By Teresa Carr
Adams County Senior Council
Administrative Assistant
Happy Thanksgiving! Our agency will be closed on November 27 and 28 for the holiday.
“Music Therapy and Dementia”, by Elaine K. Howley, October 30, 2025 – Music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based practice that uses music to help enhance the quality of life for individuals living with dementia. It can also help people with dementia accomplish their individual goals and objectives.
“Those goals and objectives usually center around the individual’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive, communication, musical and spiritual needs,” explains Lakelyn Eichenberger, gerontologist and caregiver advocate for Home Instead Inc., a network of independently owned and operated senior home care agencies headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
As a specific type of expressive art therapy, music therapy can be especially helpful for people with dementia because it’s highly accessible. It requires no special skills and virtually no equipment – simply singing a song can make a difference for a loved one with dementia.
There are two main types of music therapy:
· Active. Also called expressive music therapy, this involves creating music, playing an instrument, singing a song, improvising to make musical sounds, or clapping or tapping out a rhythm in time with music. This highly interactive approach actively engages the individual in making music in some way.
· Receptive. This more passive approach, also called receptive music therapy, can include listening to music – recorded or live. A therapist may engage the patient in a discussion of thoughts and feelings the music conjures.
How music therapy is administered – According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy works best when it’s delivered by a trained therapist, and this care is commonly delivered in conjunction with other interventions and treatments as part of a multidisciplinary care team.
How Music Therapy Helps Dementia – Music is a part of our lives from early on, Eichenberger explains, so even with a dementia diagnosis, older adults can and should still experience music that brings them joy. Because of how music is processed in the brain, it can be particularly helpful for people with dementia.
“In dementia, the part of the brain that stores music is often one of the last to be impacted by the disease,” she says. “Therefore, music can help activate the brain, especially the areas connected to our memory and emotions.”
While music therapy cannot reverse dementia or stop it in its tracks, it can provide a host of benefits that make for a better quality of life for people living with dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, key benefits of music therapy for dementia include:
· Improved mood
· Reduced agitation and fewer behavioral issues
· Enhanced memory recall
· Better communication and social interaction
· Reduced anxiety and depression
· Decreased reliance on medication in some cases
· Enhanced quality of life
Read the full article here: https://health.usnews.com/senior-care/articles/music-therapy-and-dementia
Just A Thought: “Good music – there are so many memories that never ride anything but sound-waves.” ~Henry Stanley Haskins, “Memory,” Meditations in Wall Street, 1940 [a little altered – tg]
