23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

T H E P R O C E S S O F M U S I C T H E R A P Y W I T H A
B R A I N I N J U R E D P A T I E N T I N C O N J U N C T I O N
W I T H M E D I C A T I O N R E D U C T I O N
INTRODUCTION
D IANNE LANGAN
My second day as a music therapist at a three hundred
bed Centre for Aged Care was an instant lesson about
the end of the road for some ot the more unfortunate
members of our aging society. I walked through a ward
in which huddled shapes, often with contorted faces
were aiready in bed by three o'clock in the afternoon. No
patient was mobile, rarely would thev drink unaided and
thev were all hand fed by nursing staff. A coherent
conversation by a patient was rare if not impossible. The
audible environment also added to the impression that
these patients were consciously or otherwise awaiting
release from their totally dependent lives. Moans,
533
snuffles and weak cries were the backdrop to the busy
sounds of carers going about their daily tasks. As I was
leaving the ward and trying to consider the prospect of
takinq music therapy sessions here I heard the sounds
of this patient:
TAPE EXAMPLE 1: (A series of very primitive and
distressed screams.)
Upon locating the source of these frighteninq sounds I
was astonished to find a patient, a middle aged woman
laying on a bed - a feedina tube into her stomach ana
full length splints on her legs. Her eves were those of a
trapped animal as they returned my gaze. It is not a
surprise then that this patient became one of my
regulars for therapy.