A Whole New World: Music Therapy as an Intervention for Autism

Music therapist Dr. Deforia Lane once said, "Music has the power to move a person between different realities: from a broken body into a soaring spirit, from a broken heart into the connection of shared love, from death into the memory and movement of life." Since April is Autism Awareness Month, I decided to explore the positive effect of music on emotional health through the perspective of music therapy as an intervention for autistic patients who are incapable of effectively communicating and interacting with others. Finding ways to alleviate the symptoms of autism is a top priority among researchers because it is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S., affecting one in 150 children; a child is diagnosed with this disorder every twenty minutes. Evidence shows that music serves as a unique channel of communication for autistic children who lack the ability to express their emotions through words or actions, but some patients must overcome special challenges when encountering music. According to Linda Brandenburg, the director of school autism services at Kennedy Krieger, "some students are sensitive to sirens and vacuums; some are sensitive to music, to specific instruments or the frequency of the instrument." Despite its limitations, this therapy has yielded positive results and educators across the nation are making music an integral part of programs for children with autism.

Richard Ashley, associate professor of music cognition, confirmed that “musicians demonstrate greater sensitivity to the nuances of emotion in speech.” Ashley’s latest study, which was published in the latest issue of the European Journal of Neuroscience, found that those with many years of musical experience are able to perceive and distinguish emotion in sounds after hearing them for only 50 milliseconds. Study participants were asked to watch a subtitled nature film that kept them distracted as they heard a 250-millisecond fragment of a distressed baby’s cry through earphones. Measurements indicated that musicians’ brains responded more quickly and accurately to sounds than those of non-musicians. Since the acoustic elements that musicians process more efficiently are the very same ones that children with language disorders, such as autism, have problems encoding, Strait (a doctoral student in the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music and a researcher in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory who worked with Ashley) suggested musical training as a method to enhance emotion perception in the autistic population. Strait's theory is important because an improved ability to feel and understand others' emotions ultimately leads to more effective communication between an autistic individual and the outside world.

Music therapy (pictured above) is defined as “the clinical and evidence-based use of music to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program." It may include listening or creating music, playing instruments, moving to melodies, or singing. Treatment is based on the understanding that everyone has an innate responsiveness to music that transcends the physical, cognitive or emotional limitations of those who experience difficulties with affective perception/expression and communication. The therapist uses instruments or voice to "converse" with patients. This intervention enriches emotional perception by using different music genres to elicit experience of a wide range of feelings and stimulates more meaningful communication between participants and therapists because music-making involves many of the fundamental elements of social interaction, most notably self-awareness and the concept of “self in relation to another”. Increased self-awareness/self-other awareness enables participants to initiate more open social interactions in settings inside as well as outside the classroom. In a review of its effects for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, Gold, Wigram and Elefant concluded that this therapy may help clients improve their interpersonal skills. For example, improvising offers a creative means of expressing thoughts and feelings. It is non-judgmental, easily approached, and requires no previous musical training. Professionals believe that "where words fail or emotions are too hard to express, music can fill the void." Controlled research studies such as those by Edgerton and Aldridge, Gustorff and Neugebauer, confirmed that improvisation can increase the communicative behavior of children with autism.

The power of music entails emotional arousal and functions as a powerful form of communication. We value this form of art because of its ability to move us, to induce feelings and moods, and to alter our states of mind. Oliver Sacks, a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York wrote that "therapeutically, this power can be very striking in people with autism who may otherwise have little access to strong emotional states." Crucially, music therapy has the potential to alleviate autism symptoms by enhancing patients' emotive perception and subsequently widening their channel of communication with therapists, peers, and family members. It is hard to believe that a few touches on the piano or utterances from the mouth could have such a profound impact on one's well-being, but the efficacy of this intervention is supported by strong empirical evidence as well as personal accounts of its life-changing results. Simpson, mother of fifteen-year-old Janna who has a speech impairment, autism, and a seizure disorder, explains that ''latitude, longitude, looking through a microscope: Such skills are not important [... Janna] needs basic skills to live, such as brushing her teeth, taking a bath, the pragmatics of engaging with people. This is a difficult thing to teach.'' Fortunately, music therapy has served as a useful tool for many caring therapists and loving mother alike.

Petsmart: Health Benefits of Pet Ownership

When Marjorie Smith (pictured left) walked into the Idaho Humane Society in Boise several years ago, the 72-year-old was struggling with the recent loss of her son and the 9-11 tragedy. Today, Smith is a firm believer in the power of pet companionship and claims that "[Gus, her adopted dog,] has changed [her life] completely. [She is] sure he has added years to [her] life. [She has] found that adopting a pet can help a person after a death of a loved one.” Kelly Connolly, issues specialist for companion animals in the Humane Society of the United States, suggested that animals’ unconditional love and commitment to their owners is almost like free therapy. Could pet therapy be the solution to one of America's most imminent problems? As I argued in my previous post, America’s health care system simply cannot afford to provide full-time care for an increasing number of senior citizen (aging baby boomers) with age-related mental health problem. This week, I presented medical evidence for pets’ positive impact on their owners’ mental well-being to support my affirmative answer to the rhetorical question posted in the title of Alicia Spark’s blog by Psych Central blog: “Could A Dog Benefit Your Mental Health?”. Furthermore, I discussed the physical benefits of pet ownership in response to a blog entry titled "Pets Good for Mental, Physical Health" by Barb Berggoetz, a writer for the Detroit Free Press. My goal for commenting on the above posts is to familiarize individuals with the benefits of with pet companionship. Given that 3-4 million cats and dogs are euthanized by shelters each year due to lack of adopters, I urge everyone to consider the advantages of adopting a pet from a local animal shelter. My comments are posted below for convenience.

