Music Therapy for Neurologic Conditions: Understanding How It Works

This month on Seizing Life® Dr. Connie Tomaino, music therapist and co-founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, discusses how music therapy is used to treat neurologic conditions and explains what we know about the power of music to heal the brain.

We all have certain songs we turn to in times of distress or celebration; songs that comfort, elevate, or transport us from the present to another time and place. More than any other art form or stimulus, music seems to possess a power to soothe, invigorate, or enhance our mental state. But why? What is the science behind the power of music? Can it really help to improve brain function in those with neurologic conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy? Dr. Connie Tomaino has been a music therapist for more than 40 years, co-founding the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in 1995 with renowned author and neurologist Dr. Oliver Sachs. She tells us about the work that the institute does, the types of conditions that respond best to music therapy, and those conditions that can be aggravated by certain frequencies of sound. Dr. Tomaino provides a brief overview of the history of music therapy, explains the science behind it, what we have learned and what we don’t yet fully understand about the power of music to heal the brain.

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