Music and music therapy in the management of behavioral disorders in dementia

Music and music therapy are unanimously accepted as an important non-pharmacological resource for the management of Behavioural and Psychiatric Symptoms of Dementia. The results achieved derive essentially from the use both of active music-therapeutic techniques and from individualized listening activities. From the analysis of the literature emerges a need for a clear definition of the approaches undertaken, a stronger methodological rigour in research and the introduction of cognitive and physiological assessments in music and music therapy studies. There is no longer reason to doubt how multi-faceted are the benefits that can be brought about by the strength of sound and music: the number both of documented clinical experiences and of methodologically cogent works bearing witness to it is ever-increasing