Music therapy is the use of music, based on proven research and provided by trained medical professionals, to promote healing and recovery from medical conditions or procedures. Music therapists evaluate a patient’s physical, emotional, and mental well-being through observation and clinical assessment with the patient and his or her caregivers. This evaluation is then used to create a plan of care that helps patients achieve specific therapeutic goals.
In a hospital setting, these goals may include reducing pain; decreasing anxiety, stress, and depression; improving vital signs; and promoting positive mood changes that help the patient cope. Music therapy also may help improve patients’ physical mobility and motor skills, assist them in recovering verbal and language skills, and enhance memory and attentiveness. In addition, music therapy can provide emotional support for families and caregivers.
UAB’s Medical Music Therapy Program was created in 1999 as part of the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and is one of the largest programs of its kind in the southeast. Our board-certified music therapists have different backgrounds, skills, and experiences that help them evaluate and treat patients based on their specific needs and preferences. These therapists serve patients with a wide variety of diagnoses and conditions and in multiple areas within UAB, including General Acute Care, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the Palliative and Comfort Care Unit, the Center for Psychiatric Medicine, and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
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