Dwight Howard isn’t the only NBA player to get an impromptu Kanye West concert while being stuck in a hospital. Turns out, Lamar Odom got a private performance, too…albeit, under completely different circumstances.
While Kevin Love and the rest of the world were gearing up for Game of Thrones on Sunday, a new episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians hit the airwaves. And in that episode, Kim Kardashian discussed how big of a role Kanye played in Lamar Odom’s road to recovery – even though no images or footage of Odom being in hospital were ever meant to make it on the show.
Because Odom, who was hospitalized last year after being found unconscious at a Nevada brothel, was unable to communicate with friends and family at the time – “Lamar wasn’t able to walk,” Khloe Kardashian said, “he had no facial recognition” – Kanye used music as a way of getting through to Odom.
“There was a moment when Lamar couldn’t really express himself and he couldn’t really talk, but he could hear what we were saying to him,” Kim said. “Kanye really felt we can cure him through music, like we can get him to talk. He would go to the hospital and he would rap and sing, and I think Lamar started to get his function back and started to talk once he started to listen to a lot of music.”
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will cost $236 billion this year in the United States alone. Besides the significant monetary cost, memory loss can also take a significant toll on personal relationships. What’s more, changes in mood and personality can dramatically alter a family’s way of life. Unfortunately, medications that treat memory loss are expensive and still have a long way to go before they are truly effective. That’s why many aging services providers are adopting alternative therapies for older adults with memory loss, in addition to medication. These therapies can help people with memory loss connect with their loved ones, soothe emotional distress and reduce the need for antipsychotics.
Music & Memory, a personalized music therapy program for those with memory loss, has shown real impact on mood, social engagement and family relationships, and it has our attention here at Chicagoland Methodist Senior Services (CMSS). The program is gaining traction across the country as another tool for helping those with memory loss.
Written by Taylor Sisk / North Carolina Health News
“I never sang when I was drunk,” says Richard Miller. “I was too busy getting into trouble.”
“She’s got me singing,” he then adds, nodding toward Cindy Morris.
Morris is a music therapist who specializes in working with individuals with previous or current substance-addiction issues. Here at Hospitality House of Boone – which offers both immediate shelter and long-term housing – she’s known as the Music Lesson Lady.
According to the American Music Therapy Association, the first references to music therapy surface in the late 1700s, including an article in Columbian Magazine in 1789 titled “Music Physically Considered.”
Music therapy was practiced in Veterans Administration hospitals after World Wars I and II to treat soldiers suffering from shell shock, a condition that now falls within the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder. Music seemed to speak to many of these soldiers who otherwise were unreachable.
Written by North Carolina Health News / North Carolina Health News
“I never sang when I was drunk,” says Richard Miller. “I was too busy getting into trouble.” “She’s got me singing,” he then adds, nodding toward Cindy Morris. Morris is a music therapist who specializes in working with individuals with previous or current substance-addiction issues. Here at Hospitality House of Boone – which offers both immediate shelter and long-term housing – she’s known as the Music Lesson Lady. According to the American Music Therapy Association, the first references to music therapy surface in the late 1700s, including an article in Columbian Magazine in 1789 titled “Music Physically Considered.” Music therapy was practiced in Veterans Administration hospitals after World Wars I and II to treat soldiers suffering from shell shock, a condition that now falls within the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder. Music seemed to speak to many of these soldiers who otherwise were unreachable.
Hall of Fame 49ers quarterback Steve Young was in Sacramento Tuesday with his wife Barbara to open an incredibly special music room at Sutter Children’s Hospital. Young and his wife through their Forever Young Foundation, have been doing hospital projects for 30 years now. Tuesday, they cut the ribbon to open Sophie’s Place, a music room that will do so much more than just feed the soul.
n New Haven, says Abbe Miller, director of the Graduate Art Therapy program at Albertus Magnus College, there is a lively art scene, one in which art is sometimes identified as a way to heal. Art therapy is a profession that uses artistic techniques, Miller said. In practice, an art therapist uses both art as therapy and therapy as art. Evie Lindemann, associate professor and clinical coordinator for the Albertus program, called it a “blended program.” The graduate program at Albertus Magnus is the only accredited art therapy program in the state, and only one of 39 in the nation, Miller said. The program was established to address mental health challenges in 1997, conceptualized by professor Ragaa Mazen.
Briana Lawson, 7, of Macon, faces a long road back, after a devastating Christmas Day car accident killed her older sister and left Briana with a severe brain injury.
She spent two months at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, enduring six surgeries. There, therapists are using an unusual approach to help Lawson recover.
Inside Nebraska Medical Center, Nolan Sensintaffar, 5, drives his red Mini Coop down the hospital halls. In his passenger seat sits a plastic box full of instruments. It’s certainly not the normal hospital picture, but this young patient is on his way to therapy. More specifically, he is on his way to music therapy, to help with mental health.
This letter is overdue. I’m almost 40 years old now, but my mom introduced me to your music when I was 10. As a child, I suffered from severe vertigo and vomiting and mental health challenges. That led to depression and anxiety so bad, I’m amazed I’m alive today. I spent the majority of my young life in my bed sick and scared, waiting for the room to stop spinning and for my stomach to calm down. Most days, I would pray God would finally decide I had suffered enough and give me the heart attack I so desperately wanted.
