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music therapy

Music Therapy and PTSD

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Music Therapy is a different practice than music lessons, however the therapeutic qualities of music lessons cannot be denied. When I first began teaching, the studio offered free music lessons to the children of active duty military. I witnessed first-hand some of these parents struggling with PTSD. It affected their whole family. But I also saw how much the students brought joy to their parents when they would perform their songs, or conquer their fears and give a grand performance at the annual recital.

This I found interesting for many reasons, and apparently so did the US Military in 1945. At that time, the U.S. War Department issued Technical Bulletin 187, which introduced a program that used music for “reconditioning among service members convalescing in Army hospitals.” Today, these initiatives have been further expanded so that they range from a program for active duty airmen to “foster coping and stress management around deployment, to programs that center on the use of songwriting to address issues associated with symptoms of PTSD, to programs that address the needs of service members and veterans with polytrauma in rehabilitation.” Personally, I have had students that used the activity of playing an instrument to lesson anxiety, deal with insomnia, and also cope with the depression and isolation that PTSD produces.

Music Therapy has been proven, over many decades, to help those suffering from many maladies. If you, or someone you know, could benefit from the therapeutic qualities of music lessons, please reach out for a personal consultation at info@nashvillemusicacademy.org.

 

Citations found HERE.

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Alzheimers Patients Find Music Therapeutic

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My father (pictured) passed away from Alzheimers Disease. It began when I was a young teenager still living at home, prepping for college while continuing my studies in classical piano performance. I would practice the upright piano and he would sit quietly in the other room. Most other times, he would pace nervously back and forth between the various rooms in our modest but aging house. It was an escape for both of us…

As an article from the Alzheimers Foundation so apltly pointed out,

“Music has power—especially for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. And it can spark compelling outcomes even in the very late stages of the disease.

When used appropriately, music can shift mood, manage stress-induced agitation, stimulate positive interactions, facilitate cognitive function, and coordinate motor movements.

This happens because rhythmic and other well-rehearsed responses require little to no cognitive or mental processing. They are influenced by the motor center of the brain that responds directly to auditory rhythmic cues. A person’s ability to engage in music, particularly rhythm playing and singing, remains intact late into the disease process because, again, these activities do not mandate cognitive functioning for success.”

This is a detailed way of saying something very simple. Music is therapeutic. It heals things that are broken within us that we cannot see nor explain. Somehow, we are unlocked by harmony, melody, and rhythm. The vibration that creates sound, stirs something us in as well. As a music teacher and daughter of a parent with Alzheimers, I can tell you firsthand that I have seen the healing powers of music.

http://www.alzfdn.org/EducationandCare/musictherapy.html