Music Therapy Techniques for Memory Stabilization in Diverse Dementias

Music contains certain unmistakable healing properties pertaining specifically to the matured body and soul affected by various types of dementia. Music therapy aids in memory retention or the retarding of the loss of mental function as a result of Alzheimer\u27s disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, and Senile Dementia. Music can help subjects access lost memories through interaction with a music therapist. Certain music therapy techniques have been shown to yield additional physical, communicative, and psychological benefits. The disease progress of Alzheimer\u27s disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, and Senile Dementia may be further delayed by music therapy when paired with pharmaceutical interventions such as previously established memory enhancing medications

Analyzing the efficacy of improvisational music therapy as a treatment method for children with ASD

The field of CSD relies on evidence-based practice or the notion that all therapy and evaluation procedures are determined by clinical opinion or reliable research. Several studies have been conducted on the efficacy of music therapy as a treatment method for children with autism; however, this method is not widely practiced by speech-language pathologists. This literature review outlines the results, strengths and weaknesses of 14 studies on the efficacy of music therapy for children with ASD. The studies were an average of 20 weeks, with 1-3 sessions per week ranging from 30-60 minutes. The sessions were all conducted by music therapists and included both individual and group sessions. The studies revealed music therapy leads to significant improvement for children with ASD in the following areas: joint attention, eye gaze, turn-taking, selective attention, expressive language, Social-emotional reciprocity, motor skills, and emotional synchrony. The paper also includes relevant background information on why music therapy works especially well for children with ASD, and suggestions for practical clinical implementation and future research. The overarching goal of this paper is to encourage SLPs to explore the research that exists outside of play-based therapy in order to ensure the best possible treatment and outcomes for children with ASD.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Discourse Analysis

This chapter (a) presents discourse analysis as both epistemology and methodology; (b) suggests a sociolinguistic toolkit that could be used as one type of approach to conducting discourse analysis; (c) reviews and points to literature in music education and music therapy that have used such epistemological and methodological tools; and (d) suggests that, by engaging with discourse analysis, we can begin to ask questions about participants and their interactions within environments where music therapists operate and analyze prevailing discourses within structures and systems of music therapy. [excerpt

REVIEW OF MUSIC AND ITS THERAPEUTICS W.S.R. AYURVEDIC CLASSICS (BRIHATRAYEE

Ayurveda is the science of living being. With the aim of health and procurement of disease it almost covers all facets of life. It includes health of an individual at physical, mental, spiritual, social level. Ayurvedic classics includes brihatrayee samhita like Charak, Sushruta and Ashtanga Hridaya. A review based study of music (geet, sangeet) was done in these classics to explore whether these classics includes any form of music as therapy or not. Based on review of these classics it was found that music in form of geet (vocal or instrument) has been given in contexts like vajikara(aphrodisiac), vata/pitta prakriti (basic consititutional make up), gandharva sattva, madyapana (intake of alcohol), therapy for rajyakshma (immune deficiency diseases), sanyasa (syncope/coma), jivadan (haemetemesis) etc. various swara have been correlated with their pacifying power of three sharirikadoshas viz. vata, pitta and kapha. Also a relationship between various raga of indian classical music have been said to be based on time of its singing which may be used as a therapy to pacify the dearrangement of prevalent doshas. several articles have shown music as therapy in sleep disorder, psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia, cardiovascular, cancer etc. with this paper a perspective of Ayurveda have been explored in music therapeutics

Therapeutic effects of music therapy on anxiety and quality of life for chronically ill adults with mental illness

Mental Illness impacts many individuals, families and communities. Treatments for chronically mentally ill individuals include a variety of medications and behavioral therapies. Alternative therapies can also help reduce anxiety and improve social behavior. Music therapy has been identified as one method to reduce anxiety, resulting in an increased quality of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of music therapy on social anxiety and quality of life for individuals who are chronically mentally ill. This is a replication of Grocke, Bloch and Castle’s (2009) study. The study is based on Group Music Therapy (Bloch & Crouch, 1985). The anticipated sample will include 500 outpatients being treated in a local mental health facility in MD. The WHOQOLBREF Quality of Life Scale, the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory will be used to collect data. Semi-structured interviews will also be conducted with focus groups. Findings will provide insight about the impact of music therapy as an alternative treatment to reduce anxiety and improve quality of life for chronically ill individuals.School of NursingThesis (M.S.

