Music can help heal traumatic brain injury

Past and present service members and dependents suffering from traumatic brain injury can now take part in a Creative Forces music therapy program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the DoD, designed to help them recover and rehabilitate at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

According to the American Music Therapy Association website, music therapy is the clinical use of music to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a professional who has completed an approved music therapy

program.

The music therapy program is open to members who receive a referral from the 673d Medical Group TBI clinic at the JBER hospital.

Creative Forces music therapy began in April 2017 as a resource to support and provide training to community art providers, and invest in research on the impacts of art-based interventions like the music therapy program hosted at JBER.

For people with TBI, music therapy can be instrumental to rehabilitation. Music therapists use evidence-based techniques to stimulate speech, movement and cognitive emotions in patients.

“I joined the music therapy group after finding out about it from the TBI clinic,” said Army Staff Sgt. Sean Young, Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment training room noncommissioned officer. “With TBI, I started losing memory and overall comprehension, but with music therapy I’m able to play the guitar and remember riffs without thinking about it.”

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from a TBI each year; 85,000 people suffer long-term disabilities.

Music therapy is an opportunity for people suffering from TBI to express emotions, promote insight and awareness, and strengthen neuropathways to restore memory, attention, concentration and multi-tasking.

“The Creative Forces music therapy program assists with the needs of military patients and veterans who have been diagnosed with TBI, as well as their families and caregivers,” said Danielle Kalseth, 673d Medical Operations Squadron creative arts therapist. “Not only do we provide clinical services, we want to provide patients and their families access to the arts in the community.”

The music therapy program currently helps 30 patients rehabilitate from TBI, with new referrals every week based on specific patients’ needs.

Patients who receive music therapy can participate in group or individual sessions, or a combination of both.

Music therapy is known to reduce stress, anxiety and pain, Creative Forces lets military members engage in a meaningful activity with others who are going through the same issues.

“Music therapy helps with more than just my memory; it helps with my mood too,” Young said. “On days when I’m in a bad mood, playing the guitar is a great way to change

that.”

For more information on TBI and music therapy, contact the TBI clinic at 580-0014 or the Creative Forces website at arts.gov/partnerships/creative-forces.