Last Friday I posted a link to an Op-Ed piece written by Dr. Oliver Sacks an esteemed neurologist who has done a lot of work about the impact of music on the brain and the useful benefits of music therapy and therapeutic music listening in the daily care of men and women living with dementia, as one example.

I wish there were a way for me to write about something as important as Music Therapy and Therapeutic Music Listening on G+ and to include photographs, links to relevant articles, as well as to helpful and informative videos, all in one post.

But there isn’t…yet…and so today I’m sharing with you a video of a documentary titled Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory, which can be seen in its entirety (for free) on YouTube. Directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett, the doc follows the work of Dan Cohen, a social worker, whose non-prof, Music and Memory champions the use of music as a daily technology in the care of Alzheimer’s.

If you do not know about this meaningful intervention, please take the time to watch. The stories and footage are compelling. Sadly, there are some 36 million people in the world who have some form of dementia.

Sadly, most of us know someone – a parent, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, next door neighbor…a colleague – whose destiny is to entertain this most unwelcome guest for many of the later years of their lives.

If you know someone who has Alzheimer’s or a related dementia, if you know that at some point in their life they were positively and profoundly impacted by a love or passion for music of a particular preference, then there is every chance that music therapy or therapeutic music listening can impact them in a positive way.

It’s worth asking the question…if you know someone with dementia. Here’s to remaining alive inside…

P.S. stuart richman reminded me in a comment below that music therapy is being used to help Veterans deal with PTSD. The first link, therefore, that I am sharing below is that of Resounding Joy, a West-Coast based music therapy program and website run by Dr. Barbara Reuer an internationally respected expert in wellness and music therapy. Resounding Joy’s additional program, Semper Sound is the branch that benefits our Veterans:

#OliverSacks #AliveInside #Alzheimers #MusicTherapy   #AmericanMusicTherapyAssociation  

Resounding Joy / Dr. Barbara Reuer:
http://resoundingjoyinc.org/programs-2/military-music-therapy/

Alive Inside:
http://www.aliveinside.us/

Music and Memory:
http://musicandmemory.org/

American Music Therapy Association:
http://www.musictherapy.org/

Institute for Music and Neurologic Function / Dr. Oliver Sacks:
http://musictherapy.imnf.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjEGi2PiPy8