This article is a systematic review evaluating results from peer-reviewed articles from 2015-2020. It is a slightly longer blog post than others on this site, because it examines four functional areas that music therapy targets – so it’s almost 4 blog posts in one. I have attempted to paraphrase as best I can.

The article divided the effects of music therapy on people with Parkinson’s Disease into four categories:
1. Effects of music therapy on the motor sphere
2. Effects of music therapy on the social and communication sphere
3. Effects of music therapy on the emotional sphere
4. Effects of music therapy on the cognitive sphere

In the motor sphere, this article surmises that music therapy is an effective intervention to improve the function of gait and impaired movement. It found that rhythmic auditory stimulation in music therapy reduces falls and therefore contributes to the overall maintenance of long-term mobility. It also fosters self-voice movement (‘thinking of’ the music), fulfilling the valuable part of music therapy: transferring musically-driven function into everyday non-musical settings.

In the social and communication sphere, researchers examined the role of music therapy in maintaining communication skills, or recovering impaired communication. They state that music therapy fills an unmet need in patient care, by training voice, breathing, and swallowing difficulties that are left untreated by surgery or pharmacological treatments. Music therapy addresses a range of speech disorders associated with Parkinson’s Disease, including aphasia, and is effective in delaying vocal deterioration.

The emotional sphere is important because it underpins all other therapeutic successes. Parkinson’s Disease includes “a range of cognitive, psychiatric, and mood disorders” (Sotomayor, 2021). The researchers found that people with Parkinson’s may have reduced desire to participate in music, without articulating why. Could it be a result of a cognitive impairment – forgetting that they like music? In any case, the researchers did find that this meant patients experienced a positive surprise at the impact of music therapy. Music therapy improves the mood, reduces depressive syndromes, and therefore improves the quality of life of people with Parkinson’s. Music therapy reduces the client’s reliance on pharmacological anti-depressants.

The cognitive sphere is the final area of examination. They found that music therapy improves frontal lobe operations of cognitive flexibility, processing speed, attention, and working memory. However, they also identified that rhythm is king – so, clients who are able to use a mobile device to provide auditory signals are the ones who continue to benefit from music after the session.

The results are that music therapy is an effective non-pharmacological intervention that addresses the symptoms of Parkinson’s from four major angles, and should be included as a stated support for Parkinson’s patients.

Read the full article at https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/16617827/v18i0021/nfp_mtapdasrf2.xml 

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