Using The Arts As An Integrative Treatment for Pain (Part 1) – Music Therapy
In this first of a series, we will highlight the benefits of music therapy as an Integrative treatment for pain. There are many ways to classify pain. The most common way is to relate pain to its source or to associate it with a diagnosis. Another way to categorize pain according to its intensity and/or duration. Typically, acute pain can be mild or severe and may last a moment, weeks, or months. It is thought to be shorter-lived (less than six –month) than chronic pain. Chronic pain, in contrast, may be considered a disease state. It is pain that outlasts the normal time of healing, if associated with a disease or injury. The therapy of chronic pain must rely on a multidisciplinary approach and should involve more than one therapeutic modality.
Music therapy is a common and growing treatment remedy for people in pain. For acute episodes during a pain crisis and for lingering pain resulting from a chronic condition, music therapy is becoming a well-known analgesic. It is an effective therapy as an in-the-moment treatment for an increasingly pain-stricken population.
Therapists use music by to promote healing and enhance quality of life for their patients. It may be used to encourage emotional expression, promote social interaction, relieve symptoms, and for other purposes.
Music has been used in medicine for thousands of years. Ancient Greek philosophers believed that music could heal both the body and the soul. Native Americans have used singing and chanting as part of their healing rituals for eras. The more formal approach to music therapy began in World War II, when U.S. Veterans Administration hospitals began to use music to help treat soldiers suffering from shell shock.
Scientific studies have shown the value of music therapy on the body, mind, and spirit of children and adults. A number of clinical trials have shown the benefit of music therapy for short-term pain, including pain from cancer. Some studies have suggested that music may help decrease the overall intensity of the patient’s experience of pain when used with pain-relieving drugs. Music therapy can also result in a decreased need for pain medicine in some patients, although studies on this topic have shown mixed results.
Other clinical trials have revealed a reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, insomnia, depression, and anxiety with music therapy. No one knows all the ways music can benefit the body, but studies have shown that music can affect brain waves, brain circulation, and stress hormones. These effects are usually seen during and shortly after the therapy.
Music therapy is an established health profession that uses music and the therapeutic relationship to address physical, psychological, cognitive and/or social functioning for patients of all ages and disabilities. This treatment is a powerful and physically noninvasive medium, unique outcomes are possible when interventions are directed to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression. These outcomes appear to be mediated through the individual’s emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal responsiveness to the music and/or the supportive music therapy relationship. Music therapists offer services in hospitals, clinics, physical rehabilitation and outpatient programs, senior centers, among others.
What Do Music Therapists Do?
Music therapy utilized in the treatment and management of pain conforms with the expectations and requirements inherent in the medical model of treatment. Music therapy programs are based on individual assessment and collection of extensive data for the development of complex patient histories and client-centered treatment plans. Patient objectives are specific and relevant to medical diagnosis, course of treatment, and discharge timeline.
Once goals and objectives are established, music therapists use music activities, both instrumental and
vocal, designed to facilitate changes that are non-musical in nature. Through a planned and systematic use of music and music strategies, the music therapist provides opportunities for:
• Anxiety and stress reduction
• Nonpharmacological management of pain and discomfort
• Positive changes in mood and emotional states
• Active and positive patient participation in treatment
Functioning as members of an interdisciplinary team, music therapists also evaluate the patients during the course of treatment, implement changes that are indicated by the patient’s response, and document benefits in medical, not musical, terms.
What can you try at home?
Breathing with familiar music: If pain is not extreme, breathing deeply to slow, flowing melodies may be effective. When pain is severe, however, music with a strong beat is advisable to guide a regular and predictable tempo for breathing. Inhaling deeply and exhaling short puffs of air accompanied by fast, rhythmic music is another helpful focusing technique.
Imagery and memories: imagining beautiful images or meaningful memories evoked by music, or identifying music’s that bring up beautiful places in the imagination, may transport a person far away from the source of pain and elicit a sense of peace. Music that is associated with wonderful times, people, and places can evoke the same pleasant sensations that were originally experienced. With closed eyes, the listener pays particular attention to changes in the senses that come about with that memory.
Actively creating music or improvising on instruments: Playing instruments offers a physical release that can be cathartic. Musical improvisation offers an expressive outlet for inner experience that often communicates better than words. The challenge of creating beautiful music hones concentration onto something positive outside of pain.
Moving to music: Finding ways to move and dance to music exercises the whole body, while also working out tension. When pain exists in on part of the body, it is likely that other areas of the body will be tight, and surrounding muscles will contract. Moving and dancing allows a freedom that competes with the rigidity of pain.
Singing: Singing is the body’s natural instrument. Singing out a song with a full complement of dynamics conveys feelings while requiring attention to the notes, lyrics and interpretation, turning one’s focus and attention away from pain.
Music therapy offers a plethora of techniques for changing the perception of pain. Music therapy may provide coping strategies for both acute and chronic pain, and in randomized controlled trials has been found to be effective.
Music therapy is a safe, benign, and potentially effective integrative treatment that is indicated for many different kinds of pain and painful circumstances.
How can you find a music therapist or get more information?
American Music Therapy Association
8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1000
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (301) 589-3300
Fax: (301) 589-5175
Web: www.musictherapy.org
Email: [email protected]
Source: ACAP – Joanne Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT_BC, Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal Music and Medicine.
