What can music therapy do for people who have had a cerebral infarction? Can music remove anxiety and tension? A trial in Nij Smellinghe hospital should provide an answer to this.
An older woman was in a coma for a while and was slowly waking up. Music therapist Eline van der Veen was curious to what extent she would respond to music. “The nurse said: I don’t know if she will get anything. I had no idea either, but I wanted to try.”
She sang two well-known songs for the woman. After she woke up, a test showed that she had indeed heard it. “This confirmed to me that these types of patients also hear sounds from their environment. A lot happens unconsciously in the brain.”
Van der Veen is a music therapist at ZuidOostZorg in Drachten, where music therapy has been part of the care and treatment for some time. Because people often stay in the hospital for a short time, it is important to start therapy in the most vulnerable phase. That was the idea behind the pilot that the healthcare organization started in the hospital in February.
The results so far are positive. “I use music as a means to achieve care goals,” says the therapist. These goals can be both cognitive (processing information) and motor (focused on movement). “For example, for someone who has aphasia, you can use music to promote speech. We provoke words, for example by singing ‘In Holland there is a… ‘. That can help people learn to talk and express themselves again.”
Music to calm down
Music can also be used to train attention, so that patients can also maintain attention during other therapies. “Then I let them tap along to the music. First with one hand, then with two.” How patients respond says a lot about the processing of music in the brain.
Furthermore, music can be a way to calm people down. Many patients in the ICU suffer from feelings of fear and discomfort. They are often given painkillers. Music therapy appears to be a good alternative. Van der Veen: “I then listen to what they hear during the day, such as beeps and other sounds from devices. Then I let music merge with these sounds, so that it becomes a whole.” In this way, music has a calming effect.
If the results remain positive after six months, the therapy may be given a permanent place in Nij Smellinghe’s offering. Van der Veen: “If we can reach people with music therapy in the hospital, we can build on this later in the treatment. For example, if they have to recuperate after being hospitalized.”
Tags: Music therapist Eline sings patients ICU Drachten lot unconsciously brain
