Epilepsy Treatment: Music Therapy May Help People Battling Seizures

A research presented at the recent American Psychological Association Annual Convention revealed that the brains of people with epilepsy react differently than those who do not have the condition. According to the study, this finding could lead to future possible treatments or therapy, preventing seizures from happening.

"We believe that music could potentially be used as an intervention to help people with epilepsy," said research presenter, Christine Charyton, Ph.D., an adjunct assistant professor and visiting assistant professor of neurology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

According to Family.org, epilepsy is a disorder in the brain where an individual's brain activity is not normal, causing seizures. These seizures, in some cases, may cause jerking, uncontrolled movements and loss of conciousness, while in some other cases, it also results to a "period of confusion" and muscle spasms. 

According to the APA study, about 80 percent of epilepsy cases are from temporal lobe epilepsy, in which the seizure appears to originate in the brain's temporal lobe. Charyton wanted to study music's effects on the brain because it is processed in the auditory cortex, in the same region of the brain.

The study compared the musical processing abilities of people, with or without epilepsy. Using an electroencephalogram, they collected brainwave patterns from 21 patients in the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's epilepsy monitoring unit between September 2012 and May 2014.

The researchers recorded the brainwave patterns of the patients who were subject to a testing.

Recording was done while the patients listened to 10 minutes of silence, followed by either Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D" or John Coltrane's rendition of "My Favorite Things." After that, another 10-minute silence is conducted, and another other musical piece is chosen, which is then followed with a 10-minute period of silence.

The order of music was randomized, meaning some had Mozart first while others had Coltrane first.

It was found that when the patients were listening to music, there were significantly higher levels of brainwave activity. Moreover, Charyton said that brainwave acitivity in people with epilepsy tend to synchronize more with the music, especially in the temporal lobe, when compared to people without epilepsy.

"We were surprised by the findings," said Charyton. "We hypothesized that music would be processed in the brain differently than silence. We did not know if this would be the same or different for people with epilepsy."

While music does not replace the current means of epilepsy therapy, Charyton said that research findings suggest that music might introduce novel ways of therapy, when used in partnership with traditional treatment to help prevent seizures in people with epilepsy.