What are the advantages of music therapy for dementia?
The benefits of music therapy are often very diverse. Patients can regain memories from their younger years, especially when listening to music suitable in connection with ERA. Patients with dementia with communication problems can be easier to sing along with music and later transfer these formulas to the spoken word. Other patients whose mental shortcomings have caused loss of dexterity and muscle movement can get back some motor function with music therapy.
Music has long known as a medium for helping memory of memory. In fact, many people with a perfectly healthy brain can often remember memories surrounding their favorite songs. The same often applies to patients with dementia. Patients exposed to their favorite music can begin to remember people and events associated with their past. These memories can help unlock the nerve pathways associated with newer memories and events.
Dementia can take many forms, from memory loss to loss of skills such as speech. With this form of dementia, Patients often considers it difficult to articulate their thoughts and can avoid talking to others. This unwillingness to communicate usually worsens diseases. One form of music therapy for dementia involves playing the patient's favorite music and encouragement to sing together. The therapist can sing a few words and then order the patient to repeat the phrase.
Finally, the patient is asked to sing without music. The therapist can then speak words to the song in rhythm and make the patient to do the same. The use of musical rhythms to restore speech patterns has a relatively high percentage of success. Several patients even sing together with music without encouragement, sometimes leads to an uninhibited conversation. The theory is that the patient does not focus on the difficulty of the task. Music therapy for dementia can help these patients more emotionally comfortable, giving them confidence to speak and communicate with those around them.
Increased mood is a very important advantage of music therapy for patients with dementia. These people are often depressed because of the fact that they cannot work as they used to. By using music and memory, therapists help patients remember that they once performed pleasant and sometimes complicated tasks. This can be particularly important for restoring motor skills. Patients who have been encouraged to walk or move to the rhythms of their favorite songs often recover faster than patients who have not been exposed to music. Some treated with this kind of music therapy for dementia even remember and integrate simple dance steps into their daily therapy.