-
Southern Medical Journal Mar 2005Music is widely used to enhance well-being, reduce stress, and distract patients from unpleasant symptoms. Although there are wide variations in individual preferences,... (Review)
Review
Music is widely used to enhance well-being, reduce stress, and distract patients from unpleasant symptoms. Although there are wide variations in individual preferences, music appears to exert direct physiologic effects through the autonomic nervous system. It also has indirect effects by modifying caregiver behavior. Music effectively reduces anxiety and improves mood for medical and surgical patients, for patients in intensive care units and patients undergoing procedures, and for children as well as adults. Music is a low-cost intervention that often reduces surgical, procedural, acute, and chronic pain. Music also improves the quality of life for patients receiving palliative care, enhancing a sense of comfort and relaxation. Providing music to caregivers may be a cost-effective and enjoyable strategy to improve empathy, compassion, and relationship-centered care while not increasing errors or interfering with technical aspects of care.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Music Therapy; Pain Management; Palliative Care; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 15813154
DOI: 10.1097/01.SMJ.0000154773.11986.39 -
The Lancet. Child & Adolescent Health Nov 2019
Review
Topics: Autistic Disorder; Child; Child Behavior; Humans; Music Therapy; Social Behavior
PubMed: 31494080
DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30265-2 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... Jan 2008Depression is a highly prevalent disorder associated with reduced social functioning, impaired quality of life, and increased mortality. Music therapy has been used in... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Depression is a highly prevalent disorder associated with reduced social functioning, impaired quality of life, and increased mortality. Music therapy has been used in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders, but its impact on those with depression is unclear.
OBJECTIVES
To examine the efficacy of music therapy with standard care compared to standard care alone among people with depression and to compare the effects of music therapy for people with depression against other psychological or pharmacological therapies.
SEARCH STRATEGY
CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References were searched on 7/11/2007, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, PsycLit, PSYindex, and other relevant sites were searched in November 2006. Reference lists of retrieved articles were hand searched, as well as specialist music and arts therapies journals.
SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomised controlled trials comparing music therapy with standard care or other interventions for depression.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data on participants, interventions and outcomes were extracted and entered onto a database independently by two review authors. The methodological quality of each study was also assessed independently by two review authors. The primary outcome was reduction in symptoms of depression, based on a continuous scale.
MAIN RESULTS
Five studies met the inclusion criteria of the review. Marked variations in the interventions offered and the populations studied meant that meta-analysis was not appropriate. Four of the five studies individually reported greater reduction in symptoms of depression among those randomised to music therapy than to those in standard care conditions. The fifth study, in which music therapy was used as an active control treatment, reported no significant change in mental state for music therapy compared with standard care. Dropout rates from music therapy conditions appeared to be low in all studies.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Findings from individual randomised trials suggest that music therapy is accepted by people with depression and is associated with improvements in mood. However, the small number and low methodological quality of studies mean that it is not possible to be confident about its effectiveness. High quality trials evaluating the effects of music therapy on depression are required.
