Music Therapy And Dementia Essay

Evidence based practice shows that music has had many positive effects on those with dementia when used as a form of treatment. In fact, some of the benefits that have resulted from music therapy are currently unachievable by other interventions. Music therapy is defined as “controlled use of music and its influence on the human being to aid in physiological, psychological and emotional integration of individual during treatment of an illness or disability” (Sung, Lee, Chang & Smith, 2011). Patients with advanced dementia display a variety of unfavorable behaviors that are unpleasant and difficult to

Following the developing of social sciences, everybody has started to get concerned about the issue if music is good for healthy body and mental recently. This phenomenon makes the music therapy becomes popular. Music therapy is defined as “ the therapeutic use of music as to reduce anxiety, improve cognitive functioning, promote physical rehabilitation, or enhance interpersonal communication that typically involves listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, or composing music “ in the Merriam-Webster.com. In other words, through the activity of music people can improve physical or psychological disease that achieves cure and health.

There are many different ways that we benefit from music. Music can inspire better self-esteem, and confidence. It’s a great way to set the mood, and a wonderful tool. 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 (Gram, 2005). Music therapy can reach out to anyone, age, race, gender it doesn’t matter. Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs can benefit from music therapy. As well as, those who have developmental and learning disabilities, those who suffer from Alzheimer's

Music can play an important role in Alzheimer's care. Read on to find out three ways it can help:

A music therapy intervention was done on 17 Alzheimer’s patients and 11 had shown less agitation after music therapy (Witzke, 2008). Typically if an Alzheimer’s patient was agitated, facilities would give medications or place them in physical restraints. On the other hand, using musical therapy is non detrimental and simple.

Everyone knows that from hearing that song associated with your first love, a loss, a tragedy, etc., that music has a very powerful effect on personal memories

Thesis statement: Music can shift mood, manage stress, stimulate positive interactions, ease cognitive function, and coordinate motor movements which improve the daily of lives of Alzheimer's patients.

As the great Billy Joel once said, “I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music (as qtd. in Bordowitz 53).” It has become so easy to access music, that in today’s world almost everyone listens to it, but we never stop to think about how therapeutic it can be. Music provides people with entertainment, lets them express themselves freely, and can alter their mood. Alzheimer’s disease progressively destroys a patient’s memory and thinking skills. It prevents them being able to perform tasks that a normal person would call easy. The use of musical therapy and its effects and works on Alzheimer's patients may be

In the clinical literature, problematic disruptive behaviors are often referred to as agitation (Vink, A. C., Zuidersma, M., Boersma, F., Jonge, P., Zuidema, S. U., & Slaets, J. J., 2013). A study conducted in China looked at the behaviors effected with music therapy; the conductors of the research experiment investigated the effects of group music intervention on behavioral symptoms in patients with dementia. Twenty patients were non-randomly allocated to either a music-intervention group or the usual care group (Ae-Na, C., Myeong Soo, L., Kwang-Jo, C., & Jung-Sook, L., 2009). The music-intervention group received 50 minutes of music intervention 3 times per week for 5 consecutive weeks. After 15 sessions, the music-intervention group showed significant improvement with agitation, and the total scores of both patients and caregivers were lower, compared with the control group (Ae-Na, C. et al., 2009). These findings suggest that music can improve behavioral and psychological symptoms, especially in patients with dementia and their caregivers. All this research, but how effective is music intervention in

This article described music therapy observations between two children, 3-year-old Jason and 9-year-old Sophie, who were both diagnosed with Down Syndrome (DS). The observations were taken over a music therapy session in the Creative Learning Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Sessions lasted around approximately over a month, but more specifically, a course of six weeks; Jason attended approximately five music therapy sessions, while Sophie attended six. What also assisted in the process of this observation was the environment of the therapy rooms, ranging from different colors on the walls which stood for distinctive and significant symbols. The color blue was for music, red for regular playing, and yellow for art. In addition

Music has long been an interest of mine, it was always used as an escape from reality and can be very therapeutic; with that information I wanted to see if and how music therapy could be used to aide in patients who suffered from dementia. When conducting my own research I ran across an article titled “Connecting through music: A study of a spousal caregiver-directed music intervention designed to prolong fulfilling relationships in couples where one person has dementia”, this article caught my attention because it examined the relationship of couples where one of the spouses’ suffered from dementia and the other spouse was the primary caregiver. Music therapy is recognized to reduce agitation in patients with dementia (Dileo & Bradt, 2005; Helmes & Wiancko, 2006; Holmes et al., 2006; Ledger & Baker, 2007) and also leads to the sharing of meaningful experiences between caregivers and dementia patients in residential care settings. (Brotons, & Marti, 2003; Clair & Ebberts, 1997) Music is known to be a social phenomenon that stimulates people who have dementia, it is also helpful with memory and when the caregivers listen to music it enhances their mood to suggest that music addresses the needs of both the spousal caregiver and patient.

People with heart diseases problems listening to music may improve their heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Music therapy has shown success in treating symptoms of several disorders, including schizophrenia, amnesia, dementia and Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, mood disorders. This type of therapy was especially effective in improving attention and focus, and in decreasing negative symptoms like anxiety and loneliness. As well, it can be used to improve function in patients that have lesions resulting from stroke or other disorders. It is assumed that music therapy helps a victim of stroke recover faster and with more success by increasing the patient's positive emotions and enthusiasm, allowing him or her to be more successful and feel more motivated to participate in traditional therapies. Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia are between the disorders most commonly treated with music therapy. The most common effects are seen in social behaviors, leading to improvements in communication, conversation, and other such skills. Music therapy is also used with schizophrenic patients to improve many of the symptoms of the disorder. Individual studies of patients undergoing music therapy showed negative symptoms such as flattened affect, speech issues, and anhedonia and improved social symptoms such as increased speech ability, reduced social loneliness, and increased interest in outside

My research paper discusses the topic on Dementia, which is defined as a neurodegenerative condition characterized by the deterioration in cognitive abilities, memory, and daily functioning. There are two articles that cover dementia research; the first article is Mediation of Family Dynamics, Personal Strengths, and Mental Health in Dementia Caregivers and the second article is Time Series Analysis of Individual Music Therapy in Dementia. Dementia caregivers are at times stressed and depressed while caring for someone who suffers from dementia. Music therapy can be therapeutic for people who suffer from dementia. I can relate to dementia because my grandmother suffered from it.

Music is powerful. It arouses feelings and memories of specific past events and such a wide array of emotions. Music is associated with emotion and events in people’s lives that can be remembered long after the event occurred. Therapists can use music therapy to improve the overall physical and mental well-being of dementia patients including memory recall, positive mood change, non-pharmacological management of pain, and management of agitation. Music can change moods manage stress-induced agitation and improve overall quality of life for patients with dementia. This happens because rhythmic and other well-rehearsed responses require little to no cognitive or mental processing. They are influenced by the motor center of the brain that responds directly to auditory rhythmic cues. A person’s ability to engage in music, particularly rhythm playing and singing, remains intact late into the disease process because, again, these activities do not mandate cognitive functioning for success. (Clair, 2015) Music therapy is used for a wide range of psychological and physical conditions. It is defined as a therapeutic medium to address development adaptive and rehabilitative goals in the areas of psychosocial, cognitive, and sensorimotor behavior of individuals with disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any significant difference between the effects and usefulness of music therapy compared to general activities, on reducing agitation in people with dementia. The study was also used to determine if music therapy warranted any immediate effects on symptom improvement, as opposed to solely long-term effects.