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The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) works from a strategic plan that serves as a blueprint for meeting the mission of AMTA. The plan includes multiple priority topics including growth, development, and communication of a robust portfolio of research evidence on music therapy interventions and their application/translation to music therapy practice. The association endorses a definition of evidence-based music therapy practice as follows:

Evidence-based music therapy practice integrates the best available research, the music therapists’ expertise, and the needs, values, and preferences of the  individual(s) served.  (AMTA, 2010)

AMTA’s research priority involves professional education, dissemination of research, future research agenda guidance, evidence-based and evidence-informed practice, and review of workforce implications to meet the demand for services relative to a growing base of evidence for defined music therapy interventions. Important operational tools and assets of the research priority include AMTA’s Research Committee and the association’s two peer reviewed journals, the  Journal of Music Therapy  and  Music Therapy Perspectives . In short, research is a foundational element of the profession and is about: a) the use of research to increase access to quality music therapy services, b) knowing how research affects practice policy, c) an integral professional and association-wide element, d) being good consumers of music therapy research findings, and e) collaborating and informing the public and other research stakeholders regarding research in music therapy, and music-based interventions more broadly, including referrals to music and music therapy experts as part of high quality research proposals.

In This Section:

• Music Therapy Journals

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REVIEW article

The state of music therapy studies in the past 20 years: a bibliometric analysis.

• 1 School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
• 2 Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
• 3 Department of Sport Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Shangti Orthopedic Hospital, Shanghai, China

Purpose: Music therapy is increasingly being used to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. However, publications on the global trends of music therapy using bibliometric analysis are rare. The study aimed to use the CiteSpace software to provide global scientific research about music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Methods: Publications between 2000 and 2019 related to music therapy were searched from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The CiteSpace V software was used to perform co-citation analysis about authors, and visualize the collaborations between countries or regions into a network map. Linear regression was applied to analyze the overall publication trend.

Results: In this study, a total of 1,004 studies met the inclusion criteria. These works were written by 2,531 authors from 1,219 institutions. The results revealed that music therapy publications had significant growth over time because the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). The three keywords “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

Conclusions: The overall trend in music therapy is positive. The findings provide useful information for music therapy researchers to identify new directions related to collaborators, popular issues, and research frontiers. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to improve the quality of life of people.

Introduction

Music therapy is defined as the evidence-based use of music interventions to achieve the goals of clients with the help of music therapists who have completed a music therapy program ( Association, 2018 ). In the United States, music therapists must complete 1,200 h of clinical training and pass the certification exam by the Certification Board for Music Therapists ( Devlin et al., 2019 ). Music therapists use evidence-based music interventions to address the mental, physical, or emotional needs of an individual ( Gooding and Langston, 2019 ). Also, music therapy is used as a solo standard treatment, as well as co-treatment with other disciplines, to address the needs in cognition, language, social integration, and psychological health and family support of an individual ( Bronson et al., 2018 ). Additionally, music therapy has been used to improve various diseases in different research areas, such as rehabilitation, public health, clinical care, and psychology ( Devlin et al., 2019 ). With neurorehabilitation, music therapy has been applied to increase motor activities in people with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders ( Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Devlin et al., 2019 ). However, limited reviews about music therapy have utilized universal data and conducted massive retrospective studies using bibliometric techniques. Thus, this study demonstrates music therapy with a broad view and an in-depth analysis of the knowledge structure using bibliometric analysis of articles and publications.

Bibliometrics turns the major quantitative analytical tool that is used in conducting in-depth analyses of publications ( Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). There are three types of bibliometric indices: (a) the quantity index is used to determine the number of relevant publications, (b) the quality index is employed to explore the characteristics of a scientific topic in terms of citations, and (c) the structural index is used to show the relationships among publications ( Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). In this study, the three types of bibliometric indices will be applied to conduct an in-depth analysis of publications in this frontier.

