Unlocking Memories with The Power of Music - Encore

Are you caring for a loved one with dementia? You don't have to figure this out all on your own. Welcome to Truth, Lies Alzheimer's, the show that helps you reimagine a new relationship with your loved one, a relationship a little more free of stress and anxiety. Join host Lisa Skinner and her 30-plus years of experience as she guides you on a new path to a better relationship with those you care for. Here's Lisa Skinner.

Hi, Alexis. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're so happy to have you here. I just want to share with our audience a couple things that are in your bio that I think that they would love to know about you. You are absolutely passionate about serving older adults. I can so relate to that because I share that sentiment. Yes. Especially those living with dementia. Me too. Alexis views using music to make a positive difference in the people's lives as a life calling. Drawn. She's drawn to their wisdom, to their life stories, and absolutely loves seniors. So my first question for you, Alexis, is— because we've done shows before on the miracle— I've called it the miracle of music, the power of music, uh, for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. But I've never had a board-certified music therapist on the show before. So let's start off by you letting us know what exactly is a board-certified music therapist and a little bit about the company you started, Bridgetown Music Therapy, and what exactly do you do?

All great questions, and thank you so much for the warm welcome. It's Great to be on the show with you today, Lisa Skinner Skinner. Well, music therapy— music therapy as an organized profession has been around since about the 1950s, I would say. It started organizing in response to World War II veterans when musicians would go into hospitals and play for recovering injured soldiers, and they were seeing a positive response to these for a lot of veterans who were suffering from post-traumatic stress from shell shock or something. So it would— It would be both mental conditions and physical conditions as a result of being in the war, yes. And so these musicians were noticing positive responses, and then it just went from there. There was— some research that began and then the first music therapy programs. I don't remember the date on that, but the first music— formal music therapy program began in a university and that's bachelor's level. But at its core, music therapy is using music to help people. That's the simple definition I like to to share with people. And then to break it down a little more, it can, it can be broken into two parts. So music therapy involves the use of evidence-based music interventions that are designed to accomplish specific goals based on the needs of a group or individual. That's the first part. And then the second part is that all of that happens within a therapeutic relationship, and that person is a credentialed professional music therapist. And there's a whole process behind that, behind a person becoming credentialed as a music therapist.

So tell me, Lisa Skinner, maybe go into a little bit more detail, elaborate on what exactly do you do for patients? What's your program entail? Yes.

So my program is a little different than formal music therapy; however, I'm still using my skills as a music therapist, and I can share more about that when I talk about Bridgetown Music Therapy. But the formal process of music therapy involves Assessing what would be helpful to a group or individual and then planning specific music-based interventions that would then address those so that— so that progress can start being made towards reaching those goals. So the main thing to remember about music therapy is that it is always goal-oriented.

Okay, so you're looking for outcomes?

Yes, outcomes. So that can look like many different things because music therapists work with all ages, all different populations, everyone from babies through end-of-life care. So it really depends on the setting and the specific needs of an individual or group. But music therapists use a lot of the same types of activities, just applied differently. So singing, playing instruments, songwriting, movement to music are all examples of music-based activities that help address whatever the goal or objective is of the therapy.

Yeah, so I know firsthand the impact and the power that music therapy does have and has had on people who live with brain disease that causes dementia. And one of the reasons why it is so powerful— and if you want to elaborate on this, we'd love to hear kind of more detail about it. But we know, and there's been, you know, just study after study after study after study that supports this, that it triggers long-term memory. And as we know—

Yes.

—with Alzheimer's disease, because the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease is the loss— first is the loss of their short-term memory. Now, that does not apply to all of the brain diseases that cause dementia. It is the hallmark of Alzheimer's, but a lot of the brain diseases that cause dementia also impact the short-term memory. With Alzheimer's disease, it really is the first area of the brain to be damaged.— and that short-term memory during the course of the disease flips on and flips off, flips on and flips off, but we do retain our long-term memories pretty much for the duration of the disease. So, when the short-term memory has, so to speak, short-circuited, we have found that music triggers those long-term memories and really helps people living with dementia to stay connected to their, to their self, to their lives, because most of our life history is embedded in our long-term memory. I have seen some absolute miraculous things happen, but I don't know if you want to elaborate at all on why this phenomenon is true and does happen. And then we'd love to hear some of your personal stories of what you personally have experienced working with people living with dementia and what music has done for them.