Topics: Depression; Humans; Music Therapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
PubMed: 18254052
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004517.pub2 -
Annals of the New York Academy of... Dec 2005The understanding of music's role and function in therapy and medicine is undergoing a rapid transformation, based on neuroscientific research showing the reciprocal... (Review)
Review
The understanding of music's role and function in therapy and medicine is undergoing a rapid transformation, based on neuroscientific research showing the reciprocal relationship between studying the neurobiological foundations of music in the brain and how musical behavior through learning and experience changes brain and behavior function. Through this research the theory and clinical practice of music therapy is changing more and more from a social science model, based on cultural roles and general well-being concepts, to a neuroscience-guided model based on brain function and music perception. This paradigm shift has the potential to move music therapy from an adjunct modality to a central treatment modality in rehabilitation and therapy.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Brain; Humans; Models, Neurological; Music; Music Therapy; Neurology; Research
PubMed: 16597779
DOI: 10.1196/annals.1360.023 -
Research in Nursing & Health Jan 2020
Review
Topics: Anxiety; Depressive Disorder; Humans; Music Therapy
PubMed: 31868238
DOI: 10.1002/nur.22006 -
Health Psychology Review Mar 2022Music therapy is increasingly being used as an intervention for stress reduction in both medical and mental healthcare settings. Music therapy is characterized by... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Music therapy is increasingly being used as an intervention for stress reduction in both medical and mental healthcare settings. Music therapy is characterized by personally tailored music interventions initiated by a trained and qualified music therapist, which distinguishes music therapy from other music interventions, such as 'music medicine', which concerns mainly music listening interventions offered by healthcare professionals. To summarize the growing body of empirical research on music therapy, a multilevel meta-analysis, containing 47 studies, 76 effect sizes and 2.747 participants, was performed to assess the strength of the effects of music therapy on both physiological and psychological stress-related outcomes, and to test potential moderators of the intervention effects. Results showed that music therapy showed an overall medium-to-large effect on stress-related outcomes ( = .723, [.51-.94]). Larger effects were found for clinical controlled trials (CCT) compared to randomized controlled trials (RCT), waiting list controls instead of care as usual (CAU) or other stress-reducing interventions, and for studies conducted in Non-Western countries compared to Western countries. Implications for both music therapy and future research are discussed.
Topics: Anxiety; Humans; Music; Music Therapy; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 33176590
DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2020.1846580 -
Progress in Brain Research 2015Music listening and music making activities are powerful tools to engage multisensory and motor networks, induce changes within these networks, and foster links between... (Review)
Review
Music listening and music making activities are powerful tools to engage multisensory and motor networks, induce changes within these networks, and foster links between distant, but functionally related brain regions with continued and life-long musical practice. These multimodal effects of music together with music's ability to tap into the emotion and reward system in the brain can be used to facilitate and enhance therapeutic approaches geared toward rehabilitating and restoring neurological dysfunctions and impairments of an acquired or congenital brain disorder. In this article, we review plastic changes in functional networks and structural components of the brain in response to short- and long-term music listening and music making activities. The specific influence of music on the developing brain is emphasized and possible transfer effects on emotional and cognitive processes are discussed. Furthermore, we present data on the potential of using musical tools and activities to support and facilitate neurorehabilitation. We will focus on interventions such as melodic intonation therapy and music-supported motor rehabilitation to showcase the effects of neurologic music therapies and discuss their underlying neural mechanisms.
Topics: Brain; Humans; Music; Music Therapy; Nervous System Diseases; Neuronal Plasticity
PubMed: 25725918
DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2014.11.029 -
Progress in Brain Research 2015The notion of music as therapy is based on ancient cross-cultural beliefs that music can have a "healing" effect on mind and body. Explanations for the therapeutic...
The notion of music as therapy is based on ancient cross-cultural beliefs that music can have a "healing" effect on mind and body. Explanations for the therapeutic mechanisms in music have almost always included cultural and social science-based causalities about the uses and functions of music in society. However, it is also important to note that the view of music as "therapy" was also always strongly influenced by the view and understanding of the concepts and causes of disease. Magical/mystical concepts of illness and "rational" medicine probably lived side by side for thousands of years. Not until the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were the scientific foundations of medicine established, which allowed the foundations of music in therapy to progress from no science to soft science and most recently to actual brain science. Evidence for "early music therapy" will be discussed in four broad historical-cultural divisions: preliterate cultures; early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel; Greek Antiquity; Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque. In reviewing "early music therapy" practice, from mostly unknown periods of early history (using preliterate cultures as a window) to increasingly better documented times, including preserved notation samples of actual "healing" music, five theories and applications of early music therapy can be differentiated.
Topics: Culture; History, Ancient; Humans; Music; Music Therapy
PubMed: 25725914
DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2014.11.025 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... May 2017Music therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses musical interaction as a means of communication and expression. Within the area of serious mental disorders, the aim of... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Music therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses musical interaction as a means of communication and expression. Within the area of serious mental disorders, the aim of the therapy is to help people improve their emotional and relational competencies, and address issues they may not be able to using words alone.
