Music is Great Therapy
Greetings all,
From making memories, to simply helping to better enjoy a normal day, we use music all of the time to make our lives better. Music has also been linked directly to mood. For many people music is a very important part of their daily lives. With this blog entry, I hope to bring awareness to readers about the ways that music can be used as an incredible and powerful tool to promote healing and well being.
According to the American Music Therapy Association, “Music Therapy is the 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.” Therapists around the world use music to assist with various types of treatments such as physical therapy and speech therapy everyday. It does not matter whether someone needs help socially, cognitively, physically, emotionally, or developmentally, music can possibly be the missing puzzle in assisting with him or her getting better. Daniel Levitin can be quoted as saying: “Our bodies like rhythm and our brains like melody and harmony.” There are many studies that have been done to show that the use of music is great for healing. People who have autism spectrum disorders often show a heightened interest and response to music. In older adults with Alzheimer's, dementia, and other mental disorders, music therapy has been found to reduce aggressive or agitated behavior, reduce symptoms of dementia, improve mood, and improve cooperation with daily tasks, such as bathing. There is evidence that music therapy may increase responsiveness to antidepressant medications. Music may result in significantly better sleep quality as well as longer sleep duration, greater sleep efficiency, shorter time needed to fall asleep, less sleep disturbance, and less daytime dysfunction.
Types of music differ in the types of neurological stimulation they evoke. For example, classical music has been found to cause comfort and relaxation while rock music may lead to discomfort. Music may achieve its therapeutic effects in part by elevating the pain threshold. Music Therapy is neurologically based and backed by more than 10 years of research at TIRR Memorial Hermann. There are quite a few benefits from therapy that is done through music. These benefits include: 1) Rhythmic stimulation to normalize a patient's gait cadence, velocity and stride length when used with physical therapy, 2) Address verbal expression when co-treating with speech therapists, 3) Address coping and adjusting issues using song writing and lyric analysis, and 4) Use music as a mnemonic cue in orientation and learning strategies for memory deficits.
Here are a few reasons why music works in therapy: 1) Music is a core function in our brain. Research has shown that day-old infants are able to detect differences in rhythmic patterns. 2) Our bodies entrain to rhythm. Our motor systems naturally match to a rhythmic beat. When a musical input enters our central nervous system through the auditory nerve, most of it automatically is sent to the brain for processing, however, some of it heads directly to the motor nerves in our spinal cord which in turn allows our bodies to move to the rhythm without us having to think about it. 3) Music taps into our emotions. Many people use music in a therapeutic way so that they can feel a certain way. 4) Music helps to improve our attention skills. Music can grab and hold the attention of people ranging in age from babies to the elderly. This allows music therapists to target patient goals when dealing with both attention and impulse control.