The reason music therapy is so effective is because a person associates a sound with something that has happened to them in the past. So when playing music for patients who struggle to remember thing the music taps into the unconscious part of their brain revealing emotions the person used to have when they heard a similar sound in their past. This causes the person to produce real emotions, even when their mind cannot comprehend the situation anymore. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America emphasizes how music therapy has been essential for treating patients with Alzheimer’s because they tend to have higher levels of depression and anxiety and have no working memory to help them. In a research article, a study was conducted with multiple mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patients and the use of music therapy on them. The results showed that anxiety and depression was nearly gone in the patients that used music therapy, while those who didn’t still showed high levels of depression and anxiety (Schaeffer). Alzheimer does not have a cure, but using music helps people with the disease because it decreases the cognitive symptoms people go through as a result of the memory
The reason music therapy is so effective is because a person associates a sound with something that has happened to them in the past. So when playing music for patients who struggle to remember thing the music taps into the unconscious part of their brain revealing emotions the person used to have when they heard a similar sound in their past. This causes the person to produce real emotions, even when their mind cannot comprehend the situation anymore. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America emphasizes how music therapy has been essential for treating patients with Alzheimer’s because they tend to have higher levels of depression and anxiety and have no working memory to help them. In a research article, a study was conducted with multiple mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patients and the use of music therapy on them. The results showed that anxiety and depression was nearly gone in the patients that used music therapy, while those who didn’t still showed high levels of depression and anxiety (Schaeffer). Alzheimer does not have a cure, but using music helps people with the disease because it decreases the cognitive symptoms people go through as a result of the memory