OBJECTIVES
To review the effects of music therapy, or music therapy added to standard care, compared with placebo therapy, standard care or no treatment for people with serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Trials Study-Based Register (December 2010 and 15 January, 2015) and supplemented this by contacting relevant study authors, handsearching of music therapy journals and manual searches of reference lists.
SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared music therapy with standard care, placebo therapy, or no treatment.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Review authors independently selected, quality assessed and data extracted studies. We excluded data where more than 30% of participants in any group were lost to follow-up. We synthesised non-skewed continuous endpoint data from valid scales using a standardised mean difference (SMD). We employed a fixed-effect model for all analyses. If statistical heterogeneity was found, we examined treatment dosage (i.e. number of therapy sessions) and treatment approach as possible sources of heterogeneity.
MAIN RESULTS
Ten new studies have been added to this update; 18 studies with a total 1215 participants are now included. These examined effects of music therapy over the short, medium, and long-term, with treatment dosage varying from seven to 240 sessions. Overall, most information is from studies at low or unclear risk of biasA positive effect on global state was found for music therapy compared to standard care (medium term, 2 RCTs, n = 133, RR 0.38 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 0.59, low-quality evidence, number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome NNTB 2, 95% CI 2 to 4). No binary data were available for other outcomes. Medium-term continuous data identified good effects for music therapy on negative symptoms using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (3 RCTs, n = 177, SMD - 0.55 95% CI -0.87 to -0.24, low-quality evidence). General mental state endpoint scores on the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale were better for music therapy (2 RCTs, n = 159, SMD -0.97 95% CI -1.31 to -0.63, low-quality evidence), as were average endpoint scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (1 RCT, n = 70, SMD -1.25 95% CI -1.77 to -0.73, moderate-quality evidence). Medium-term average endpoint scores using the Global Assessment of Functioning showed no effect for music therapy on general functioning (2 RCTs, n = 118, SMD -0.19 CI -0.56 to 0.18, moderate-quality evidence). However, positive effects for music therapy were found for both social functioning (Social Disability Screening Schedule scores; 2 RCTs, n = 160, SMD -0.72 95% CI -1.04 to -0.40), and quality of life (General Well-Being Schedule scores: 1 RCT, n = 72, SMD 1.82 95% CI 1.27 to 2.38, moderate-quality evidence). There were no data available for adverse effects, service use, engagement with services, or cost.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Moderate- to low-quality evidence suggests that music therapy as an addition to standard care improves the global state, mental state (including negative and general symptoms), social functioning, and quality of life of people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like disorders. However, effects were inconsistent across studies and depended on the number of music therapy sessions as well as the quality of the music therapy provided. Further research should especially address the long-term effects of music therapy, dose-response relationships, as well as the relevance of outcome measures in relation to music therapy.
Topics: Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Music Therapy; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenic Psychology
PubMed: 28553702
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004025.pub4 -
Archives of Dermatological Research Nov 2023Music interventions in medicine have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, decrease pain, and improve quality of life; however, a review of clinical music... (Review)
Review
Music interventions in medicine have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, decrease pain, and improve quality of life; however, a review of clinical music interventions in dermatology is lacking. Studies have shown that playing music for patients undergoing dermatologic procedures (Mohs surgery and anesthetic injections) can decrease pain and anxiety. Patients with pruritic conditions-such as psoriasis, neurodermatitis, atopic dermatitis, contact eczema, and situations requiring hemodialysis-have exhibited decreased levels of disease burden and pain when listening to preferred music, pre-chosen music, and live music. Studies suggest that listening to certain types of music may also alter serum cytokines, affecting the allergic wheal response. Additional research is necessary to determine the full potential and practical applications for clinical music interventions in dermatology. Future research should focus on targeting skin conditions that may benefit from the psychological, inflammatory, and immune effects of music.
Topics: Humans; Music Therapy; Music; Dermatology; Quality of Life; Anxiety; Pain
PubMed: 37208459
DOI: 10.1007/s00403-023-02634-1