Music Therapy
Therapeutic Hobby or Holistic Superhero?
Music Therapy is...
...the use of music in medicine to:
- Carefully intervene in the severity of medical issues where other treatments cannot prevail.
- Work in tandem with other medical treatments where the primary treatment needs a vehicle or supplemental treatment pairing.
- Create solutions to a wide multitude of medical issues (as it is not used for just one issue in the medical world) with a treatment plan specifically altered for individual patient cases.
Music Therapy Can...
- Shrink asthma episodes
- Ease and/or distract from pain in situations of light surgery, child birth, and general procedures.
- Advance social skills in autistic children
- Improve sleeping patterns and weight gain in premature babies
- Aid with substance abuse treatment in community music therapy settings
- Provide an outlet for wordless expression
- Assist in providing emotional support and encouragement
- Coaxing patients undergoing physical therapy to become more active
Music Therapy Is NOT:
- A patient listening to a playlist of their favorite songs via their personal music player
- Professional bedside musicians/band
- Lobby pianists and performers
- Background music on floors or individual rooms
- Church Choirs, High School, or any other unprofessional charity performers