music therapy

The powerful effects of music on the mind are familiar to everyone. The feeling of happiness, relaxation and wellbeing that overcomes you when you hear a favourite song, the emotional impact of the right music at the right moment in the movie, or the smile that you can’t stop when you hear children sing are common to all, and so are the health benefits that result.

Music in some form or other has been a part of every culture for all of history, and its therapeutic effects have always been recognized, but its study and use as a structured form of therapy is relatively new. A large number of studies in hospitals and universities over the last few decades have quantified the sometimes startling impact music can have on a great variety of problems and conditions.

When played in hospitals, music has been shown to have a large impact on depression, anxiety and other negative emotions common to the experience of hospitalization, in patients as well as doctors and nurses. Blood pressure is significantly reduced, requirements for pain medication and even anesthetics during surgery are substantially cut, and the positive emotional effects have well-documented physical and physiological benefits for patients suffering almost any condition.

Music also has well-documented benefits for intellectual performance, both developmentally and later in life.

Of course, the right music, for the right patient, for the right condition must always be considered. In general, music is divided into stimulating and relaxing types, each of which is appropriate to different situations.

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