Music therapy for Alzheimer's disease

rdf:langString Music therapy for Alzheimer's disease

rdf:langString For patients with Alzheimer's disease, music therapy provides a beneficial interaction between a patient and an individualized musical regimen and has been shown to increase cognition and slow the deterioration of memory loss. Music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based intervention that involves music in some capacity and includes both a participant and a music therapist who have completed an accredited music therapy program. The forms of music therapy are broad in nature, and can range from individual or group singing sessions, to active participation in music making, to listening to songs individually. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a fatal condition that continuously deteriorates brain chemistry over time. Accounting for more than 60% of the dementia in older people, AD gradually leads to detrimental effects on cognitive function, linguistic abilities, and memory. Within populations living with Alzheimer's, music therapy is sometimes used to assist in palliating the behavioral and psychological symptoms of this disease. Music therapy is based in scientific findings and can elicit change in individuals as well as groups through music. Personalized music therapy has been shown in some cases to be able to lessen certain symptoms, including behavioral symptoms, such as physical or verbal outbursts and hallucinations, and cognitive symptoms related to dementia. This personalized treatment approach has also been utilized in music therapy which, in comparison to pharmacological treatments, is a very low-cost solution to help manage aspects of the disease throughout the progression of the disease. It is also a preferable way of additional treatment over medications for behavioral symptoms (i.e. anti-depressants), as side effects are avoided. Because of the recognized decreases in behavioral outbursts, music therapy has been recognized as a care plan that is beneficial to the patient as well as the caretaker. However, the effects of music therapy on individuals with Alzheimer's disease have proven to be short-term, lasting a maximum of three months after the discontinuation of treatment.