“Could A Dog Benefit Your Mental Health?”
Comment

I commend you for composing a coherent and insightful blog entry that supplicates readers to think carefully before adopting a pet. I am an avid proponent for animal adoption, but I agree with you that “animals aren’t toys, and if you can’t dedicate a significant amount of time to taking care of a pooch, you shouldn’t get one.” As an experienced dog owner, I could easily relate to your joys and miseries that accompanied the experience of raising your dog. Although I was very young when my parents brought home a puppy, I believe my parents experienced some concern (which you cleverly termed “canine postpartum depression) after seeing a big hole in the wall created by our new puppy. Thank you for your precaution to potential animal adopters. As I mentioned in my most recent blog entry, many animal shelters are struggling to cope with the 6-8 million cats and dogs that are abandoned each year. It is certainly important to encourage pet adoption by increasing awareness about the advantages of pet ownership, but adopted pets will only end up back in shelters if their adopters are not financially, psychologically, and physically prepared to care for their new companions.

In the remainder of this comment, I hope to provide your readers with a brief synopsis of mental health benefits associated with caring for companion animals. Your link to dog rescuer and trainer Silvia Jay’s blog post titled “Dog Ownership and Mental Illness” is crucial for dispelling the false belief that people with mental illness cannot be good pet owners. Jay’s story about her mentally disable friend who “belongs in the top 1% of amazingly caring and responsible dog owners” is a powerful testament to the competency of pet owners who suffer from mental illnesses such as depression. Further research into this subject brought me to the conclusion that animals make an equally significant contribution to the lives of their mentally ill caretakers. According to Dr. Aaron Katcher of the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Patricia Gosner of the University of Southern Alabama, animals offer social and emotional benefits to those with mental illnesses. In fact, the Americans With Disabilities Act provides guidelines for training service dogs to mitigate certain mental impairments such as Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), and depression. For example, service dogs use their bodies to maintain distance between masters with panic disorder and anyone who may wish to approach them. Since panic disorder patients often react strongly when another person comes too close to them in crowded areas, they cannot accomplish tasks such as shopping on their own or riding on public transportation without the help of their canine companions. Studies on the mental benefits of pet companionship can also be generalized to “normal” individuals who suffer from negative emotions such as stress or anxiety. Researchers have known for a long time that attachment to a pet could combat depression among older persons in situations of personal stress (such as death of a spouse). As another example, a news article by Barry Serafin from ABC News described the role of specially trained therapy dogs as “counselors who never [said] a word” to those who lost loved ones in the 9-11 tragedy. From examining past and present scientific documentation as well as personal testimonies, it is clear that a pet could offer many mental benefits to its loving and responsible owner.

"Pets Good for Mental, Physical Health"
Comment

Your narrative about Gwen Dubay’s experience with her dogs (pictured below) effectively captivates the reader's attention and brought up some interesting questions in my mind. Do the physical benefits associated with dog ownership exist even for owners who do not have time for a five-mile walk with their dogs everyday? In your blog entry, you wrote “studies have shown that pet owners have lower blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, less stress, fewer minor health problems, better psychological well-being, better longevity after heart attacks and less depression and loneliness.” Which ones of these benefits are directly correlated to caring for pets rather than increased motivation to walk (with pets) regularly? Since only dogs need to be walked, do you think dogs benefit their owners more than cats from a health perspective? Your examples of how different individuals have physically profitted from relationships with their pets provide readers with a clear understanding about the topic of your entry. Although you briefly mentioned findings from previous research, I believe you can increase the credibility of your entry by incorporating more detailed descriptions of the actual experiments done by researchers. In the following paragraph, I hope to share about a study suggesting that pet therapy lowers blood pressure naturally.

As you stated, several studies have shown the relationship between physical health (such as lower blood pressure) and pet ownership. One experiment randomly assigned forty-eight New York stock brokers with hypertension to one of two treatments: ACE inhibitor therapy and pet therapy with either a cat or dog. During periods of high stress, those who acquired pets had significantly lower blood pressure than participants assigned to receive ACE inhibitor therapy. Researchers attributed the positive results of pet therapy to social support offered by the cat or dog. I think this study provides convincing evidence for your blog entry because it differentiated between standard hypertension treatments and pet therapy. While the costs of both treatments may cost the same in the end (considering the price of pet care supplies and hypertension medicine), pet therapy seems to be more beneficial not only because it keeps blood pressure low during periods of high stress, but also because owning a pet has so many other physical and mental benefits. I hope this comment could help you realize the importance of critically analyzing experimental findings and using them to support your arguments. Thank you for your post and I look forward to hearing from you soon.