Music Therapy May Ease Distress for Dementia Patients: Study Finds
A new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry reveals that music therapy could offer a low-cost and compassionate alternative to psychotropic medications for dementia patients in NHS mental health wards. The research uses a structured music therapy tool known as MELODIC to help reduce patient distress.
Dementia patients in inpatient wards often experience high levels of confusion and emotional agitation, placing immense pressure on care staff. Current treatment methods often rely on psychotropic medications, which can come with side effects. To address this, researchers embedded a music therapist in two NHS dementia wards, delivering clinical music sessions and creating personalised music care plans for patients.
Music therapy sessions included singing, listening to music, and playing instruments, with therapists identifying musical strategies that families and staff could incorporate into daily care. The pilot study showed slight improvements in patients’ quality-of-life scores and reductions in the severity of distress symptoms and disruptiveness. While agitation scores rose slightly, there were no related adverse events or increases in incidents reported on the wards.
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