Sure, I would love to share and elaborate more, Lisa Skinner Skinner. So there's, there's a few, a few reasons why music impacts the brain the way it does. And you can get really science-y and throw around a bunch of complicated terms. I'm not going to do that. But we do know that—

Let's have you explain it in a way that a layperson can understand, meaning me. Because I, you know, that's what we want to be able to understand so it means something to us. So in as simplistic terms as you can possibly explain it, because all of us listening are not scientists, I don't think. Yeah, so here are a few reasons.

We do know that music can activate every area of the brain, and that includes the memory centers. So that, that's one reason. Music is definitely tied to long-term memory because it's a sensory input. So similar to how the smell is a sensory input, you can be transported back to Grandma's kitchen when you smell chocolate chip cookies. It's similar with Sounds, particular song, the start of a song will trigger memories because it's tied to some event in life. It could be a wedding song. It could be a first dance. So music, because music is a sensory input, it gets embedded in our brain in a unique way, and therefore it triggers memories. Music can also help create new neural pathways. So when the brain— with dementia, when the brain is breaking down, it can help— it's like a workaround to memories because it can actually help create other neural pathways. That can access memories and things like that triggered by music. So, and then one other thing is music is tied to our identity. So when you hear your personal favorite music, it can really It can really draw a person out and be a pathway for expression and communication and all kinds of things like that. So, I hope that helps explain it a little bit. It is a little complicated how it all works and I don't even fully understand it myself, but I think that's because we're still discovering all of this and the research is still coming out, but we do know for sure that music positively impacts the brain. And I have for sure seen this in my work. One of my favorite ways that music has made a difference is helping a person find their voice again. So for example, I have 2 stories I want to share. One, I was at a care community, a long-term care community, and there was a resident who had recently suffered a stroke and she had lost her ability to speak for the most part. And the stroke had just recently happened and I was actually unaware of that because she was in a group. I wasn't working with her one-on-one, but I knelt down to her level and just began I made eye contact with her and just began singing the song "You Are My Sunshine." It's a very well-known, familiar song. Oh yeah, love that song. Yeah, such a good one. I was just kind of working my way around the room with the group of residents going one-to-one, and she began audibly singing with me, and the care staff was just in shock because they knew that she had just suffered a stroke, but I didn't. So I was just, you know, doing my job, connecting with the residents, and later I found out, but that's The miracle of music is that it can trigger speech when it seems lost from a condition such as stroke.

Well, that's a very, very similar story to the chapter in my book featuring Sam. And this man, also had not spoken for over a year, and he was transferred into a memory care unit at a care facility, and they wheeled him in in a wheelchair, and nobody— he couldn't walk, he couldn't talk, he hadn't spoken for over a year, and they were having a musical concert in the living room that day, and the pianist started playing "Auld Lang Syne," and this gentleman is a Vietnam vet, and he stood up out of his chair and started just out of nowhere belting out the words to "Auld Lang Syne," and that's the very first time anybody had heard him utter a word in over a year, and the music brought him out of it. So it's a very similar story to the one that you just told. So, yeah, it's powerful, powerful. Yeah. That's amazing.

I love that. And another example, I was working with at another care community an older gentleman who had pretty advanced Alzheimer's and he had lost a lot of his ability to speak. But he He began singing with me, like very, very audibly, and you could tell the music had touched him in a way that other things hadn't been able to reach him and really drew him out and allowed him to express himself through music. And it was just a really beautiful moment of being able to facilitate the music reaching him and making a difference, helping him to express and communicate.

Yeah, they are beautiful moments. I could not agree with you more on that. And I have even, you know, like deeper aspects of a person's life being drawn out, and this is kind of to piggyback on what you were saying earlier. Because I think it draws— music draws out more than just our audible sensory perceptions. It triggers memories of like a special occasion. So you mentioned like Christmas carols, and let's say somebody's playing music and they're Christmas carols. Well, maybe not only will they place themselves into a really fond memory of Christmas of their past, but they can then visualize, you know, the candy canes on the tree and maybe the hot apple cider, the mulled spiced cider, and, uh, you know, the plate of cookies that as a child they left for Santa with a glass of milk. So, it really stirs up so many wonderful feel-good memories. And the other thing that we know that happens with people with dementia is they may not remember what somebody just said to them 2 seconds ago or 5 minutes ago or an hour ago, but if you can create these feel-good memories through music and past experiences, those feel-good memories stay with them for a really long time and, uh, you know, for days. So we're really— by doing these things, we are bringing so much joy into the lives of these people who appear to be lost, but then you start playing music and you realize they're not lost at all. They're just kind of hiding for a little while. And, and we've both seen all these wonderful life memories from their past just come alive. What— and music is really the instrument that turns it all on for them. Wouldn't you agree with that?

