Measurable benefits, no side effects and low cost make music an ideal therapeutic option
By Shari Cohen
“Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.”
During his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, when pediatric physician Raffi Tachdjian was searching for a way to accelerate healing in his young patients, inspiration came in the form of a teen with terminal bone cancer. When the doctor asked the discouraged boy what he’d like to do to, Justin replied, “Actually I wouldn’t mind playing music.” This resonated with Tachdjian, also a musician, and he quickly scored a donated guitar from a local shop for his patient.
Later that evening, after much convincing, reluctant nurses in the pediatric wing ushered a group of children, many with IV poles, to the playroom on their floor. As Justin—an amateur award-winning guitarist, as it turned out—rocked tunes from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day, another young boy began tapping his hand on the table. Someone else grabbed a spoon and started drumming. Gradually all the children joined in, clapping hands, tapping feet until the chaotic mixture of beats became one, slowing to include a child struggling with cerebral palsy spasms.
The children beamed and nurses were moved to tears as the children forgot for a little while their pain, fear and hospital boredom. It so inspired Dr. Tachdjian that he went on to create the Santa Monica-based nonprofit Children’s Music Fund.
Resonant Healing
Whether it is an operatic crescendo, the passionate tones of a jazz saxophone or even hip hop, the human body resonates to music, so it’s no surprise that it would be used as a treatment for illness. When we’re ill there is something disharmonious happening in our bodies, so it’s actually more surprising that something this simple isn’t used more frequently to alleviate symptoms. In a very general sense music can be heard as background music in the offices of health professionals and hospitals, but considering it’s been scientifically measured to produce changes in blood pressure and heart rate, improve respiration and cardiac output, relax muscle tension and increase levels of calm and pleasure, it is underutilized in the therapeutic community.
Talin Babikian, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, notes that, “Music is hardwired and present in infancy—even newborns demonstrate an ability to discriminate and show interest in song and musical instruments.” In a music therapy paper she wrote that, “Music serves as a cognitive imagery tool that creates a distraction, allowing patients to focus on something positive and taking away from negative stimuli. It also helps patients relax, which in turn eases pain perception by interrupting or blocking specific pain pathways that send signals from the body to the brain. With relaxation and positive social experiences, endorphins and oxytocin are released. The former simply helps us feel good and the latter is responsible for bonding and memory.”
Indeed, Alzheimer’s and dementia patients treated with music therapy have shown a shift in mood[bc1] , reduction in agitation, better cognitive function and more coordinated motor movements, and while music therapy cannot cure dementia, it has the potential to slow its progress by activating the brain and its neurological connections, promoting memory and a sense of self-recollection through sound.
“Even if patients are unable to verbalize what a song is, they are often moved by the music and feel the associations,” explains music therapist Marcelo Gindlin. “When recognition does appear across their face and they mouth the words or begin singing along, it is an amazing moment.”
Deforia Lane, director of music therapy at University Hospitals of Cleveland, adds, “If you use the right music to help exercise and stimulate movement to posture changes, and they still have some cognitive ability, they will respond.” She uses a modality called Melodic Intonation, which uses “rhythmic pacing”—the rhythmic predictability[bc2] of a melody that someone already knows—to stimulate that person to complete an open-ended phrase. The result? Dementia patients are sometimes surprised to find themselves singing, she says.
Especially for Children
For children with disabilities such as autism and developmental disorders, age-appropriate music helps improve self-expression, social skills and communication, and supports less-measurable goals of improved self-esteem and quality of life. Board-certified music therapist Vanya Green is part of the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program and Whole Child LA. Working with children at UCLA, she’s experienced firsthand how therapeutic music-making helps children relax through challenging illnesses involving difficult procedures[bc3] , and feel a sense of empowerment.
“One boy, who endured many procedures and essentially lived for more than a year in an intensive care unit, flourished during our sessions,” Green remembers. “We used guitars, drums, electronic percussion, music-making software and more. Through music therapy he learned to breathe deeply, write and record songs, and play instruments. He was empowered to be a part of his own healing process.”
Justin, the young patient who originally inspired Dr. Tachdjian, didn’t survive, but the music program did. Discouraged that he hadn’t been able to do more for the boy, the doctor lamented to Justin’s father, “Medicine and I failed your son.”
“No,” Justin’s father corrected. “Medicine failed, but you restored his dignity.”
Programs that Inspire and Heal
• The Music Rx Unit is a mobile tool at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. A high-tech interactive studio on wheels, it holds a variety of instruments, including drums, keyboards, guitars and software for recording music, as well as a large LCD screen that plays hundreds of music videos. It also has numerous iPods it loans to patients.
• At Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the volunteer Music for Healing program has more than 2,700 participants who annually provide almost 220,000 hours of time.
• The Children’s Music Fund provides music therapy and instruments to young people with chronic or life-altering illness.
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