Music therapy uses music to promote positive changes in an individual’s well-being. These positive changes can manifest in 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 used since ancient times. However, music therapy in modern times 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.
Early exponents of music therapy in the 1950s to 1970s included the 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 US, UK, 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 some way, regardless of 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 and produce related benefits such as lower blood pressure, improved breathing, reduced heart rate, better cardiac output, 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 favors socialization and the development of communication, self-expression and motor skills. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have been found to respond very positively to music, with many showing high levels of musical ability.
Music encourages verbal and non-verbal communication and promotes social interaction and relationship. It is a valuable outlet for self-expression and creativity. It has also been used successfully in the treatment of pain by providing a distraction from the painful stimulus, as well as a means of relaxation and stress relief.
Children with developmental and learning difficulties, children and adults with autism spectrum disorders or special needs, as well as the elderly and those 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 was not until recently that quantitative evidence of its efficacy began to emerge.
In a recent study conducted by the University of Miami School of Medicine, blood samples from a group of male Alzheimer’s patients who were treated with music therapy were found to have significantly elevated levels of melatonin, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, which are substances Chemicals that act in the brain to control mood, depression, aggression, and sleep. The benefits of the therapy were still evident even six weeks after cessation of therapy and, in the case of melatonin, the effects persisted even longer.
Music therapy is gaining more acceptance in the general medical community and has certainly stood the test of time. Music therapists can now be found practicing in a variety of mental health institutions, early intervention and development programs, correctional institutions, and special education programs, to name just a few. Many are succeeding where traditional treatment methods have failed.