About This Approach
to Music Therapy

People who are seriously ill, as well as members of their families, often experience deep feelings of hopelessness. This is especially true if the person lives in an institution, such as a hospital or nursing home. This hopelessness results from a sense of isolation, and the frustration of family members as they try to break through that isolation.
 

These people commonly suffer the anxiety of feeling abandoned, losing their freedom, living in surroundings that can be inhospitable, in which they must surrender control of their lives to strangers. If they are confused or demented, or if their illness is particularly serious or even terminal, their family members may give up any hope of communicating with them or maintaining a meaningful relationship with them. This lack of communication with loved ones only increases the patient's sense of isolation and the deep fears that inevitably result.
 

Music therapy can create a link between the impaired person and family members even when verbal communication is no longer possible. Music can help mobilize the person's inner resources, building resistance to fear and depression. Music can also create shared experiences between these people and their families, maintaining communication and relationship even until the very last moment of life.
 

My intention is to promote the awareness of the power of music to accomplish these goals. I especially emphasize the hospice environment as a compassionate alternative to traditional hospital care for those who are terminally ill, and as a model for health care in general.
 

Charles (Carlos) Gourgey is a Board-certified Music Therapist and New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist with two decades of hospice experience. He has also worked in various nursing homes and published articles on psychology, disability, and religion, and is the author of the articles on this web site.