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Key Points. Music therapy is used as a treatment for the improvement of cognitive function in people with dementia. The intervention based on listening to music presents the greatest effect on patients with dementia followed by singing. Music therapy improved the quality of life of people with dementia.
- Music Therapy in the Treatment of Dementia: A Review Article
Many scientists believe in the advantages of music for the...
- Music Therapy in the Treatment of Dementia: A Review Article
Many scientists believe in the advantages of music for the brain. The brain is affected by music function and enhances some cognitive abilities, including the mechanism of speech, alteration, memory, and learning. Music can activate the limbic system, subcortical circuits, and emotionally related systems, inducing the sensation of well-being.
Combination of music with pharmacological methods: One study pointed out that applying non-pharmacological treatments like music intervention or therapy and pharmacological treatment could mitigate symptoms of anxiety and depression in people with mild dementia, while it is unclear that observing all the changes in individual situations was only due to the addition of music to their treatment ...
Nov 14, 2024 · The program theory outlined provides a thorough and comprehensive explanation for how music therapy can reduce distress and improve well-being for people with advanced dementia in institutional ...
- Overview
- Does listening to music help people with dementia?
- How does music therapy affect our brains?
- What type of music is best for people with dementia?
- Other promising treatments for dementia
- Takeaway
Though we don’t yet understand why, various types of music therapy have been shown to help ease the symptoms of dementia.
Dementia is an umbrella term for several conditions characterized by a loss in cognition, leading to changes in memory, language, reasoning, and even behavior. Dementia affects roughly 55 million people worldwide, according to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Although there’s no cure for dementia, there are treatment approaches that can help slow down the progression of the disease and ease some of the symptoms of the condition.
Music therapy ― which consists of interventions like listening, singing, or dancing to music ― is one of the approaches that may be helpful for easing dementia symptoms and improving their overall quality of life.
Music is a universal language, one that can nurture our emotions, lighten our moods, and even improve our overall health. In fact, many years of research suggest that music can have significant health benefits ― especially for people living with dementia.
In addition to the way listening to music lightens mood in general, music interventions directed by a trained music therapist have also been examined as a type of therapy for people with dementia.
One large systematic review from 2020 explored the effects of music therapy on dementia. In this review, the researchers evaluated 82 studies on the benefits of music therapy for cognitive function, behavioral and psychological symptoms, and quality of life in people living with dementia.
According to the review, some studies found that music therapy may help improve memory, cognition, daily functioning, and quality of life in people with dementia. But the biggest impact of music therapy was in the area of behavioral and psychological symptoms like depression, anxiety, and agitation.
But how can music actually help improve the symptoms of dementia? Although experts still aren’t entirely sure how music therapy works for dementia, research suggests that there may be a few different underlying mechanisms:
•Music can trigger emotions, something that may promote the creation of new neurons in the brain and help improve memory and mood in people with dementia.
•Music activates the brain’s reward system and releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that may help reduce age-related cognitive and motor function decline.
•Music can reduce stress and help regulate the immune system, which may reduce the rate of neurodegeneration in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
While there doesn’t seem to be one specific type of music that’s best for dementia, research suggests that there are several different types of music-based interventions that may show promise.
Some of these interventions include:
•individual, personalized music sessions
•dancing, exercising, or relaxing to music
•writing or discussing song lyrics
•singing along with songs or music
Currently, there is no known cure for dementia. However, treatments exist that can help slow down the progression of the disease, as well as manage the symptoms that the disease causes.
Some of the treatment options that exist for dementia may include:
•Medications: Dementia medications may help alleviate cognitive symptoms and slow the progression of the disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine are two medications that are commonly prescribed for dementia.
•Lifestyle changes: Although there’s no way to reverse the changes that dementia causes in the brain, lifestyle changes can potentially help slow the progression of the disease. Eating a nutritious diet, engaging in regular exercise, getting enough sleep, and limiting smoking and drinking are just a few of the changes that may reduce dementia risk and slow progression.
•Alternative treatments: Complementary treatment approaches may also be beneficial in easing dementia symptoms, especially alongside medications and lifestyle changes. Treatments like physical therapy, psychotherapy, and even alternative approaches like massage therapy, can help alleviate some of the physical and emotional symptoms that dementia causes.
If someone you love has been diagnosed with dementia, treatments can help slow the progression of the condition, alleviate some of the symptoms, and improve the overall quality of life. Talk with your doctor if you don’t feel that you or your loved one’s dementia symptoms are being fully managed.
Dementia is a progressive condition that can have a significant impact on someone’s cognitive, emotional, and physical health.
Research has shown that music therapy may be beneficial for people living with conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Nov 1, 2023 · Fourth, although we have identified the different music therapy providers in each included trial in Table 1, we did not perform a comparison between the therapy provided by professionally-qualified music therapists and any other kind of music intervention. Finally, sex and/or gender dimensions of the current study were not discussed for the research's generalizability.
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Feb 26, 2024 · Music therapy can enhance memory and language in patients with mild dementia and can reduce the psychiatric symptoms in patients with advanced dementia; also, it can ameliorate caregivers’ stress. (Gold et al., 2019) GMT (and RCS) reduced neuropsychiatric symptoms and associated caregiver distress, as well as depression.
