Music therapy helps cancer patients

[Guest guest]

Beetoven would be wonderful for this, I'm sure.

 

http://www.redflagsweekly.com/extra.html

http://www.health-news.co.uk/showstory.asp?id=116070

 

Music therapy hits right note with cancer patients

Thursday, July 31, 2003

 

 

 

LONDON

 

By Rebecca Oppenheim

 

Patients who have undergone bone-marrow transplants report less pain and

nausea if they take part in music therapy, according to US researchers.

 

 

 

Photo Matthew Munro - Health Media Ltd

 

Music therapy helps cancer patients

 

 

The therapy may also actually speed up the time it takes for the new marrow

to start producing blood cells, say the scientists from the University of

Rochester Medical Center.

 

The team looked at 42 patients, aged between 5 and 65, who were being

treated for various types of cancer, including leukaemias, lymphomas and

solid tumours. Half the patients received music therapy after their

transplants and the rest received standard follow-up care.

 

The music patients met twice a week and could listen to music of their

choice, play instruments themselves, write songs or simply talk about music

they liked. During the sessions the patients were also encouraged to

visualise a peaceful or joyful setting.

 

The study revealed that patients who took part in the music therapy sessions

reported significantly less pain and nausea. Before the sessions, they rated

their pain and nausea as “severe”, but after the sessions only “moderate”.

 

In addition, the new bone marrow was slower to take hold in patients who did

not have music sessions – an average of 15.5 days compared to 13.5 days. The

speed with which the patients begin producing their own white blood cells is

crucial because they are vulnerable to infection.

 

Music is already used in some medical settings, such as mental health

services and hospices for terminally ill patients, to decrease patients’

perceptions of pain and depression, and boost feelings of relaxation.

 

However, it is not commonly used with bone marrow patients and initially

staff members turned the therapists away saying the patients were too ill.

 

Researcher Dr OJ Sahler said, “It’s taken a while for staff members to

recognise that music therapy can be very helpful to people when they feel

most distressed.

 

“Nurses and doctors originally thought that the patient had to be playing or

singing along, but passive listening or simply the presence of the therapist

providing music itself can be therapeutic,” she said.

 

Her colleague Dr Bryan Hunter, an associate professor of music, added, “When

a programme like this is first introduced, typically we get mixed reactions.

Some in the healthcare field are sceptical at first.

 

“But when they see the positive effects on patients, they usually change

their mind,” he said.

 

The pilot study will appear later this year in the journal Alternative

Therapies in Health and Medicine

 

© HMG Worldwide 2003

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