Many people wonder if music therapy really works, and if it can eliminate, reduce, or improve the symptoms of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.
It’s a good question. Consider this scenario:
It’s the end of a long day at the end of a long week. You’re mentally and physically exhausted, yet you can’t stop ruminating on the stresses and pressures of the past few days.
In an attempt to ease your mind, you pop your earbuds in and cue up a favorite playlist. The music doesn’t wash all your problems away, but after a few minutes you realize that you’re actually starting to relax. The frustrations of your workweek lose their hold on you.
This is a common occurrence. Many people use music to cope with sadness, celebrate successes, or improve their mood. In the mental health treatment world, those basic facts lead us to this question:
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to harness the power of music to help people who have serious mental illnesses?
According to several studies – there is.
Researchers learned music can play a role in improving the lives of people with a wide range of physical and mental health pathologies. This list includes – but is not limited to – anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.
How?
With music therapy.
What Is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is a general term that encompasses a variety of experiential techniques for mental health treatment.
As defined by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), an activity qualifies as music therapy if it involves “the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.”
Therapists typically conduct music therapy sessions in a group environment. They can involve both listening and performing. Performance-based music therapy can include singing, drumming, and playing various instruments.
The trained professionals who lead music therapy sessions may hold discussions with participants before and/or after they listen or perform. These discussions can help participants process their experience, understand the purpose of the session, and reap maximum benefit from their participation.
Music Therapy and Mental Health: Impact on Anxiety and Depression
In 2016, the Indian Journal of Palliative Care published a small study that investigated the ability of music to alleviate depression and anxiety among people receiving medical treatment for cancer.
This study, conducted in Iran’s Imam Khomeini Hospital of Urmia, included 60 patients in the 18-65 age range. The researchers structured their study in the following manner:
- They used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire to assess each patient’s baseline levels of anxiety and depression.
- They placed half of the patients in a control group and the other half in an intervention group.
- Over three consecutive days, the members of the intervention group listened to music for at least 20 minutes each day.
- The researchers described the music they used as “relaxing light music like the sea, rain, and water sound.”
- All patients completed an additional HADS questionnaire at the end of each day.
At the outset of the study, no statistically significant difference between the control group and the intervention group in terms of their mean HADS scores existed. At the conclusion of the study, the researchers found the following:
- The mean HADS scores of the control group remained virtually unchanged throughout the three days.
- Among the control group, the mean score fell from 14.72 in the first assessment to 14.34 in the fourth assessment. This represented a decrease of 2.58%.
- The intervention group showed what the researchers described as a “significant reduction” in both anxiety and depression as scored by the HADS assessment.
- By the fourth HADS assessment, the mean score of the intervention group fell from 14.46 to 8.63, which represented a 40.3% decrease.
The group that conducted this study noted that their results aligned with two prior studies, one from China in 2011 and one from the United States in 2006.
Music Therapy and Mental Health: Drumming Improves Anxiety and Depression
While the researchers in the previous section assessed the mental health benefits of listening to music, a 2016 PLOS One study investigated the mental health benefits of making music.
This study, conducted by a team of experts in the U.K., involved 45 subjects receiving mental health services. Researchers divide the subjects into two groups:
- An intervention group of 30 patients participated in a weekly 90-minute drumming sessions over a 10-week period.
- A control group of 15 patients did not take part in the drum circle sessions.
- All patients engaged in the same mental health services as before the study began.
The researchers used the HADS assessment, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) to assess psychological well-being.
After collecting and analyzing data for ten weeks, the U.K. researchers reported the following:
- Through the first six weeks, the anxiety scores among the drumming group fell by about 9% per week.
- During weeks 7-10, scores decreased of 20% per week.
- Anxiety scores in the control group remained consistent across the 10-weeks.
Depression scores also declined within the drumming group, with a significant change occurring after the sixth week:
- During weeks one through six, the average depression score among the drumming group fell by 24% per week.
- By week 10, researchers reported a 38% reduction per week
- Depression scores in the control group showed no significant change during the same time period.
Neither group showed significant changes in Perceived Stress Scale scores. This indicates all subjects reported exposure to a consistent level of stress throughout the 10 weeks. However, the drumming group reported significant reductions in anxiety and depression.
Three months after the study ended, researchers re-assessed the members of the drumming group. They confirmed the drummers maintained the changes reported during the study.
Music Therapy for Schizophrenia
Music’s role in mental healthcare extends beyond patients with anxiety disorders or depressive disorders. Patients with more complex disorders, such as schizophrenia, can also benefit from this approach.
The potential of music therapy to help people with schizophrenia and similar disorders was the topic of a thorough review article published in 2017.
The research team looked at 18 studies that involved a total of 1215 participants.
The studies in the review covered a broad range in terms of both timeframe and number of music therapy sessions. The minimum number of music therapy sessions in these studies was seven, and the maximum was 240.
The studies involved various forms of music therapy, including both listening to and making music, as well as discussion sessions following the music.
The team that reported the following findings:
- Studies showed significant results in the ability of music to improve:
- General mental state
- Negative symptoms
- Positive symptoms
- Depression
- Long-term, high-frequency music therapy promoted the greatest improvements in general functioning and overall quality of life.
- Short-, medium-, and long-term music therapy all had a positive effect on social functioning.
- Assessments of music therapy on cognitive functioning did not produce a conclusive result. Some studies found improvements in this area, while others did not.
The researchers emphasized the effectiveness of music therapy varies considerably depending on the type of music that is used, the training and skill of the therapist, and the amount of time devoted to music therapy. They cited a previous study that showed meaningful improvements in both general and negative functioning required 16-24 sessions.
Even with these caveats, they expressed enthusiasm for this approach.
“There is a considerable amount of evidence to support music therapy for people with schizophrenia,” the researchers wrote. “We think that music therapy should be more widely available and that there is an evidence base to underpin this.”
Learn More About Mental Health Treatment in Southern California
If someone in your life has been experiencing acute symptoms of anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or another complex mental health condition, Crownview Psychiatric Institute may be the ideal environment for them.
Our mental health treatment center in Oceanside, California, is a safe and welcoming place where patients benefit from a dynamic approach that incorporates therapy, education, case management, and wraparound support services.
For more about our programs and services, or to discuss how we can help your loved one, please visit our Contact Us page or call our center today.
Gianna Melendez
Jodie Dahl, CpHT