Music therapy for dementia: Awakening memories with Rachael Finnerty

Accredited Music Therapist, Registered Psychotherapist and PhD candidate, Rachael Finnerty, joins us again at Demystifying Medicine to discuss music therapy. Rachael founded the Ontario Music Therapy Academy to provide professional development workshops, consulting, supervision, research, webinars, and music therapy. Rachel also created and teaches two music therapy courses at McMaster University: Introduction to Music Therapy & Introduction to Music Therapy Research. This interview discusses topics including music therapy for dementia treatment, what a typical music therapy session with a patient looks like, and comparisons between music therapy and biomedical methods.

For more information on dementia, check out previous Demystifying Medicine videos below:
   • Alzheimer's Disease vs Dementia  
   • Alzheimer’s disease … What is it again?  
   • A Glimpse of Alzheimer's Disease  
   • Art therapy: A potential treatment fo...  

For more information on music therapy and Rachael Finnerty’s past interview with Demystifying Medicine, check out the following video below:
   • An introduction to music therapy  

This video was made by McMaster Demystifying Medicine students Alyssa Kostopoulos, Lara Virgillo, Esha Contractor and Ali Imran.

Copyright McMaster University 2020.

References:

Alzheimer Society Toronto. (2019). Music Project. Retrieved from https://alz.to/dementia-programs-acti...

Bender, M. P., & Cheston, R. (1997). Inhabitants of a lost kingdom: a model of the subjective experiences of dementia. Ageing and Society, 17(5), 513–532. DOI:10.1017/s0144686x97006570

Livingston, G., Sommerlad, A., Orgeta, V., Costafreda, S. G., Huntley, J., & Ames, D. (2017). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care. The Lancet, 390(10113), 2673–2734. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31363-6

Vink, A. C. (2013). Music therapy for dementia: the effect of music therapy in reducing behavioural problems in elderly people with dementia. Groningen: s.n.