Music therapy isn’t just about the music, or learning to play an instrument, it’s about how music is used.
“The goal is the use of music to obtain goals like socialization, communication, motor goals, rehabilitative goals, and, certainly, when we’re talking about grief and depression,” said Music Therapist Jamie George. “Using the music to find either where we are or where we’re going.”
Studies published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences suggest music can have physiological benefits.
Those benefits may have an impact on a person’s health, such as reduced stress or anxiety.
Jordan Karem uses music therapy to express the grief of losing her father to lung cancer.
“Music therapy was helpful to me because I already loved music,” said Jordan Karem, a music therapist participant. “It was something that I loved to do and then being able to go in and put it together with what I was feeling that day or the grief with my dad, I would pick songs that I related to.”
Jordan’s mother said she knew music was a good way to help her daughter communicate during such a difficult time.
