Every month CARP Halton will feature a Mental Health segment. This segment will feature information to enrich your Mental Health understanding.
“Gina Kelly remembers a woman in the hospital who wasn’t making eye contact and showed little reaction to family or staff for days.
Kelly, a music therapist at Mayo Clinic, played a song familiar to the woman’s culture. To everyone’s surprise, the woman stood from her seat and started singing along and dancing. The woman even grabbed her daughter’s hands, so they could dance together.
“The music became like a bridge for this individual to find her way back,” Kelly said.
The response to a familiar song isn’t always that dramatic. But music can play an important role in health and well-being. It can spark a memory for someone with dementia. It also can help people process their emotions.
Music therapists work with all ages and stages of life, from newborn babies to people receiving end-of-life care. Trained in music theory, anatomy and counseling, they use music purposefully to support development, health and well-being.
“A common misconception is that I’m there to entertain,” says Kelly. “But participants are included in all aspects. They aren’t just observing. We want them actively involved in the process.”
Interacting with music by dancing, humming or strumming along is healing. Music therapy has shown to help:
- Improve memory recall for people with dementia.
- Ease tremors in people with Parkinson’s disease.
- Repair the language-processing part of the brain after a stroke or brain injury.
- Decrease blood pressure.
- Decrease pain symptoms.
Music also has the power to lift moods and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. And it can help people acknowledge their feelings.
“We’re so trained to avoid our emotions, and just shove them down and not recognize them,” says Destiny Boyum, a music therapist.
“But sometimes just letting them surface and exist helps people heal and grieve as they need to.”
Using music on your own
You can explore the benefits of music on your own. Try these two approaches:
- Listening to music. A sad song might help get your tears flowing. A rage anthem could help release anger.
Many people think they should listen to upbeat music when they’re feeling down, or they should choose something calming when they’re mad. But that’s not often the case. Listening to music that matches your mood can validate your feelings, so you can move forward.
“If you have somebody singing about happiness and sunshine and everything’s wonderful and grand, but you don’t feel that way, it actually backfires,” Kelly says. “It can make a person feel worse than what they initially felt.”
- Interacting with music.
Learn to play an instrument, make up a dance routine or write your own song lyrics. These activities could help ease stress and anxiety. Music gives a sense of control that might be missing in other areas.
Music in caregiving
Music is a powerful tool to share with others as well.
- Music brings back memories.
If a loved one is having difficulty with memory or is becoming depressed or is not responsive, try playing music that brings back happy memories. Play songs from the person’s teenage years, a familiar melody from church or a family favorite.
But if your loved one appears agitated or uncomfortable, try a different song. Familiar songs can bring up unpleasant memories as well.
- Repetitive rhythms are calming.
Even from infancy, people respond to calm, repetitive rhythms and gentle swaying with a lower heart rate and slower breathing. Caregivers can use this to help ease children to sleep. It also teaches children how to calm themselves.
“We encourage parents to sing to babies and to talk to them,” Boyum says. “And even if you don’t think you’re a good singer, your baby loves your voice.”
- Music brings up emotions.
As kids get older, their caregivers can use music to start conversations about feelings. Ask kids how a song makes them feel. Then pay attention to what music kids gravitate toward.
People of any age can make their own playlists to fit their moods and help them process emotions.
Find a music therapist
If you or a loved one would benefit from music therapy, check the Certification Board for Music Therapists to find music therapists in your area. Mayo Clinic offers music therapy to patients at no additional cost for patients. Health insurance typically does not cover music therapy.”
Mayo Clinic