What is music therapy?
Music therapy provides opportunities for development and change through a musical and interpersonal collaboration between therapist and client. The process is often resource-oriented and focused on current goals within health promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and care. Music, for example, can create new opportunities for communication and personal expression and work with social issues. As a discipline, music therapy is understood as the study of the relationship between music and health.
Who benefits from music therapy?
Children, adolescents, adults and elderly with mental health difficulties, with developmental challenges and learning disabilities, people with age-related disorders such as dementia, Parkinson’s and stroke, people with substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical disabilities and other physical and mental illness benefit from music therapy.
Music therapists work in various fields, including arts, mental health care, hospitals, clinics, kindergartens, schools, child welfare, senior centers, nursing homes, hospice programs, prisons and private practice.
What does the music therapist do?
Music therapist is using music activities to facilitate the conditions so that each client gets the opportunity to develop their resources.
He is using music through improvisation, songwriting, lyrics, music, photos, music performance, and learning through music.
Music therapy is part of a multidisciplinary treatment and requires planning, ongoing evaluation and follow-up.
Music therapists work in various positions and with different job sizes. It will depend whether one works best with groups or individually. Many also work with training and supervision of personnel in relation to the conscious use of music. Some have extensive cooperation with other personnel in connection with cultural events at the institution.
Music therapy can:
- Provide help to express feelings
- Strengthen identity and sense of belonging
- Promote humor and creative energy
Recent research shows that music therapy given to people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like disorders provides significant positive effect on the disease as a whole and reduces the negative symptoms.
