Music is in Your Mind

Music and Therapy

            Do you feel better when you listen to music? I’m pretty sure that most people do. Music can be therapeutic and that’s where music therapy comes from. Music therapy is a clinical therapy, but not in the “cold and clinical” sense of clinical. Rather, clinical simply means that it is a therapy offered in a professional setting by those trained in the area and that the approach is evidence-based.

            The music therapists themselves work in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools, psychiatric hospitals, private practices, outpatient centers, hospice programs, and any program serving the developmentally disabled, among many other places.

            Music therapy can help anyone but it really helps those with developmental, intellectual, or learning disabilities. Music therapy is beneficial to everyone including children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. It can help those suffering from chronic or acute pain, including mothers who are in labor. It can help those with Alzheimer’s and other conditions related to aging. It is used in hospitals along with anesthesia to aid in the alleviation of pain and is also used to boost patients’ moods and help those who are depressed. Music therapy can be used in schools for those with certain specifications on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in subject areas which normally do not involve music. It can also be used in nursing homes to maintain quality of life among the residents of the facility. It is also used to maintain or improve the residents’ moods and physical, mental, and emotional health.

            It can be used by non-disabled, healthy individuals to relieve stress and help manage it.

            Music therapists must be approved by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) before they are allowed to practice. Prior to approval, they must complete one of the “approved college music therapy curricula.” This includes an internship. Then, they must take a test which is given by the CBMT and, if they pass, they then hold the music therapist-board certified credential (MT-BC).