Music Therapy Description - Term Paper Example

Music Therapy Introduction While music has gone global, music therapy is not far behind. In fact music therapy is considered an established and very important part of the health care profession, which makes use of music for addressing the cognitive, physical, social and emotional disabilities and needs of people belonging to different walks of life and of all ages. The primary aim of music therapy is to improve the quality of life especially of those individuals suffering from some illness or disability. Research has shown that music impacts on a person’s body and psyche in a most profound way. Music therapy is defined as "a systematic process of intervention wherein the therapist helps the client to promote health, using music experiences and the relationships that develop through them..." (Bruscia KE, 1998) How Music Therapy helps In these Modern times of great advancement in science and technology, music to therapy shows great promise in the expanding field of health care. Music therapy helps greatly in the field of medical sciences especially for cancer patients, in management, for children suffering from ADD to help soothe and calm the bodies and minds of such patients. Research has shown that music with a strong with them and beat stimulates the brain waves bringing about deeper concentration alertness. On the other hand, music with softer notes and slower tempos tend to calm and soothe the body bringing about a Meditative state of mind. The interventions of music therapy can be designed to suit the individual and research has shown music therapy to be quite effective in the following areas – It promotes wellness. It helps to manage stress. It enhances a person’s memory. It helps to alleviate pain and trauma. It enables individuals to express their feelings and emotions. It plays a hand in improving the communication skills people and Promotes physical rehabilitation and all round growth of the individual. Music Therapy for Depression – An explanation Depression seems to be one of the major causes of certain types of illnesses. Though depression mostly occurs among older adults, there is no getting away from the fact that even the youth could experience some type of depression at any time in their lives. It is here that music therapy serves as one of the most cost effective, but very much accessible interventions which could be applied in times of anxiety, distress and for other such symptoms of depression. Researchers Hanser SB; Thompson LW., (1994) after their research concluded that music therapy had great potential as a very beneficial intervention especially for the elderly who had limited access to professionals in health care. There are different ways in which the intervention of music therapy could be administered to patients suffering from depression. 1. Home - based program – during the home based program, the individuals learned the techniques of stress reduction by listening to music. This technique is carried out by a music therapist on a weekly basis when he visits the patient at home. 2. Self - administered program – during the self administered program, the person applies the same techniques, mostly carried out by themselves or with the intervention of a therapist on some occasions through a weekly telephone call. 3. Control group – in this scenario that patient is kept on a waiting list and utilize as a control. Patient Population The chief population for depression is elderly adults and adults who have gone through harrowing circumstances. Children in the group of adolescents are also vulnerable to depression. Making use of the Hamilton Depression Rating scale (HDRS) SF -36 during a health survey undertaken for 11 hypothetical depression prone areas, it was found that ‘the mean utility for severe depression was 0.30 and 25% of patients rated this state as worse than or equivalent to death. Utilities varied from 0.55 to 0.63 for moderate depression, 0.64 to 0.73 for mild depression, and 0.72 to 0.83 for antidepressant maintenance therapy.’ (Journal of Affective Disorders) Rationale for choosing this therapy According to me the reason for choosing this therapy was because I am not only a great lover of music but at the same time I felt that my services would be of great help to the thousands of people experiencing a poor quality of life just because they suffer from depression. My great desire is to reach out to this section of society and improve the quality of life by raising the standard of living by making them healthy and strong in body and mind once again. Plan for Implementation Many clinical research studies have shown that music therapy and massage practicable of capable of altering brain patterns while being of the therapeutic help to patients suffering from depression. Clinical research studies have also shown that both these therapies are very beneficial for reducing the anxiety and stress which older people experience. In planning to implement this therapy, first of an assessment should be made of the patient and the level of depression should be arrived through observation and data collection. An EEG of the patient’s right frontal brain which is associated with negative feelings and emotions which is the major cause for depression is assessed. Based on this the participants are going to be chosen and then divided into three groups. One group was assigned the home- based program where the therapist would visit them and conduct the therapy. An assessment would be made before, during and after the therapy and these would be recorded. The second group would be given the self – administered program where they would conduct the exercises themselves but would be monitored by a therapist and their progress would be recorded. The third group was kept as a control group without being administered music therapy. Evaluation Plan The data that was collected from each of the groups i.e. the home based program, the self administered program and the control group were evaluated. The results from the first and the second group, that consisted of participants in both the music therapy groups, showed significant improvement in moods and performance. The other areas of testing were through standardized tests, mood and self- esteem. Results of the frontal EEG asymmetry showed significant improvement, both during as well as after the music therapy sessions. Whereas, in the control group, no significant improvement or major differences were seen. The study therefore demonstrates that definitely music therapy had significant positive effects on all brain activity in depressed individuals, further indicating that such therapies should be more minutely reviewed, so that it could be included in other conventional treatment programs. The benefits gained from music therapy are many and it helps to enhance patient’s quality of life by calming and soothing the person who is depressed and helping them concentrate more on making their brain to adapt in a much better manner than before. By altering the functioning of the brain, other bodily functions improve to a great extent such as breathing, heart rate and functions of the nervous system. It gives a person a more positive state of mind which helps to prevent them from going easily into depression. It also helps to lower blood pressure helping them to cultivate a positive bent of mind which could contribute to their creativity by raising their levels of optimism. When a patient improves in health, the therapy should continue with a follow up program. Conclusion Depression is considered to be one of the most frequently occurring mental disorders and “its meaning as an illness from both an economic and a human suffering point of view, is among the biggest challenges of today's health-care system.” (EPSHP, 1994) Research has shown that medication such as antidepressants used on patients suffering from depression render side effects that involve headaches, anxiety spells, nausea and diarrhea which makes them seek complimentary treatment leading them into deeper problems. However, Music therapy has the potential to serve as an adjunct to, or facilitator of, medication, may reduce the amount of medication administered, or can even serve as a method of choice instead of medication, as demonstrated, for example, in anesthesia.” (Spintge MD, Ralph Droh MD, Roland 1992) Using music therapy for the treatment of individuals with depression has no side- effects what-so ever and could be considered as one of the safest treatments possible. Therefore, music therapy is considered to be a non – invasive, potent and extremely powerful tool that helps to stimulate brain systems, since in Modern science it is a widely accepted and well known phenomenon that music impacts on an individual’s feelings and emotions in a big way. Patients getting treated by music therapy have reported lesser bouts of depression and a steady improvement in their overall health and well- being. References Adolescence 1999 Fall;34(135):529-34 . Massage and music therapies attenuate frontal EEG asymmetry in depressed adolescents. Jones NA, Field T BioMed Central – The Effect of Improvisational Music. www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/8/50 Bruscia KE: Defining music therapy. 2nd edition. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers; 1998. EPSHP: Depression alueellinen hoito-ohjelma (Etelä-Pohjanmaan sairaanhoitopiiri). Seinäjoki: Psykiatrian tulosalue; 1994. Hanser SB; Thompson LW. Effects of a music therapy strategy on depressed older adults. Stanford University School of Medicine. J Gerontol (UNITED STATES) Nov 1994, 49 (6) pp265-9 Journal of Affective Disorders: www.linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165032797001171 Music Therapy Research www.internethealthlibrary.com/Therapies/MusicTherapy-Research.htm Music Therapy www.stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy.htm Spintge MD, Ralph Droh MD, Roland , (Eds): MusicMedicine Volume II. Saint Louis: MMB Music; 1992. The American Music Therapy Association. www.musictherapy.org Read More