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Music therapy uses music to promote positive changes in an individual’s well-being. These positive changes can manifest as changes in physical development, social and interpersonal development, emotional or spiritual well-being, or cognitive abilities.
The therapeutic benefits of music have been known and exploited since Antiquity. However, modern-day music therapy dates back to the World Wars, when music was used in hospitals for the rehabilitation and recovery of soldiers who had suffered physical or emotional trauma. The University of Kansas was the first university in the United States to offer a music therapy degree program in 1944.
The first representatives of music therapy in the 1950s to 1970s included French cellist Juliet Alvin and Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins. The Nordoff-Robbins approach is still used in many countries around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and South Africa.
So how does music therapy work?
Music is universal and connects across language barriers. Most people can respond to music in one way or another, regardless of their illness or disability.
Music has an inherent ability to generate an emotional response in the listener. It stimulates a relaxation response which can therefore lead to physiological changes in the body. Music is known to reduce stress, producing related benefits such as lower blood pressure, improved breathing, reduced heart rate, better heart performance, and reduced muscle tension.
Music is processed in both hemispheres of the brain and this stimulation has been shown to aid in the development of language and speech functions. It promotes socialization and the development of communication, self-expression and motor skills. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorders have been shown to respond very positively to music and many of them exhibit high musical skills.
Music encourages verbal and non-verbal communication and promotes social interactions and relationships. It is a precious outlet for self-expression and creativity. It has also been used successfully in pain management by providing distraction from the painful stimulus as well as a means of relaxation and stress relief.
Children with developmental and learning disabilities, children and adults with autism spectrum disorders or with special needs, and the elderly and people with dementia have all been shown to benefit from music therapy. Although the benefits of music therapy have been intuitively accepted and based on anecdotal evidence, it is only recently that quantitative evidence of its effectiveness has started to emerge.
In a recent study conducted by the University of Miami School of Medicine, blood samples from a group of male patients with Alzheimer’s disease who were treated with music therapy were found to have significantly elevated levels of melatonin, d epinephrine and norepinephrine which are chemicals that work on the brain to control mood, depression, aggression, and sleep. The benefits of therapy were still evident even six weeks after stopping therapy, and in the case of melatonin, the effects persisted even longer.
Music therapy is increasingly accepted in the general medical community and has certainly stood the test of time. Music therapists are now found in a variety of mental health institutions, developmental and early intervention programs, correctional facilities, and special education programs, to name a few. Many succeed where traditional methods of treatment have failed.
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Source by Kevin Sinclair