While research about music therapy is extensively available worldwide, relatively limited studies use bibliometric methods to analyze the global research about this topic. The aim of this study is to use the CiteSpace software to perform a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from 2000 to 2019. CiteSpace V is visual analytic software, which is often utilized to perform bibliometric analyses ( Falagas et al., 2008 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ). It is also a tool applied to detect trends in global scientific research. In this study, the global music therapy research includes publication outputs, distribution and collaborations between authors/countries or regions/institutions, intense issues, hot articles, common keywords, productive authors, and connections among such authors in the field. This study also provides helpful information for researchers in their endeavor to identify gaps in the existing literature.

Materials and Methods

Search strategy.

The data used in this study were obtained from WoS, the most trusted international citation database in the world. This database, which is run by Thomson & Reuters Corporation ( Falagas et al., 2008 ; Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Chen C. et al., 2012 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ; Miao et al., 2017 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ), provides high-quality journals and detailed information about publications worldwide. In this study, publications were searched from the WoS Core Collection database, which included eight indices ( Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). This study searched the publications from two indices, namely, the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Sciences Citation Index. As the most updated publications about music therapy were published in the 21st century, publications from 2000 to 2019 were chosen for this study. We performed data acquisition on July 26, 2020 using the following search terms: title = (“music therapy”) and time span = 2000–2019.

Inclusion Criteria

Figure 1 presents the inclusion criteria. The title field was music therapy (TI = music therapy), and only reviews and articles were chosen as document types in the advanced search. Other document types, such as letters, editorial materials, and book reviews, were excluded. Furthermore, there were no species limitations set. This advanced search process returned 718 articles. In the end, a total of 1,004 publications were obtained and were analyzed to obtain comprehensive perspectives on the data.

Figure 1 . Flow chart of music therapy articles and reviews inclusion.

Data Extraction

Author Lin-Man Weng extracted the publications and applied the EndNote software and Microsoft Excel 2016 to conduct analysis on the downloaded publications from the WoS database. Additionally, we extracted and recorded some information of the publications, such as citation frequency, institutions, authors' countries or regions, and journals as bibliometric indicators. The H-index is utilized as a measurement of the citation frequency of the studies for academic journals or researchers ( Wang et al., 2019 ).

Analysis Methods

The objective of bibliometrics can be described as the performance of studies that contributes to advancing the knowledge domain through inferences and explanations of relevant analyses ( Castanha and Grácio, 2014 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ; Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). CiteSpace V is a bibliometric software that generates information for better visualization of data. In this study, the CiteSpace V software was used to visualize six science maps about music therapy research from 2000 to 2019: the network of author co-citation, collaboration network among countries and regions, relationship of institutions interested in the field, network map of co-citation journals, network map of co-cited references, and the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. As noted, a co-citation is produced when two publications receive a citation from the same third study ( Small, 1973 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ).

In addition, a science map typically features a set of points and lines to present collaborations among publications ( Chen, 2006 ). A point is used to represent a country or region, author, institution, journal, reference, or keyword, whereas a line represents connections among them ( Zheng and Wang, 2019 ), with stronger connections indicated by wider lines. Furthermore, the science map includes nodes, which represent the citation frequencies of certain themes. A burst node in the form of a red circle in the center indicates the number of co-occurrence or citation that increases over time. A purple node represents centrality, which indicates the significant knowledge presented by the data ( Chen, 2006 ; Chen H. et al., 2012 ; Zheng and Wang, 2019 ). The science map represents the keywords and references with citation bursts. Occurrence bursts represent the frequency of a theme ( Chen, 2006 ), whereas citation bursts represent the frequency of the reference. The citation bursts of keywords and references explore the trends and indicate whether the relevant authors have gained considerable attention in the field ( Chen, 2006 ). Through this kind of map, scholars can better understand emerging trends and grasp the hot topics by burst detection analysis ( Liang et al., 2017 ; Miao et al., 2017 ).

Publication Outputs and Time Trends

A total of 1,004 articles and reviews related to music therapy research met the criteria. The details of annual publications are presented in Figure 2 . As can be seen, there were <30 annual publications between 2000 and 2006. The number of publications increased steadily between 2007 and 2015. It was 2015, which marked the first time over 80 articles or reviews were published. The significant increase in publications between 2018 and 2019 indicated that a growing number of researchers became interested in this field. Linear regression can be used to analyze the trends in publication outputs. In this study, the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). Moreover, the P < 0.05, indicating statistical significance. Overall, the publication outputs increased from 2000 to 2019.

