Music Therapy
Music therapy is a health profession that uses music and musical activities to treat and address physical, emotional, social and cognitive needs of children and adults with disabilities. It promotes positive changes in the wellbeing of an individual. Music therapy needs to be completed in a controlled environment by a professional doctor. Based on what an individual needs, the therapy program designed needs to be custom and individualized. The types of music or musical stimuli used by the therapist are determined by the healing process that the therapist and patient prefer and the particular circumstances of treatment. In a session of music therapy, compact disc players, speakers, or headphones, and a wide selection of compact discs are used. Music can be used in the counseling setting for many purposes. Music can be paired with progressive muscle relaxation techniques, guided Imagery, and/or biofeedback to promote relaxation. You don’t have to be sick or injured to use music therapy, and healthy people can use it to control the amount of stress they feel. Music therapy does more than affect or change the way you feel. It has the power to heal and improve both psychological and physical pain.
Benefits of Music Therapy
- It refreshes the mood of the listener
- It stimulates a relaxation response
- It reduces the anxiety and stress level.
- It helps in easing muscle tension
- It controls blood pressure, respiratory rate, hear rate.
- It encourages verbal as well as non verbal communication
- It promotes socialization and development of self expression and motor skills.
- It helps a lot in improving cognitive thinking and mental abilities.
Children with developmental and learning difficulties, children and adults with autism spectrum disorder or special needs as well as the elderly and dementia sufferers have all been shown to benefit from music therapy. Music therapy is used to help people suffering from conditions such as psychiatric disorders, medical problems, sensory impairments, developmental abilities and other health related ailments. Patients suffering from post surgical problems, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease get positive result using music therapy. Music therapy should always be conducted by an expert registered therapist to get maximum benefit out of it.
