What is Music Therapy

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a worldwide epidemic. Multiple domains including memory, cognitive abilities, language, behaviour, and emotions are affected, resulting in significant disability and distress both for patients and caregivers. The management of patients with Alzheimer's disease is a significant public health problem. Different strategies have been applied to prevent/delay onset of Alzheimer's disease or at least to improve quality of life and health conditions of Alzheimer's disease patients and their caregivers. Given the limited effectiveness of pharmacological therapies combined with iatrogenic effects of drug treatments, the development of nondrug care has become a necessity. This chapter focuses on music therapy as an advanced intervention strategy for this population. Music therapy has evolved from a social science model to a neuroscience model of clinical practice and research. This paradigm shift has resulted in the formation of a new theory known as neurologic music therapy (NMT).