Music Therapy for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

Studies examining song functioning in childhood are of particular importance when devising developmentally appropriate evidence-based Music Therapy (MT) interventions during recovery from brain injury. In comparison to adult studies where neural organization may be well defined, the neural organization of song in the developing brain has been under-researched. This includes functional consequences following neurological insult. This case study documents a 5 year-old female with typically developing language and verbal memory that suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. Despite extensive right hemisphere damage, her recognition and memory of previously well-learned (familiar) songs was preserved. New learning and retention of unfamiliar songs with lyrics was also observed and was not predicted based on adult models of melodic learning. Findings suggest that the song system in childhood is a neurologically significant, robust system not easily disrupted following extensive brain injury, and caution against assuming adult models of music organisation in the developing brain.

Download Full-text

Music Therapy with Adults Who Have Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke

British Journal of Music Therapy ◽

10.1177/135945759701100203 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 45-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Heather Purdie

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Neurological Impairment ◽

The United States ◽

Psychological Consequences ◽

Psychosocial Effects ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Upper Limb Movements

Following an overview of the epidemiology and clinical features of traumatic brain injury and stroke, standard rehabilitation programmes are discussed, with consideration of the therapeutic aims and outcomes of these interventions. The physical, cognitive, communicative, social and psychological consequences of neurological impairment are explained, and the role of music therapy in rehabilitation programmes is introduced. A review of the literature on music therapy and TBI and stroke from 1983–96 includes details of more recent developments and research in Europe and the United States of America. Models of intervention are discussed, such as rhythmic re-training of upper limb movements and gait; treatment of aphasia; and the treatment of the psychosocial effects of TBI and stroke. Links with theoretical frameworks such as environmental enrichment are considered. The model of intervention for TBI and stroke developed recently in Scotland is discussed in detail. The value of improvisation in enhancing self-esteem and achievable outcomes is emphasised, as well as the importance of using familiar music to enhance reminiscence and motivation in people with intact musical memories. Case studies will demonstrate how a model of intervention has emerged. Research with people with stroke, recently completed in Scotland, is summarised, and future directions for music therapy provision and research in the UK discussed.

Download Full-text

90. Music Therapy in Psychomotor Agitation After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Jorgen W. Weckel, R. Formisano, F. Penta, V. Vinicola, M. Matteis, and S. Brunelli (all from Rome, Italy

Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair ◽

10.1177/154596839901300174 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 46-46

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Severe Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Psychomotor Agitation

Download Full-text

Music Therapy Enhances Executive Functions and Prefrontal Structural Neuroplasticity after Traumatic Brain Injury: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal of Neurotrauma ◽

10.1089/neu.2019.6413 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 618-634 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sini-Tuuli Siponkoski ◽

Noelia Martínez-Molina ◽

Linda Kuusela ◽

Sari Laitinen ◽

Milla Holma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Randomized Controlled

Download Full-text

Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199639755.013.34 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Simon Gilbertson

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Nervous System ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Material Structure ◽

Treatment Methods ◽

The Individual ◽

Perception Action

Contemporary social and neuro-sciences highlight many unanswered questions about the ways that music therapy plays a part in the interprofessional rehabilitation for those affected by traumatic brain injury. This chapter begins with detailed descriptions of traumatic brain injury, its causes and the resulting consequences and interlinks these to the processes of referral, assessment, aims and objectives, treatment methods, evaluation and reporting as documented in the literature to date. In contrast to an individualized perspective of neural trauma, traumatic brain injury is considered here as “traumatic social nervous system injury.” An argument is made for the need to consider the individual brain as one part of a social and material structure of cognition, perception, action and regulation. Constituted in this way, the chapter considers how music therapy can contribute to understanding the lives of the traumatically injured and everyone and everything with which they are inseparably intertwined.

Download Full-text

Resting-State Network Plasticity Induced by Music Therapy after Traumatic Brain Injury

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2021/6682471 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Noelia Martínez-Molina ◽

Sini-Tuuli Siponkoski ◽

Linda Kuusela ◽

Sari Laitinen ◽

Milla Holma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Resting State ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Cognitive Networks ◽

Grey Matter Volume ◽

Connectivity Analysis ◽

The Right

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is characterized by a complex pattern of abnormalities in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and network dysfunction, which can potentially be ameliorated by rehabilitation. In our previous randomized controlled trial, we found that a 3-month neurological music therapy intervention enhanced executive function (EF) and increased grey matter volume in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in patients with moderate-to-severe TBI ( N = 40 ). Extending this study, we performed longitudinal rsFC analyses of resting-state fMRI data using a ROI-to-ROI approach assessing within-network and between-network rsFC in the frontoparietal (FPN), dorsal attention (DAN), default mode (DMN), and salience (SAL) networks, which all have been associated with cognitive impairment after TBI. We also performed a seed-based connectivity analysis between the right IFG and whole-brain rsFC. The results showed that neurological music therapy increased the coupling between the FPN and DAN as well as between these networks and primary sensory networks. By contrast, the DMN was less connected with sensory networks after the intervention. Similarly, there was a shift towards a less connected state within the FPN and SAL networks, which are typically hyperconnected following TBI. Improvements in EF were correlated with rsFC within the FPN and between the DMN and sensorimotor networks. Finally, in the seed-based connectivity analysis, the right IFG showed increased rsFC with the right inferior parietal and left frontoparietal (Rolandic operculum) regions. Together, these results indicate that the rehabilitative effects of neurological music therapy after TBI are underpinned by a pattern of within- and between-network connectivity changes in cognitive networks as well as increased connectivity between frontal and parietal regions associated with music processing.

Download Full-text