Music Therapy for Cancer

December 16 -- It's music to their ears and health. Now, there is a growing trend of using music therapy to help cancer patients with impressive results.

Alexis Vanden Bos has breast cancer and knows the music is good for her; she can feel it. She says, "It's just like, 'Wow, I can just have fun,' and bam, bam, bam -- just really knock away at it."

Vanden Bos was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She just finished her chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Vanden Bos says, "When I'm playing the instruments, I don't feel like I'm in pain, and I'm pretty much in pain 24/7."

Anthony Back, M.D., an oncologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, says music therapy can offer relief for patients when used with standard cancer treatment. It can lessen nausea and vomiting from chemo, reduce pain, and help patients heal. A recent study shows music therapy reduced anxiety by 27 percent and moodiness by 37 percent.  "Clearly, there's a special part of the brain that responds to music and that can take that in even if you're quite impaired in other ways," he says.

Music therapists are trained to counsel patients and find them the right music. Sha'ari Garfinkel, a music therapist at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, says, "The sound that's going to be most effective is something that is pleasing to the person that they like that's meaningful for them." While some patients prefer just to listen to music, others feel a sense of control by playing.

"There may be things that I can't do anymore because of the cancer or because I'm in a lot of pain right now, but there are new things that I can do," Vanden Bos says. These new things can give her strength to fight her disease. Some studies have found music therapy can also lower heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. Researchers say you don't have to have musical talents to benefit from music therapy.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Resource Center
(206) 288-2081

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