Professional body urges increase in provision of music therapy for dementia
David's story - 'I feel more alive and happy after each session'
Music Therapy Week 22 - 28 June - highlights
This year's Music Therapy Week is focusing on the valuable role music therapy has to play in supporting people with dementia and those who care for them. Leading research has shown that music therapy can significantly improve and support the mood, alertness and engagement of people with dementia, can reduce the use of medication, as well as helping to manage and reduce agitation, isolation, depression and anxiety, overall supporting a better quality of life (Ridder et al, 2013). Music therapy can help people at all stages in their journey with dementia to enrich life and tap into the resources that people with dementia still have.
81-year-old David Jacques was diagnosed with both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease four years ago. He has progressive short-term memory loss, experiences difficulty organizing his time and sometimes gets lost.
'David came to his first music therapy session armed with books of folk songs and opera,' recalls Pemma Spencer-Chapman, a music therapist at the Guideposts Trust Music Therapy Service in Oxfordshire. 'This was unusual,' she says, 'as most clients don't have any musical training. If I played or sang the melody, David could hold the tune. He sang the melodies increasingly from memory and marveled at his brain's ability to remember them'. The brain remembers emotional experiences more easily than facts, and the emotional nature of music helps these memories come to the fore.
But it wasn't until Pemma suggested to David to improvise with his voice while she accompanied him that a real breakthrough was made, 'to my surprise, David sang not just a melody but words as well. Words and melody have come to him hand in hand,' Pemma says. 'He is surprised, pleased and empowered and I feel his identity has been strengthened in a different way, by being at the heart of the improvisation.'
'I feel more alive and happy after each session', David.
David's wife, Penny, says music therapy is now the high spot of David's week. 'I wish that this form of therapy could be available on the NHS for everyone with dementia as it is clearly so beneficial.'
Prof. Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England – the leading representative body for independent care services in England, states, 'Music therapy is intrinsic to enriching the quality of life for those with dementia. Recent research demonstrates the significant role it has to play in supporting a better quality of life, and that is because music taps into the resources that people with dementia still have, enabling them to maintain connections with loved ones and the world around them. But, the impact is wider reaching. Carers also see the impact that music therapy can have and thus helps them to better understand the people they are caring for, providing a higher quality of care.'
Over 800,000 people live with dementia in Britain and this is expected to increase to 2 million by 2050. Currently, provision of music therapy for people with dementia is uneven across the UK and those diagnosed are often not able to access it when they need to. Pemma is one of over 800 HCPC state registered music therapists who use the unique non-verbal properties of music to support people at all stages of their lives – from helping new born babies develop healthy bonds with their parents, to offering vital, sensitive and compassionate palliative care at the end of life.
Donald Wetherick, Chair of Trustees, says, 'The British Association for Music Therapy is committed to ensuring that music therapy is available to all those who can benefit. This Music Therapy Week we are focusing on people with dementia and their families. Dementia care is a growing healthcare need – it is also an area where music therapist's skills are being shown to be effective and valued. We want to see the enormous potential for music therapy in this field being realized, for the benefit of all those affected by dementia.'
Events for Music Therapy Week are taking place throughout the week from Shetland down to Truro including a parliamentary roundtable discussion sponsored by MPs Tracey Crouch and Debbie Abrahams, taster music therapy sessions, open days, exhibitions, and live improvisational gatherings.
Highlights include:
- An open community group meeting for people with dementia, their families and carers, and improvisational session and welcoming back of puffins at Simbugh Lighthouse, Shetland, Tuesday 23 June
- Open morning at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Putney, London, Wednesday 24 June
- Roundtable parliamentary discussion, 'Music therapy and dementia: enriching life when it is needed most', Portcullis House, Victoria Embankment, Thursday 25 June
- Cornish church tower bells will peal for Music Therapy Week, Saturday 27 June
- A week of instrument making, concerts and tea parties for the children and families at Rainbows Hospice in Loughborough, All week.
Find out more about what's happening during Music Therapy Week 2015, view our MTW2015 Events Map.
To find out how you can get involved, please visit www.bamt.org and support the campaign online at Facebook and Twitter using @musictherapyuk #MTW2015 #musictherapyuk
For supplementary information please click below:
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For further information, please contact:
Grace Watts,
British Association for Music Therapy
M: 07989 355337
E: pr@bamt.org
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