Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

Music in medicine vs. Music therapy in medical conditions (Medical music therapy)
Dileo (1999) lists the following medical specialty areas in which musical
interventions are used: Neonatology, General medicine, Surgery, Intensive care,
Gynaecology, Endocrinology, Paediatrics, Radiology, Anaesthesiology, Cardiology,
Dentistry, Prevention, Physical rehabilitation, Pulmonology, Pain management,
Obstetrics, and Oncology (p. 4). She makes the following distinction between ‘Music
medicine’ and ‘Music therapy in medical conditions’: In Music medicine medical
personnel use music as an adjunct to medical treatment, providing a
nonpharmacological intervention for stress, anxiety and/or pain. Music experiences
are receptive and based on recorded and preselected music. In music therapy a
therapeutic relationship is developed between a professional music therapist, a patient
and music through many types of musical experience, e.g. improvisation, song
writing, and music imaging. Music therapy may not only be a supportive adjunct to
medical treatment, it may serve as a primary mode of intervention in equal partnership
with medical treatment. Examples of medical music therapy are reviewed in section
2.3.
The studies reviewed earlier in this section document the positive influence of
relaxation and/or music listening on several physiological and psychological variables
in hospitalized patients. Before the review of the specific literature on music therapy
and cancer the next section takes a broader view on the field of psychooncology.
2.2 Music therapy and psycho-oncology
This section gives a short overview of issues and results from the vast field of psycho-
oncological research, and music therapy’s place within the field is outlined.
2.2.1 Psycho-oncology and psychosocial interventions in oncology
Zachariae (1996, 2002) presents an overview of psychosocial cancer research, its
foundations and present state of knowledge. What follows is a summary of this
overview. According to Zachariae, the Cartesian mind-body dualism dominated the
medical sciences for centuries, leaving the mind (or soul) for the church to take care
8