Healing Through Music
Music is one of the purest forms of artistic expression. The American Medical Association states that music therapy is a health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address an individual’s physical, psychological, cognitive and social needs. At the Van Elslander Cancer Center we provide music therapy that may offer these healing benefits to our patients:
- Relax and ease the mind and body to reduce anxiety and stress.
- Provide an outlet for expressing feelings and emotions.
- Reduce levels of pain through occupying the central nervous system with musical stimulus.
- Reduce nausea.
- Help to cope with depression.
- Boost self- esteem by providing opportunities for instant success experiences.
- Boost the immune system’s response to illness as shown in recent studies.
- Capitalize on music’s function as a natural sedative. Music therapy has also been shown to reduce the amount of chemical sedative necessary for a procedure or treatment.
- Assist an individual in his/her preparation for the death experience. Songwriting and familiar musical material are useful in the life review process. Musical recordings are often made both with and for the family to keep and utilize in during their grief process.
- Increase family communication and encourage greater participation from the family during the recovery process. Music also provides an opportunity for the family members to express their feelings about their loved one’s illness.
Music therapy is also used while undergoing procedures such as bone marrow aspiration and spinal taps, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in addition to individual and group sessions. Music can also be especially valuable and effective for children and is used through many aspects of their continued care as providing support through procedures and assessing psycho/social needs.
For more information or to make an appointment– please call 313-647-3005.
