Music therapy is a service that may not be familiar to many people. It’s not as common as massage therapy or speech therapy, but it’s one of my favorites. In today’s blog, I’ll describe what music therapy is and share my thoughts on why it’s so great.
What Is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is the clinical- and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Some of the goals that music therapy tries to accomplish are pain management, stress relief, and anxiety comfort. A music therapist will assess the patient’s individual needs and address them using music improvisation, receptive music listening, songwriting, lyric discussion, music performance, and even learning through music. The patient doesn’t need to have any prior music knowledge to benefit from music therapy; however, if the patient wants to play music as part of their therapy, music therapists will often encourage that! Through music therapy, patients experience more control over and relief of their pain, stress, and mental health in general.
My Thoughts on Music Therapy
Music has always been important to me. When I was a child, I learned to play the piano, saxophone, guitar, drums, and other instruments. I’ve always found peace and calm when I play and listen to music. When I learned that music therapy was available to our hospice patients at Aspire Home Health and Hospice, I almost started crying. I believe music is an integral part of our human nature and a cornerstone of our culture, so the thought of using it for these purposes seems exceptionally personable and effective—and the research behind music therapy supports this.
Music therapy is just one of the fantastic services we offer at Aspire Home Health and Hospice. To learn about the other services we offer, you can read this blog. If you have any questions about music therapy or Aspire Home Health and Hospice, please give us a call today!
