Music Therapy: A New Way of Treating Disease

Many people know that if they are having a bad day, or things are not going their way, a perfect distraction is to plug in some headphones and relax by listening to music. Similarly, for musicians, playing their instrument can act as a kind of mindfulness as it turns their focus to the spatial movements associated with playing. In some ways, music therapy is an extension of this. It has been identified that listening to and creating music has some positive biological effects on the body. Therefore, in recent years more studies have explored the idea of using music to help individuals in a clinical setting, where it is used to treat those with certain conditions or disorders.

Using music to aid healing is not a new concept. If we look at the history of humans, several ancient civilisations, such as the Native Americans, would rely on chanting, singing and dancing to help their sick tribal members. Music therapy has effects due to the nature of neuroplasticity, which is the ability of networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganisation. These deviations range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping.

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Due to its link to neuroplasticity, music therapy has been used to treat a variety of conditions. One famous example is Parkinson’s disease. Some ways in which music therapists have aided the symptoms of this condition is through the following: Firstly, playing music for the patient to walk in time to. This reduces the chance of the patient freezing, a common symptom where the individual feels like they are glued to the ground and cannot move for a few moments. The leading cause of death in patients with Parkinson’s disease is aspiration pneumonia, which occurs due to an impaired respiratory and swallowing system. Group singing has been used to improve patients’ control over this system. Another condition that music has been used to treat is Alzheimer’s disease which is also a large global health problem. It has been shown that music reduces the decline of cognitive functions that are typically associated with this, such as memories.

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Human studies have been carried out to look in more detail at how our bodies respond to recorded music, in both a clinical and non-clinical setting. These studies test the impact of music through biomarkers. Generally, a biomarker is anything that can be used as an indicator of a disease state or some other physiological state of an organism. The most common biomarker investigated in these studies is the stress hormone cortisol. Half of clinical studies found this to be reduced when music was played. Patients also repeatedly showed reduced blood glucose levels. Other biomarkers that are part of the stress pathway were also analysed, suggesting that the main change that occurs when treating patients with music is modulations of the stress response.

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So, why did medical professionals and researchers turn to music therapy in the first place? It is because some pharmacological treatments were ineffective in treating certain conditions and so the next step was to look for more holistic therapies. This is demonstrated by the story of a researcher named Babar Khan who was trying to solve the problem of delirium in hospital patients. Delirium is typically characterized by agitation, inattention and hallucinations, can lead to long-term cognitive decline and is observed in 70-80% of ventilated patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Khan ran two antipsychotic drug trials, but these were both ineffective, and so he became interested in music as an alternative solution. A recent study, which he co-led in 2020 tested the impact of music on those with delirium. It was found that slow-tempo, classical music improved the condition of those with delirium, specifically reducing the number of patients’ delirium days.

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The field of music therapy is gaining popularity and interest. It is now being suggested that combining this with other activities that also stimulate the brain such as dancing, physical exercise and video games may increase the positive effect it has on those with life-changing conditions.

Where to find out more:

• The use of music in the treatment of the sick by American Indians: The Use of Music in the Treatment of the Sick by American Indians on JSTOR
• Neuroplasticity: Neuroplasticity – Wikipedia      
• Freezing as a symptom of Parkinson’s: Freezing | Parkinson’s UK
• Music therapy as a potential intervention for cognition of Alzheimer’s Disease: Music therapy is a potential intervention for cognition of Alzheimer’s Disease: a mini-review | Translational Neurodegeneration | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
• Biomarkers in medicine: Biomarker (medicine) – Wikipedia