Music, Dementia, and Time
“Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.”
-Stevie Wonder
For people with loved ones who have dementia the accuracy of this quote is likely not lost on you. Music can do so much for the memory, both in recalling past events and bringing a person’s awareness to the present.
In the past we’ve talked about how music can actually help a person with dementia recover their memories, however, we’ve looked at it from the outside looking in. Understanding exactly what a person is going through from their perspective can be extraordinarily helpful in refining treatments.
For sufferers of dementia, their sense of time can really be impacted which can understandably make day to day life confusing. Sometimes things get really muddled for example a person may take a nap, wake up and think its morning when it’s really evening. Though this is a simple example the confusion can cause a lot of issues. There are times a person may not realize there is something going on with their memory, suddenly being told what to do (even if it is intended to help them) can be tremendously frustrating.
While music cannot help in all aspects of the sense of time (like memories being in chronological order) It can help bring people back into the present moment so that they are able to concentrate on what is going on around them in that instant. This can be invaluable can make certain aspects of treatments or caregiving easier for care providers. Why music has this impact is likely for several reasons. Firstly, if the music is familiar to the person it may bring forth memories of the past and because of music is occurring in the present to be engaged in it the person will have to sift their attention to the present.