Rense: Music Therapy Helps Cancer Patients

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Music therapy helps cancer patients

 

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

 

Music therapy hits right note with cancer patients

Thursday,

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.

 

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

 

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