MUSIC: Healthy Alternative to drugs

There are so many people who have addictions now days, because lets face it: Life can be stressful!! This can lead to drug use for many people...but Music is a healthy alternative that I wish more people would get addicted to; it would promote a safer environment for us to live.

Music therapy continues to show its effectiveness as an alternative medicine. Not only has its been shown effective as a replacement to traditional treatments, it in some cases has proven to be more effective than traditional treatments. Despite its lack of popularity, Music therapy is an alternative to traditional medication that more people should consider.

It seems like doctors now days are prescribing medications to patients for various reasons, but after researching how powerful Music Therapy can really be...I wish there were more Music Therapists that doctors could recommend their patients as an alternative to medication and regular therapy even. Honestly I think it could be more effective, if used in the right way. There is evidence to prove this theory, I think it is just a matter of time before Music Therapy becomes more recognized and used more around the world.
Music therapy has helped many people with their problems and continues to every day, from everything to pre or post-surgery anxiety to reducing behavioral disturbances.

However, some people do use music as a stress reliever but they are listening to the wrong type of music that doesn't help their well being. 

Two examples of this are autism and dementia. In a study done in Italy back in 2009, Music Therapy was used to reduce behavioral disturbances in elderly dementia patience. According to A. Raglio (2009) “MT [music therapy] treatment resulted to be more effective than standard care to reduce behavioral disorders” (900). This is an example in which music therapy is not only an alternative method but is actually more effective than the traditional method. The traditional method for treating dementia patience is through drugs. This shows how music can be more effective than traditional medication and for this reason, music therapy should be considered as a definite option and more people should be aware of this.

Also, another study I found interesting:
There was a study done at Ege University to see the effects of music therapy by lowering anxiety in patients receiving mechanical ventilatory support. According to Ersa Korhan (2011) “Repertory rate… and blood pressure were reduced significantly after completion of music therapy” (1032). This show how patients can use music therapy to lower anxiety instead of using traditional medication to do so. In this Case Patients received “60 minutes of music therapy… using media players (mp3) and headphones. Another reason that this would be effective is that music therapy eliminates the possibility of addiction to medication.

Here are some links that I would like to share regarding this topic: **Music as an alternative**

http://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/hitting-a-high-note-with-music-therapy.aspx
http://www.altmedicine.org/therapies/music-therapy
http://holisticonline.com/remedies/depression/dep_sound_therapy.htm
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/musicsoundtherapy/a/benefits_music_therapy.htm
http://musicnmoods.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/persuasive-essay.pdf