Depression is a very common mood disorder, resulting in a loss of social function,reduced quality of life and increased mortality. The article presents a review of original research trials which utilize music therapy as an intervention to treat participants with depressive symptoms. The review differentiated the impact of certain therapeutic uses of music used in the various experiments and included randomized controlled trials and longitudinal studies. 28 studies with a total number of 1,810 participants met the inclusion criteria and were selected. In 26 studies, a statistically significant reduction in depression levels was found over time in the experimental (music intervention) group compared to a control or comparison group. The review offers a large set of comparable data and could represent a valid aid for future projects that use music based interventions to improve depression symptoms.
Typology » Studies and research
Author(s): » Daniel Leubner, Thilo Hinterberger
Source: » Front Psychol