * musical improvisation: makes emotional expression easier
 * singing: helps with articulation, rhythm, sequencing of words and breath control
 * listening: helps with relaxation, memory and many more. It can be done passively.
 * History: **

It's use includes and is not limited to: pain management, reducing blood pressure, warding off depression, enhancing memory (shown to help patients with Alzheimer's) media type="youtube" key="dFSE9E38vKk?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"
 * Benefits of Music Therapy: **
 * Calming patients and relieving or reducing stress: Slower beats can slow down brain waves which induces relaxation, while faster beats stimulate the brain. Music Therapy is partially based on the principle that the body responds to passive music listening, so music is played before and even during surgery when the patient is under anesthesia or at the patient's bedside when he/she is asleep to maintain relaxation and a normal breathing pattern.
 * Improving state of mind: The part of the brain involved in musical awareness is linked to the part that controls emotions.
 * Helping cancer and stroke patients: Cancer patients who also receive chemotherapy have reported a decrease in the pain, anxiety and nausea vomiting they experience in the initial phase of treatment. Stroke patients who get music therapy experience and improvement in their movement recovery along with more motivation towards recovery.
 * There has been research done to show that music with strong beats can stimulate brain waves to resonate in sync with the beat. Faster beats bring more alertness and sharper concentration, both of which help anybody, including people with ADD and other developmental disabilities to focus. Slower tempos cause calamity, which helps induce relaxation and relieve stress. This is of much help to people who struggle with stress and anxiety ergo insomnia (caused by elevated levels of stress and anxiety) as well. The change in the levels of brain activity due to music produce lasting effects on the brain. It enables the brain to shift speeds more easily on it's own, even when you are no longer listening to music.
 * natural endorphins (hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system which help with pain relief) are increased while listening to specific music as levels of stress hormones are decreased which is partially what allows music to relieve muscle tension and improve motor skills.
 * Music Therapy and Stroke Recovery: **
 * ﻿ **

When a person has a stroke on the left side of their brain, which is where the speech centers are usually located, their means of communication is pretty much gone. The right side of the brain is where much of music is processed. If the right side of the brain remains undamaged patients can use "Melodic Intonation Therapy", a form of music therapy involving singing in two tones of similar pitch to communicate and in some cases return to speech.
 * Regaining speech:**

Director Michael Thaut and his team at the Center for Biomedical Research in Music at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins have done research to show that stroke patients who have been partially paralyzed on one side can retrain to walk in faster and in a more coordinated manner if they walk rhythmically to the beat of music or a metronome. The rhythm of music is helpful in organizing movement. The combination of rhythmic training with physical therapy can lead to a faster recovery of movement or a faster adjustment to new movements that must be adopted to make up for paralysis.
 * Regaining motor skills using neurologically based music therapy:**

I came across an inspiring story on the new york times which related to my topic. It was about a 62 year old man named Harvey Alter living in Greenwich Connecticut who had suffered an ischemic stroke which is caused when blood flow to the left side of the brain is blocked. As a result he developed a condition where the right side of his body was temporarily paralyzed and he had trouble making sentences. Harvey was immediately put in intensive therapy and after three weeks his paralysis was gone and he could communicate through small words but he still didn't have a regular flow of speaking and had trouble finding the right word. He was put in melodic intonation therapy where he sang happy birthday as if he had never had a stroke. He was able to do so because even though the left hemisphere which had http://familydoctormag.com/alternative-medicine/1310-does-music-therapy-work.html damaged in the stroke is responsible for speaking, the right hemisphere of the brain is used to understand language and process melodies and rhythms. Through melodic intonation therapy they basically got the right hemisphere to pick up the left hemispheres slack. This demonstrates how we have lots of brain power we don't use. Through melodic intonation therapy they activate and use a part of the right side of the brain that's always there but never used for speech. Music therapists do so by setting regular sentences to familiar tunes and having the patient sing them and then work to remove the melody and keep the normal speaking pattern. By having the patient tap out rhythms or sing melodies, melodic intonation therapy helps the brain reestablish tone and rhythm in speaking. Although he still experiences some difficulty, Harvey Alter is now able to speak again and has devoted the rest of his life to raising awareness about aphasia and it was all thanks to "happy birthday"
 * A Story of Recovery Through Music Therapy: **

Websites used:
 * http://familydoctormag.com/alternative-medicine/1310-does-music-therapy-work.html
 * http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/articles/2007/10/29/the_power_of_music/?page=2
 * http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy.htm

Online database articles:
 * http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?action=interpret&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&docId=A178111560&prodId=SPN.SP24&source=gale&srcprod=SP24&version=1.0&userGroupName=mlin_m_brookhs&finalAuth=true
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 * http://infotrac.galegroup.com/default?cause=http%3A%2F%2Fic.galegroup.com%2Fic%2Fsuic%2FReferenceDetailsPage%2FReferenceDetailsWindow%3FdisplayGroupName%3DK12-Reference%26prodId%3DSUIC%26action%3De%26windowstate%3Dnormal%26catId%3D%26documentId%3DGALE%257CCV2191500885%26mode%3Dview%26authCount%3D1&cont=&sev=temp&type=session&sserv=no