Oliver Sacks Case

The first time Oliver Sacks encountered music in a clinical setting was in 1966 at Beth Abraham Hospital located in the Bronx in New York. Here is where he met around eighty patients who had suffered from encephalitis lethargica, a central nervous system disorder that had an outbreak epidemic from 1916 to 1927 (CITE JOURNAL). These people were considered Parkinsonian patients. Parkinsonian is typically referred to as a movement disorder, but movement is not the only aspect of human life that is compromised. People will also have issues with thought, perception, and feeling. This disorder can also have different forms, such as kinetic stutter, where people have broken movements that start and stop at random. They often struggle to initiate movement and this is caused from damage to the basal ganglia located in the brain.
While few of these patients were in a state of constant motion, most of them were left immobile and motionless. No medications were available in the 1960s to aid with the frozenness that was consuming these individuals. Sacks observed the patients and found they struggled with initiating movement, but noted that with assistance, they were able to respond. For example, some could …show more content…
Tomaino worked hard to create numerous music therapy programs for patients who suffered from aphasia, Alzheimer’s, and continued broadening the Parkinsonian program. With the help of Sacks and a few others, Tomaino worked to provide objective tests of motor, language, cognitive function, and EEGs which were taken before, during, and after music therapy sessions. An EEG test is used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain (CITE HEALTHLINE). Hoping to spread awareness, Tomaino also helped with the formation of the Institute for Music and Neurological Function at Beth Abraham Hospital. She later became the president for the American Association for Music