heart and harmony vet clinic columbus ohio

We have music that is constantly changing the way we feel. We have music on our playlist that we love. When we're in a crowded, noisy environment or we're in a physician's waiting room, wherever we might be, we can use music to change our mood. The importance of that is not that perhaps music can relieve pain.īut if a person sees that they can manage the pain, that the pain they thought was constant can actually change while they're engaged with music, then they know that they can somehow take control of this pain.Įveryone can probably find a piece of music that they love being able to listen to that piece of music. He said that the throbbing nature of his pain improved, and it became less noticeable. Well, the way that they experienced pain for one person. Individuals who had chronic pain, they didn't necessarily have their pain go away.īut several reflected on how that process, where they were listening to very meaningful music changed. There's a lot of research out there that speaks to the many physiological changes that happen during a music therapy session: decreased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, their perception of pain. Who would have thought? Some of the women participating in our study said, I never thought chemotherapy would be fun, but, you know, in these sessions they were providing a really beautiful atmosphere for processing what they were going through. You seem to have enjoyed our music therapy sessions.Īnd she just started singing. And then I said, perhaps you'd like to write a song about our experience. I don't really think of anything I'd like to say right now.Īnd I said, Well, how about writing a song to someone? Is there someone in your life that you like to write a song for? She said, No, I don't really think so. And I said, Well, perhaps there's something important you want to say to someone, someone that you love, someone who's cared for you. And I remember one woman saying, well, there's just no way I could write music. In the final session, we did some of that and also provided an opportunity for each woman to write a song. But when you close their eyes, it often transports you to a rain forest or a waterfall or some place in nature. So I had a rain stick, something very simple to play. HANSER: And in the second session we would start with what they really appreciated from the first session and at the opportunity to improvise with me. The women had agreed to work with her on research investigating the effects of how music changes a cancer patient’s psychological and physiological responses to treatment. HANSER: And I would just improvise on some of these instruments and say, we're just going to try some music and just let me know if you like it, if you want more, if we should try something else.Īnd then I would just suggest sometimes that they just breathe with the music or suggest that they just imagine being in a beautiful, comforting place.ĬHAKRABARTI: Suzanne is a professor of music therapy at Berklee College of Music. The patients Suzanne Hanser was working with had metastatic breast cancer. I had hand chimes that create a very resonant sound in this very bright steel glass environment in the chemotherapy unit.ĬHAKRABARTI: The chemo unit is at the Center for Integrative Therapies at Boston’s Dana-Farber-Cancer Institute. SUZANNE HANSER: At the first treatment, I would bring all of the instruments I could carry. Suzanne Hanser, chair emerita and professor of music therapy at Berklee College of Music. ( Lambiase, professor of cardiology at University College London and Barts Heart Centre. Director of the Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics Laboratory (MIND Lab). Psyche Loui, associate professor of creativity and creative practice at Northeastern University. Today, On Point: Music's power to heal not only your soul, but your body, as well.

Studies show music can affect our blood pressure and our heart rate – and even help us manage pain. But music can also help us physically heal.

This is Part V of On Point's Week of Wonder. Sign up for the On Point newsletter here. (BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Heart and harmony vet clinic columbus ohio