Goal-oriented processes: Exploring the use of goals in music therapy to support young people with autism spectrum disorder : An exegesis submitted to Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Therapy Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music

This qualitative research project explored how a student music therapist utilised goal-oriented processes to support young people with autism spectrum disorder throughout their course of music therapy. Inductive thematic analysis of selected literature relating to goals in music therapy developed an initial framework of what goal-oriented processes could include. The student music therapist’s clinical data (including session notes, monitoring sheets, client reports and reflective journal entries) was then coded through deductive secondary analysis, from which five key themes were formed. The findings indicated that clients’ goals were supported by: employing a client-centred philosophical approach; nurturing therapeutic relationships; collaborating with clients and their caregivers; utilising the referral, assessment and review processes; and observing and documenting clients’ development. These goal-oriented processes helped to support goals that were meaningful for the clients and their caregivers. Themes were explored in detail using a case vignette to illustrate and provide a context for the findings. Although the context-bound qualitative nature of this research project limits its generalisability, it attempts to provide insight into what goal-oriented processes in music therapy might include, encouraging other music therapists to consider how they utilise goals in their own practice

Neurophysiological and Behavioral Responses to Music Therapy in Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States

Assessment of awareness for those with disorders of consciousness is a challenging undertaking, due to the complex presentation of the population. Debate surrounds whether behavioral assessments provide greatest accuracy in diagnosis compared to neuro-imaging methods, and despite developments in both, misdiagnosis rates remain high. Music therapy may be effective in the assessment and rehabilitation with this population due to effects of musical stimuli on arousal, attention, and emotion, irrespective of verbal or motor deficits. However, an evidence base is lacking as to which procedures are most effective. To address this, a neurophysiological and behavioral study was undertaken comparing electroencephalogram (EEG), heart rate variability, respiration, and behavioral responses of 20 healthy subjects with 21 individuals in vegetative or minimally conscious states (VS or MCS). Subjects were presented with live preferred music and improvised music entrained to respiration (procedures typically used in music therapy), recordings of disliked music, white noise, and silence. ANOVA tests indicated a range of significant responses (p ? 0.05) across healthy subjects corresponding to arousal and attention in response to preferred music including concurrent increases in respiration rate with globally enhanced EEG power spectra responses (p = 0.05–0.0001) across frequency bandwidths. Whilst physiological responses were heterogeneous across patient cohorts, significant post hoc EEG amplitude increases for stimuli associated with preferred music were found for frontal midline theta in six VS and four MCS subjects, and frontal alpha in three VS and four MCS subjects (p = 0.05–0.0001). Furthermore, behavioral data showed a significantly increased blink rate for preferred music (p = 0.029) within the VS cohort. Two VS cases are presented with concurrent changes (p ? 0.05) across measures indicative of discriminatory responses to both music therapy procedures. A third MCS case study is presented highlighting how more sensitive selective attention may distinguish MCS from VS. The findings suggest that further investigation is warranted to explore the use of music therapy for prognostic indicators, and its potential to support neuroplasticity in rehabilitation programs

A Study of Music: Music Psychology, Music Therapy, and Worship Music

There are three specific fields related to music: the psychology of Music and how it affects human brain and functions, the methodology of Music Therapy and how it affects individuals undergoing treatment, and the psychological effects of Worship Music and how it can be used in music therapy. Music therapy is a growing field in which the therapeutic outcomes greatly benefit the patients. The overall purpose is to create a greater understanding of music and music therapy in order to a provide a system for introducing group worship services into music therapy to ultimately bring spiritual healing to individuals

A Phenomenology of the Practice of Music Therapy with Children

Music therapy has been demonstrated as an effective mode of therapeutic intervention for children in recent literature. There is extensive research suggesting benefits for various populations of children, namely: children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), children who have experienced trauma, and children with disabilities. The current study served to address gaps found in the literature by conducting a phenomenology of professionally trained music therapists. Four board certified music therapists near major cities on the east coast were interviewed to comment on how they understand music therapy, and how they live out those understandings in their practice. It was found that music therapy is professional counseling, music therapy is goal based and individualized, and music therapy is often misunderstood in the general public. A comparison of these findings with results from previous studies was addressed. Limitations and suggestions for further study within the realm of utilizing music as a therapeutic tool were discussed

Music in therapy: increasing possibilities for action

The article discusses how music therapy, considered as a discipline as well as arenas of different practices and theoretical models, may contribute to our understanding of how music may influence our actions. Among the many models of music therapy the author discusses an ontology of music which is compatible with a contextual understanding of how musical meanings are produced and performed. The article further presents how theories from receptive music therapy (The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music), improvisational music therapy (Creative Music Therapy), Community Music Therapy, and more resource-oriented ways of working may provide new insights into how music in therapy works in giving us new possibilities for action