{"id":176,"date":"2009-02-04T23:15:06","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T04:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/?p=176"},"modified":"2016-03-08T23:16:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T04:16:57","slug":"music-therapy-and-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/music-therapy-and-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Therapy and Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music Therapy helps relieve anxiety of cancer<\/a><\/h3>\n
Music therapy and cancer are the topics of much research. \u00a0Music \u201chas Charms to sooth a savage Breast,\u201d wrote playwright William Congreve, \u201cTo soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.\u201d But can it soothe those mired in the grief, confusion and pain of cancer diagnosis and treatment?
\nMusic therapist Megan Gunnell at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center thinks so. She uses music to help heal cancer patients\u2019 spirits as well as their bodies.UM Music therapist Megan Gunnell
\nYou can listen to one of her music therapy sessions<\/span><\/a>. You\u2019ll need QuickTime music player . As an example of the importance music can have in a cancer\u2019s patient\u2019s life, University of Michigan Cancer Center invites us to consider Gisele Bigras. One day she was a college student finishing up another year of school. The next day, she was a cancer patient faced with having one of her fingers removed. Gisele, at 19, had epithelioid sarcoma in her finger. Finding out she had cancer put her in a state of shock and panic. But music brought her back.
\n\u201cMusic has always played a huge part in my life. Music therapy helped me focus on something else other than the traumatic events of the cancer diagnosis, and just forget for an hour or so, to just go into a different world for a little bit,\u201d Bigras says.
\nBigras is one of many patients at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center who participates in music therapy. The idea is to use music to help patients cope with physical symptoms, such as pain, reduce their anxiety and find an outlet for their emotions.
\n\u201cWe find that patients are trying to cope with many things. They\u2019re trying to keep it all together, and sometimes if you give them a safe environment and permission to let go, a lot can come out through that,\u201d says music therapist Megan Gunnell. Music therapy can be as straightforward as listening to recorded or live music. It could mean playing a guitar, piano or even just shaking a tambourine. It could mean writing songs or discussing the meaning behind lyrics.
\nFor Gisele Bigras, music therapy turned into an opportunity to write and record her own song. The song, \u201cBack on the Ground,\u201d covers three stages: the happiness before cancer, the chaos of diagnosis and the realization afterward that she could move on.
\n\u201cListening to it helps me realize I\u2019m coming out of this. Everything\u2019s fine and I can move on from here,\u201d Bigras says. Research in music therapy shows that in addition to helping with emotional expression, music helps reduce anxiety and perceptions of pain. Controlled studies also found that patients having music therapy show improved immune system functioning.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to have any musical background to experience music therapy,\u201d Gunnell says. \u201cYou\u2019re able to participate because you are naturally rhythmical. You have a lot of rhythms and melody already going on in your own system.\u201d
\nGetting started
\nThere are simple ways to enjoy the calming benefits of music. Start with these suggestions:
\n\u2022 Listen to soothing music. Your heart rate can change based on the tempo of what you\u2019re listening to.
\n\u2022 Bring an iPod or mp3 player to doctors\u2019 appointments to help pass the wait time and reduce anxiety. \u2022 Listen to live music. Seek out local performances.
\n\u2022 Analyze the lyrics to a favorite song and consider what is meaningful to you at this time in your life.
\n\u2022 Find music that matches your mood. Music can support you through a multitude of emotions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music Therapy helps relieve anxiety of cancer Music therapy and cancer are the topics of much research. \u00a0Music \u201chas Charms to sooth a savage Breast,\u201d wrote playwright William Congreve, \u201cTo soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.\u201d But can it soothe those mired in the grief, confusion and pain of cancer diagnosis and treatment? Music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[114],"tags":[136],"yoast_head":"\nMusic Therapy and Cancer - Healing Music Enterprises Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/music-therapy-and-cancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music Therapy and Cancer - Healing Music Enterprises Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Music Therapy helps relieve anxiety of cancer Music therapy and cancer are the topics of much research. \u00a0Music \u201chas Charms to sooth a savage Breast,\u201d wrote playwright William Congreve, \u201cTo soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.\u201d But can it soothe those mired in the grief, confusion and pain of cancer diagnosis and treatment? 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