OPEN ACCESS Jacobs Journal of Internal Medicine The Music as a Therapy Integrated to Palliative Care of Patients with Cancer Musafa Levent 1 , Ozgur Tanriverdi 2 1 Mugla Sitki Kocman University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Mugla, Turkey 2 Mugla Sitki Kocman University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Mugla, Turkey *Corresponding author: Dr. Ozgur Tanriverdi, Mugla Universitesi Eğitim ve Arastirma Hastanesi, 48000 Mugla, Turkey, Tel: +90 252 214 13 26; Fax:+90 252 212 68 04; E-mail: mugla.medicaloncology@gmail.com Received: 07-30-2015 Accepted: 07-31-2015 Published: 08-06-2015 Copyright: © 2015 Ozgur Editorial Perspective Cite this article: Tanriverdi O. The Music as a Therapy Integrated to Palliative Care of Patients with Cancer. J J Intern Medicine. 2015, 1(2): 006. Introduction It can be thought that Art is a huge area where there is no limit and sad that you can find anything you want on it. Art has the potential to enhance people’s mood, feelings, be- haviors [1,2]. There is a strong connection between art and health since the ancient times [1]. Doing some creative activ- ities can reduce stress and depression. It is like a port to get away from the emotions associated with diseases [1, 2]. For example there is evidence that music therapy can decrease the degree of anxiety [1, 3]. In addition, movement based creative expression, like theater, has a great effect on self-es- teem, problem solving, and psychologically well-being. Fur- thermore, people that wrote about their bad memories, faced with them, show excellent progress on physical health. They also had got better immune system function [1, 4]. Music therapy is a profession that can be described as us- ing music and musical activity to provide people’s physical, psychological, social and mental needs. Music therapy meth- ods are quite different from other forms of treatment [5]. Especially when we look at the old medicine, it is possible to see music therapy as using on psychological disorders, eye disorders, spasms, muscle and joint disorders, fatigue [1,5]. Music also has positive effect on blood pressure, heart rate, psychological and behavioral status [6]. Today, areas of music therapy is quite large. It is used on fight of neurol- ogy, cardiology, and psychiatry as a supplementary tool in the treatment. And of course it is a part of supportive cancer care which accompanies medical treatment [7]. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show benefits of listening music and music therapy in supportive cancer care. Cancer is a chronic disease that has many complications such as vomiting, pain, anorexia and fear of death. Cancer also effects the pa- tients’ social, economic and physical life. Music therapy is an alternative supplementary treatment for cancer patients. There are many benefits of music therapy. It can be used to reduce the pain, decrease stress level and improve mood. Therefore music therapy can be used to promote wellness, enhance communication, and facilitate personal development. Although there is evidence that music therapy is effective in reducing cancer’s adverse outcomes, extend of these interventions is un- known. If we consider music therapy as an additional therapy, it should be integrated into the psycho-oncology. We discuss the positive effects of music therapy in cancer patients to use it as a non-pharmacological treatment for promoting wellness and quality of life. Keywords: Music Therapy; Palliative Care; Cancer