Music as Medicine

[ClearAsCrystal]

found on msn news

 

 

 

Music as Medicine

Music therapy can help reduce anxiety and improve physical health

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay Reporter

Music therapy can help reduce anxiety and improve physical health.

 

SATURDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Almost everyone has used music at one time or another to relax or perhaps to get energized. But the discipline of music therapy takes the use of music much further, from battling depression to combating cancer.

 

"Music therapy is an evidence-based practice that can affect changes in physical, psychological, social and cognitive domains through music experiences and the relationship that develops between the client and the therapist," said Cheryl Dileo, a professor of music therapy and director of the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia.

 

Just turning up the radio to your favorite tune to erase a blue mood doesn't qualify as music therapy, Dileo explained. "Self-help through music is not music therapy, although many people do use music for themselves, for example for relaxation to improve their moods, or to accompany exercise."

 

Music therapy, on the other hand, "involves an interpersonal process through which a trained therapist uses his or her knowledge and skills to address the client's assessed needs and issues," she said. "Although many people understand intuitively how to use music for themselves, when it is used within a music-therapy process by a trained therapist, it can be a powerful means to achieving positive physical, psychological, cognitive and social outcomes."

 

The uses of music therapy are myriad, according to Dileo. Music therapy can be used to reduce the anxiety of hospital patients undergoing difficult medical procedures. It can help lessen pain and improve mood, she said. Music therapy can also help depressed patients express their feelings.

 

Music therapy has been used to keep Alzheimer's patients calm and help them improve their memories at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York City.

 

At Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, board-certified music therapist Elizabeth Pociask uses music therapy to help new parents calm their infants.

 

"Music is a natural source of distraction. When a child is visibly upset, the introduction of a novel stimulus (turning on some music) will at least temporarily divert their attention away from what is upsetting them," she explained. "The parent's singing voice accomplishes the same thing and adds the element of familiarity -- the most comforting sound for an infant will nearly always be a parent's voice. When used regularly, music and/or singing can become a calming ritual, and the infant then learns to associate the music with relaxation or sleep."

 

Dileo said that music therapists should be board-certified, which means they've attended at least a four-year college program, as well as completed a supervised internship and have passed a national exam.

 

However, less formal music programs can be helpful as well. Katherine Puckett, national director of mind-body medicine at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said that while they don't have board-certified music therapists on staff, the centers do use music as a means to help their patients.

 

"Music can activate the relaxation response, which helps promote deep breathing, lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, ease muscle tension and create less stress. That can help cancer patients sleep better, and difficulty sleeping is a common problem for cancer patients," Puckett said.

 

"Relaxing the body can also help relieve physical pain, and people may need less pain medication," she added.

 

The Cancer Treatment Centers of America keep a library of music available for patients to use, and they have special events, such as drumming circles, that help provide an emotional release for their patients, Puckett said. "Some people can release their emotions through talking, but sometimes people need a non-verbal release. We've had people moved to tears in our special events," she said.

 

"People respond to music -- you don't have to be sick to respond to music. It's relaxing, comforting and soothing," Puckett added.

[chuck kottke]

Music is a Drug!:) (with only good side-effects!)

[airieslady]

Music has always been my drug of choice! Every day! It keeps my blood pressure down... seriously. I work with alot of A..holes so I use music in my head to distract myself away from the A..holes. :)

[TraceOddity]

I don't mean to sound mellow-dramatic, but there's a very good chance that I'd not still be alive if not for music, both the music I love and the music I make. It's about the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.:)

[chuck kottke]

I think we're like birds in a way.. we have a need to hear ourselves collectively sing at times.. it's just hard-wired in us.

[berrywoman]

I don't mean to sound mellow-dramatic, but there's a very good chance that I'd not still be alive if not for music, both the music I love and the music I make. It's about the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.:)

 

I hear that......

 

 

Music is my life.... all kinds too. :nice:

[Darlene_Ihnfsa]

it's been always a medicine to me, since i remember i listen to music in some way, at least once day.

 

yeah is my only drug and i love it.

 

it cheers me up when i'm down

 

and it makes me get in a concrete mood that i want to for the stories i'm working at the moment that i'm listening the music. :) so it helps me to be more creative and express on a better way the things that i want to say. :)

[voodoo_geisha]

I don't mean to sound mellow-dramatic, but there's a very good chance that I'd not still be alive if not for music, both the music I love and the music I make. It's about the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.:)

 

same with me

also not wanting to sound melodramatic, i struggle with stress and depression.

Music saved me. :)

and it's brilliant for calming nerves...i listened to some Muse before my university interview and it did wonders! :D

[james.xy.blunt]

The Verve

 

The Drugs DO Work

[Pseudonym]

I'm addicted to the stuff:stunned:

 

 

And that's a real good thing;)

[Violet]

I don't mean to sound mellow-dramatic, but there's a very good chance that I'd not still be alive if not for music, both the music I love and the music I make. It's about the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.:)

 

I feel the exact same way about it. It's the one thing in life that never fails to put me in a better mood when I'm not feeling quite right, and it has helped me get through some pretty hard times. This is why music is the one thing that I could not (and will not) give up.

[Tnspieler1012]

At the same time, certain types music, often very loud and dissonant music can have poor health effects.

 

Musicologists have found that Heavy Metal played next to plants causes them to die a lot sooner. Music is a drug and essential to most of our lives. Nietszsche said something to the effect of "The world (or life), without music, would be a mistake." But music can also have the opposite effect depending on what you listen to. Its not like any music will do, we all have a concept of "good" and "bad" music. Some music strikes us as enjoyable and stimulating whereas we find other music painful and obnoxious. For example, Ibecome sick, stressed and irritated very soon when I listen to anything on my friend's ipods for more than a couple minutes.

[The Escapist]

Escape listening to music. Its very enjoyable.

[deaths_friend]

Scar Tissue by RHCP is a perfect song to cure a headache.

[mc_squared]

It all depends on what the music is. For example, if you hear Miley Cyrus, it's likely to make you