Gift WaPo article here
"...Music can open forgotten doors to your memory," says Andrew Budson, chief of cognitive and behavioral neurology, associate chief of staff for education and director of the Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System....
"Scientists who study music's powerful effects on the brain say that growing knowledge could improve therapy for such conditions as dementia and other memory disorders, anxiety, stress and depression, learning disabilities and many physical illnesses, such as chronic pain, cancer and Parkinson's disease.
Frank Russo, professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, says he believes this ultimately will be possible...
"One of the really challenging things for caregivers is the anxiety and agitation," says Russo, whose research focuses on the intersection of neuroscience and music. "A good chunk of people will end up in those care homes, where they resort to sedatives or antipsychotics. Music has a real opportunity here."
Melissa Owens, a music therapist at Virginia Commonwealth University Health, already has seen this in her work. "I still find myself in awe of music's ability to positively change behavior, emotion and even the relationship between a caregiver and their loved one, if even only for the duration of the specific song," she says. It provides "a moment of normalcy which so much of the time seems lost..."
"Scientists who study music's powerful effects on the brain say that growing knowledge could improve therapy for such conditions as dementia and other memory disorders, anxiety, stress and depression, learning disabilities and many physical illnesses, such as chronic pain, cancer and Parkinson's disease.
Frank Russo, professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, says he believes this ultimately will be possible...
"One of the really challenging things for caregivers is the anxiety and agitation," says Russo, whose research focuses on the intersection of neuroscience and music. "A good chunk of people will end up in those care homes, where they resort to sedatives or antipsychotics. Music has a real opportunity here."
Melissa Owens, a music therapist at Virginia Commonwealth University Health, already has seen this in her work. "I still find myself in awe of music's ability to positively change behavior, emotion and even the relationship between a caregiver and their loved one, if even only for the duration of the specific song," she says. It provides "a moment of normalcy which so much of the time seems lost..."
