Music therapy harnesses the mood-enhancing properties of music to help people improve their mental health and overall wellbeing. Music therapy can be useful for people with mental illnesses and can also improve the quality of life of people with physical health problems.
Music therapy can benefit people living with a variety of mental and physical disorders, such as:
- Mental health disorders: anxiety, OCD, depression, etc.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Physical illnesses: Parkinson’s, cancers, etc.
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Substance abusers
- Chronic pain
Music therapy can help you express and communicate when you are dealing with a mental or physical disorder. It will help you explore your thoughts and feelings, improve your mood and concentration, and develop coping skills.
Whether it’s reducing stress and anxiety, providing health benefits, or lowering blood pressure, it’s a simple and affordable form of treatment.
How Does Music Therapy Work?
Music Therapy is a type of expressive art therapy that uses music to improve or maintain the physical, mental, and social well-being of an individual through a wide variety of activities, such as music, singing or playing a musical instrument.
Music therapy works by developing a partnership between therapist and client, in which the therapist offers tailored activities to support individual progress towards their unique therapeutic goals.
Music therapists in palliative care work with patients and their families to find specific genres and styles that can help reduce stress and anxiety and improve their health.
Because of the emotional nature of music, music therapists can use it to help patients accept their condition in other environments and to provide emotional and spiritual support.
Who Can Benefit From Music Therapy?
Music therapy harnesses the mood-enhancing properties of music to help people improve their mental health and overall wellbeing. Music therapy can be useful for people with depression and anxiety and can also improve the quality of life of people with physical health problems.
For example, the therapeutic use of music can help people in ways that other forms of therapy cannot and often causes reactions that do not occur in traditional forms of treatment.
Music therapy can help people of all ages, but a wider range of conditions such as Alzheimer’s and chronic pain can also find their place in palliative care.
As part of a personalized, integrated health plan, music therapy offers a wide range of benefits to the brain, body, and mind and can be used to help a variety of patients, from home health patients to everyone.
Relieve Pain With Music Therapy
Music can be used to relieve pain in patients by allowing them to express themselves through words, allow relaxation, sing, play an instrument, write songs and listen to music.
Listening to music releases dopamine, a hormone that makes people feel good, and endorphins, another hormone that causes a good mood and relieves pain.
Music can also help improve breathing, and it has social value and emotional release for people with physical disabilities.
Improve Metal Health With Music Therapy
Music therapy can help to relieve anxiety, stress, and pain, improve mood, feel more confident and controlled and provide a non-verbal outlet for emotions.
Access to emotions through music is a real and powerful way and can help people with depression find a voice for their feelings, improve their self-esteem so they can express themselves, and practice new coping skills.
Rehabilitate Physical Health With Music
Music therapy can assist with the rehabilitation process for patients recovering from a stroke, traumatic head injury, or chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.
Therapy sessions are designed taking into consideration a range of factors including physical health, communication skills, cognitive abilities, emotional well-being, and client interests
Music Therapy For Alzheimer’s Disease
A music therapist can help a client with Alzheimer’s type dementia by enabling him to develop narratives that he would not otherwise have been able to develop. They may have lost some skills, such as the ease of verbal communication, but the musical function remains intact, while the last skills decay.
Some studies suggest that music therapy can improve the symptoms of depression in those who go through it, and that standard treatment for depression such as talk therapy are more improved in people who receive standard therapy.
Can Music Therapy Be Used With Children?
Babies at the NICU, adults in hospice care, and people with neurological disorders are just a few examples of those who may need music therapy but are not included in this list.
Music therapy can be effective for children (and adults) with communication difficulties due to its non-verbal nature. For example, children with special educational needs or disabilities that are sent to adult health and social care.
For children, it is a common complement to individual educational programs (IEPs) and is used to help children with special needs develop healthy social skills such as empathy.
That in turn means following the rules of self-expression without compromising problem-solving and academic skills (such as attention and concentration on math, stipulating time and money concepts, reading, vocabulary, and writing).
Final Thoughts
Music Therapy can be used for a wide variety of mental or physical illnesses. To achieve optimal results, work with a licensed music therapist who has hundreds of hours of training to tailor the approach to each patient.
Music therapists ensure that the type, mode, chosen music form, and timing of music interventions correspond to the needs and objectives of the therapeutic person.
Music therapists use live music and familiar music in combination with physical, social, and cognitive activities for infants and children to stimulate development.
There are additional benefits to listening to and creating music that talk therapy may not be able to provide. In addition to listening to music, music therapy encourages people to make music that they find helpful for themselves.
1 thought on “Who Can Benefit From Music Therapy?”
Comments are closed.