Therapist Explains How Music Can Help Those With Dementia

A local music therapist says music can help people with dementia or depression in ways medication can't.

Joel Klassen is a Music Therapist with Eden Health Care Services. He plays the piano and guitar, but finds it's easier to interact face to face using his guitar.

"It's a very quick way to break the ice with someone, to strum a guitar and start singing one of their favourite songs," said Klassen. "People start sharing things with you that would have taken hours of talk therapy to accomplish."

Most people he visits have dementia, and due to dementia's effect on the brain, songs from their childhood can have a big impact.

"When you were a kid you were playing, and music is all about play," said Klassen.

He adds music is a social activity that brings people together and can connect them to their past. Klassen also says getting people to take part in the music makes all the difference in his work. Some of his instruments have been adapted so patients can use them better.

"Often people can't grab onto a tambourine properly, they may not have proper use of their hands... but they may have good movement in a leg or just in an ankle," Klassen explained.

"Music therapy is so much about participation," he added.

Klassen said music therapy came about in North America between the two World Wars.

"So after WWI, soldiers were coming back with traumatic injuries, with stress disorder, and nurses and hospital staff discovered that playing music for these individuals was very beneficial and calmed them down and helped with depression."

He adds, with technology, it's possible to see the positive effect of music.

"You can take a brain scan of someone while they're performing or listening to music, and you can see all the parts of the brain that light up," said Klassen. "When someone has a stroke or something that has damaged part of their brain... it can bypass that injured area."

As for how patients get involved in music therapy, Klassen said it depends on the facility, noting a music therapist will assess the client and create a treatment plan with goals and objectives.

"They'll keep assessing whether it's suitable for the person, because not everyone benefits to the same degree to that kind of therapy," he said.

Klassen said he often works with people who are restless during regular scheduled programs, or don't respond as well to them.

Other reasons may be to help patients who tend to isolate themselves, or struggle with depression.

"Whether they need to work on social skills, self-esteem, expression of emotions that they're struggling with that can't be addressed just with medication... I'm always encouraged when staff tell me that people respond to music therapy in ways that they don't respond to traditional entertainment."

Klassen said people can find a music therapist in their region by visiting the music therapy website.