Create a 8 page essay paper that discusses Psychology of Music: Music therapy of depression.Download file to see previous pages... Recommendations were then made from the results. Adolescents with chr

Create a 8 page essay paper that discusses Psychology of Music: Music therapy of depression.

Recommendations were then made from the results. Adolescents with chronic medical conditions have a higher risk for depressive symptoms than their healthy peers (Siegel, Golden, Gough, Lashley, &amp. Sacker, 1990). These symptoms affect the quality of life of these adolescents (Bhatia, 2007) and negatively impact the medical condition (Bennett, 1994). This thesis addressed this problem by researching music therapy treatment options for these adolescents. This research has the potential to help this population by showing how music therapy can address the unique needs of the adolescents both in inpatient and outpatient settings. The results of this research can be recommended to both music therapists and other medical professionals as an effective approach for treating adolescents with chronic conditions and co-morbid depressive symptoms. Pharmacological treatments have been shown to increase suicidal symptoms and attempts in 4% of the child and adolescent aged population (United States Food and Drug Administration, 2009). Data also exists showing that there is no statistical difference in suicide rate among patients in studies assigned to antidepressants or placebos (Khan,Khan, Kolts, &amp. Brown, 2003). The most commonly reported form of treatment, cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), has shown some promise among this population, but it has been researched and used primarily with adult populations (Koplewicz, 2002). This treatment is also used mainly for moderate to severe forms of depression (Paxton &amp. Leventhal, 2006). Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) has been deemed equivalent to CBT, but challenges have arisen with difficulty forming the therapeutic alliance and adolescent egocentrism (Chan, 2005). Existing treatment options are limited and under-researched, thus creating the need for a treatment approach that is both effective and meets the adolescent where they are. There also arises the issue of compliance of treatment in adolescents with chronic conditions (Kyngas, Kroll, &amp. Duffy, 2000). Through music therapy, a supportive environment is created from the natural structure of the music. Music offers the adolescent a form of expression that can affect their emotions deeper than words alone (Tervo, 2001). Adolescents can use music to relieve and dispel negative emotions, as well as for identity formation (Arnett, 1995). The question then that this thesis will attempt to address is “In what ways can music therapy by used to treat adolescents who have chronic medical conditions and related depressive symptoms?” The research objective is that types of music therapy can be used as an effective treatment option to help alleviate depressive symptoms in adolescents who also have chronic medical conditions. One delimitation that was imposed on this study was limiting the age of the population being studied to adolescence, which in this study was defined as ages 12 through 21. Another delimitation was that while many adolescents suffer from depression, this study was limited to adolescents who also have a coexisting chronic medical condition. The current limitations of the study are that the results will not be generalizable to every adolescent with a chronic medical condition. Another limitation is that because no human subjects are being studied, actual results could differ from what is inferred from the research. It is expected that the findings of this thesis can be applied in the clinical setting, in both inpatient and outpatient situations.