More specifically, music therapy combines music modalities with humanistic, psychodynamic, behavioral, and biomedical approaches to help clients attain therapeutic goals. Problems or needs are addressed both through the therapeutic relationship between the client and music therapist, as well as approached directly through the music itself. Scholars contend that the idea of using music as an adjunct to medical treatment developed in the late 18th century. Research in music therapy developed in veterans' hospitals during the second World War. Many studies were done on the physiological changes that music had on such variables as mood, blood pressure, breathing, and pulse rate.
Music therapists continue to make research a strong component of their work.
The effects of music therapy with a variety of people with broad ranges of special needs have been studied. These include individuals with traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, special education needs, physical and mental disabilities, and Alzheimer's disease. Certified music therapists work in a wide variety of settings with the emotionally disturbed, the learning disabled, the mentally handicapped, and the physically challenged. They also work with clients with psychiatric disorders, alcohol and drug problems, neurological disorders, and those who are terminally ill. Music therapy is also used with healthy individuals to assist in stress reduction, childbirth, and biofeedback.