Music therapy used in rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury

AN INCREASE in the number of music therapists training in Ireland may mean the provision of unorthodox treatment for people with acquired brain injuries.

It is estimated that 10,000 people suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in Ireland each year - about half of which are caused by road incidents.

When there is a decrease in deaths from brain injury, there is an increase in the number of people living with it, said Dr Simon Gilbertson, a music therapy clinician specialising in treating people with brain injuries as a result of road crashes.

He recently began lecturing in music therapy in the University of Limerick (UL), which has increased its intake of students and will have up to 10 graduates each year.

The use of music therapy is increasing and has become a part of rehabilitation in many parts of the world. It is a non-verbal way of assessing patients who have no other means of communication, Mr Gilbertson said.

Music therapy can be used when people are coming out of a coma and to help improve speech ability and breathing control after a brain injury.

While recognising that using music in this way is unorthodox, Mr Gilbertson said expensive neurosurgery was irrelevant without working on the development of a patient's facilities - and music therapists could get to work on things that medical staff did not get a chance to.

There are no statistics on the number of cases of TBI treated by music therapists worldwide. However, there was a body of research to support the provision of music therapy for those affected by TBI, Mr Gilbertson said.

Headway, the Irish National Association for Acquired Brain Injury, said it was easier to get funding for services with more scientific backing. Funding and a lack of expertise in Ireland are the two main reasons it is not generally used by the organisation in treatment.

More services needed to be provided for families of people with TBI who also experienced trauma, often as the result of a split-second incident, Mr Gilbertson said. He compared such incidents to losing someone from suicide. There is a dramatic change in the relationships of a person with TBI, which is often difficult to deal with. He believes music therapy can help the patient and their families redevelop their relationships.

• Dr Simon Gilbertson will present a paper on Music Therapy for People with Traumatic Brain Injury at the Foundation Building in UL tomorrow at 2.30pm. Dr David Aldridge of the Faculty of Medicine, University Witten/Herdecke, Germany will also speak at the seminar.