Absolutely. And music can, because it's tied to memories, it can bring up positive feelings from that, but also the innate qualities of music, the rhythm, the melodies and harmonies, all the different qualities of music activate the feel-good centers of the brain. They trigger dopamine releases, and that can also be a residual effect. So long after the music ends, that person can still be feeling those positive emotions.

Absolutely. And one of the things that we recommend doing for loved ones, or if you're caring for somebody that lives with Alzheimer's disease/dementia is to create a favorite playlist for them. And because the short-term memory fails first, we recommend that you go back into their younger years and find out— this is when it's really helpful to have a life history on the person— find out what kind of music they like. Do they like jazz music because they grew up in the '20s? Or— and then play that type of music and you will stimulate so many amazing, awesome memories for, for those people. And you just will have no idea how much joy you just brought to your loved one or the person you're caring for by playing their favorite songs. So creating a playlist is a recommended activity to do for anybody you're caring for who lives with dementia or your loved one. If you go visit them, take along some of their favorite music and you can just watch them shine.

Definitely. I would absolutely recommend that as a music therapist. And the more you can dig and find out about their past and find out what those specific songs their type of music might be. It could be something really obscure or something really well-known. But you got to be a detective and do a little digging and find out what their preferred music is, and then build the playlist off of that. That's right.

I usually say we all have to put our Sherlock Holmes hats on and start doing a little bit of investigative reporting and investigative work to find out really what's going to be pleasing to them. And everybody's different. So your playlist for your loved one could be very different from somebody else's playlist, but the more you know about their past and their history and the type of music they enjoyed, then you will really bring up the, the best of the best for them. Anything else that you think would be important for us to know about the type of work you do and your experiences and the things that you've really seen in your personal experience that's brought lots of joy to the people that you've worked with?

Oh, well, there are so many over the years, and in my first few years of being a music therapist, I kept a journal, and I was just looking back over it, and I found this quote from a nurse, and this was at a memory care facility, and I just thought it was so powerful. She said about one of the residents, Music is the only thing that brings her to life. And I just love that because it's so true. It can really draw a person out when dementia causes them to kind of retreat inward and disengage with the world around them. Music can reengage them and draw them out to connect with the people around them, to be expressive. Communicative and get their body moving and all those good things.

Yeah, I've seen people living in respite care units who, once they hear music going, they'll start tapping their foot and kind of, you know, like engaging their bodies, doing a little dance, and it just, it really just was like turning a switch on. And you look at them because you're not expecting that. You're expecting them to just kind of be almost catatonic, and the music starts playing, they just come alive. It is such a wonderful thing to observe and to witness, and you can feel their joy. I can feel joy. I'm sure you can feel their joy.

Absolutely. I always like to say that music is a natural motivator, a mood shifter, and a great connector. So those are good things to remember about how music can impact a person. Oh, I agree with you 1,000%.

So, if you are all listening out there, believe Alexis and me. We have personally witnessed it.

We've experienced it.

We've seen what it does for people living with dementia, and it's all true. It's backed by scientific studies, and it's one of the best things you can do for somebody you're caring for, some— your loved one, is to provide them with music therapy and help them live their best lives in spite of dementia. So, Alexis, this has really been a very dynamic conversation, very dynamic discussion. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. We're so happy and privileged to have you come on and share your expertise and your knowledge with us.

My business is called Bridgetown Music Therapy. It can be found online. The website is BridgetownMT.com. BridgetownMT.com. MT stands for music therapy. And you can get in touch with us there and learn more about the services we provide. We are on Instagram @bridgetownmusictherapy, Facebook @bridgetownmusictherapy. We're on LinkedIn, we're on YouTube, so, um, we hope to connect with you there. Thanks again, Alexis.

This is so wonderful to have you on. Thanks everybody for being here. I look forward to bringing you another brand new episode next week. I hope you all have a great week, and we will be talking with you soon. Bye-bye. Thank you, Lisa Skinner Skinner.

Thank you for listening to Truth, Lies Alzheimer's. We hope you found something in today's episode that helps. We understand that caring for a loved one with dementia can be the challenge of a lifetime. But you don't have to do it alone. If you're ready for exclusive access to even more great content and resources, head on over to Facebook and join Lisa Skinner's Minding Dementia support group. We're a community of like-minded caregivers, and we're here to help.