Benefits Of Music Therapy

Introduction

How many of you resort to music when stressed, bored, or even studying and working? Most of the time, music succeeds in lighting up the mood or relaxing us, leading us to feel better.

Of course, scientists and specialists have noticed the remarkable effects of music on humans, leading them to develop music therapy, which can treat many health conditions.

What is music therapy (MT)?

Music therapy can be defined as the controlled form of listening to music to influence patients psychologically, emotionally, and physiologically throughout the treatment for their health conditions.¹

The first documented case of music therapy was in 1914, upon observing the beneficial effects of phonographs in recovery wards. After World War II, music was used in veteran hospitals to boost the morale of people with physical and emotional trauma.¹

How does music therapy work?

Music has been proven to affect several chemicals in the body, causing its therapeutic benefits. These chemicals are:

• Dopamine: When this chemical is released, it leads to an increase in the pleasure receptors and aids in improving the patients’ mood by making them feel good
• Endorphins: These hormones give us a sense of euphoria and happiness and work as a strong pain reliever
• Immunoglobulin A: These cells are important for the immune system because they seek and attack any threatening agents in the body
• Cortisol: A stress hormone proven to decrease its levels via MT procedures

Is there a difference between music medicine and music therapy?

In music medicine, the patient listens to music provided by the healthcare specialist in an inpatient department, while music therapy is all about using all forms of music provided by a music therapist.²

Benefits of music therapy

Stress reduction

We all know how stress can affect our health physically and psychologically, and it contributes to the prognosis of many conditions like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, depression, anxiety disorder, and burnout syndrome. 

Often to cope with stress, large numbers of people resort to tranquillisation medications, which have several dangerous side effects and addiction. Therefore, it is important to look for other therapeutic methods for stress reduction.³

There have been several studies on the effect of music therapy on stress. Some of the suggested effects of music therapy are: 

• Reduced cortisol levels 
• Lowered heart rate
• Decreased mean arterial pressure 
• Reduced negative emotions and feelings such as state anxiety, subjective worry, nervousness, and restlessness
• Increased positive emotions and feelings like happiness and relaxation³

Pain management

Numerous studies have been conducted to observe the effect of music on pain, and it has been estimated that music has had significant effects in reducing pain and the emotional distress from pain, anaesthetic use, and both opioid and non-opioid intake.⁴

Another study found that music was beneficial as an adjuvant in chronic pain and its depressive symptoms, especially when the patients themselves chose the music.⁵

Depression, anxiety, and sleep problems

The findings from several studies indicate that music therapy provides short-term positive effects for patients with depression. When music therapy is added to the treatment as usual (TAU), it was observed that symptoms were more improved when compared with TAU alone. Moreover, music therapy was effective in reducing anxiety levels.⁶

A review of numerous studies showed that listening to music has helped reduce anxiety in patients waiting for surgeries, patients with cancer, patients having dialysis, and people with dental anxiety. Other studies also suggested that listening to music might help improve the speed of falling asleep.

Dementia and cognitive impairment

A group of studies showed that music had a significant, yet small, effect on cognitive functioning for older adults with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.⁷ 

Another group of studies showed that providing dementia patients in institutional care with at least five sessions of music-based therapeutic interventions improved overall behavioural problems and reduced depressive symptoms at the end of the treatment.⁸ 

Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the patient’s movement. There has been some evidence that music therapy has positive effects on a patient’s motor ability by stimulating it through listening, rhythmic auditory stimulation, and body rhythm during MT sessions.⁹

Autism

Music therapy has been found to be effective in reducing total autism symptom severity and increasing the chance of global improvement.¹⁰ Music tends to increase awareness and attention in children with autism, as well.¹¹

Schizophrenia

A group of studies indicated that using music as an adjunct therapy for people with schizophrenia significantly improved negative and depressive symptoms in addition to their quality of life.¹²

Fibromyalgia

This can also be called fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and is a long-term condition that causes pain and fatigue, leading to other problems such as difficulty with sleeping, mental processes, and low moods.

Music therapy was beneficial in the treatment of pain, depression, and the improvement in the quality of life of patients with fibromyalgia.¹³

Cancer

Music therapy has shown significant advantages for cancer patients in different studies, such as increasing self-confidence, relaxation, facilitating group interactions, stress relief, and generating positive feelings.¹⁴ 

Moreover, it has been noticed that music therapy contributes to reducing pain, anxiety, and depression levels in cancer patients.¹⁵

Pregnancy

It’s well known that pregnancy can be extremely stressful and tiring and that the birthing parent’s health can affect the health of their foetus(es). Therefore, a study was conducted to observe the effects of music therapy on pregnant people. The results showed a clear decrease in stress, anxiety, and depression levels after only two weeks of music therapy.¹⁶

Various physical illnesses and disorders

Music therapy can aid in different disorders, for example:

• In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), studies showed that music-based interventions helped relieve symptoms such as shortness of breath, anxiety, and sleep disturbances
• In multiple sclerosis, music therapy was beneficial for balance, coordination, pain, some aspects of gait and walking, and emotional status
• Music therapy is helpful in the rehabilitation of people who have had strokes
• Music therapy is useful in treating tinnitus, which can be caused by several conditions like earwax blockage, noise-induced hearing loss, and ear or sinus infections

General mental health

Various studies support using music therapy in mental health care. Music therapy is successful in making patients participate more, express their feelings, and manage some of their symptoms.¹⁷

Summary

Music has always been and will always be our companion in different aspects of our lives. Music therapy is a remarkable treatment that has helped provide relief to many patients, all with no negative side effects. So, we can say that we’re healing our souls while being entertained by music.