Figure 2 . Annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Distribution by Country or Region and Institution

The 1,004 articles and reviews collected were published in 49 countries and regions. Table 1 presents the top 10 countries or regions. Figure 3 shows an intuitive comparison of the citations on WoS, citations per study, Hirsch index (H-index), and major essential science indicator (ESI) studies of the top five countries or regions. The H-index is a kind of index that is applied in measuring the wide impact of the scientific achievements of authors. The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). Norway has the largest number of citations per study (27.18 citations). Figure 4 presents the collaboration networks among countries or regions. The collaboration network map contained 32 nodes and 38 links. The largest node can be found in the United States, which meant that the United States had the largest number of publications in the field. Meanwhile, the deepest purple circle was located in Austria, which meant that Austria is the country with the most number of collaborations with other countries or regions in this research field. A total of 1,219 institutions contributed various music therapy-related publications. Figure 5 presents the collaborations among institutions. As can be seen, the University of Melbourne is the most productive institution in terms of the number of publications (45), followed by the University of Minnesota (43), and the University of Bergen (39). The top 10 institutions featured in Table 2 contributed 28.884% of the total articles and reviews published. Among these, Aalborg University had the largest centrality (0.13). The top 10 productive institutions with details are shown in Table 2 .

Table 1 . Top 10 countries or regions of origin of study in the music therapy research field.

Figure 3 . Publications, citations on WoS (×0.01), citations per study, H-index, and ESL top study among top five countries or regions.

Figure 4 . The collaborations of countries or regions interested in the field. In this map, the node represents a country, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two countries. A larger node represents more publications in the country. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Figure 5 . The relationship of institutions interested in the field. University of Melbourne, Florida State University, University of Minnesota, Aalborg University, Temple University, University of Queensland, and University of Bergen. In this map, the node represents an institution, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two institutions. A larger node represents more publications in the institution. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Table 2 . Top 10 institutions that contributed to publications in the music therapy field.

Distribution by Journals

Table 3 presents the top 10 journals that published articles or reviews in the music therapy field. The publications are mostly published in these journal fields, such as Therapy, Medical, Psychology, Neuroscience, Health and Clinical Care. The impact factors (IF) of these journals ranged between 0.913 and 7.89 (average IF: 2.568). Four journals had an impact factor >2, of which Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews had the highest IF, 2019 = 7.89. In addition, the Journal of Music Therapy (IF: 2019 = 1.206) published 177 articles or reviews (17.629%) about music therapy in the past two decades, followed by the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (121 publications, 12.052%, IF: 2019 = 0.913), and Arts in Psychotherapy (104 publications, 10.359%, IF: 2019 = 1.322). Furthermore, the map of the co-citation journal contained 393 nodes and 759 links ( Figure 6 ). The high co-citation count identifies the journals with the greatest academic influence and key positions in the field. The Journal of Music Therapy had the maximum co-citation counts (658), followed by Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (281), and Arts in Psychotherapy (279). Therefore, according to the analysis of the publications and co-citation counts, the Journal of Music Therapy and Arts in Psychotherapy occupied key positions in this research field.

Table 3 . Top 10 journals that published articles in the music therapy field.

Figure 6 . Network map of co-citation journals engaged in music therapy from 2000 to 2019. Journal of Music Therapy, Arts in Psychotherapy, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. In this map, the node represents a journal, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two journals. A larger node represents more publications in the journal. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Distribution by Authors

A total of 2,531 authors contributed to the research outputs related to music therapy. Author Silverman MJ published most of the studies (46) in terms of number of publications, followed by Gold C (41), Magee WL (19), O'Callaghan C (15), and Raglio A (15). According to co-citation counts, Bruscia KE (171 citations) was the most co-cited author, followed by Gold C (147 citations), Wigram T (121 citations), and Bradt J (117 citations), as presented in Table 4 . In Figure 7 , these nodes highlight the co-citation networks of the authors. The large-sized node represented author Bruscia KE, indicating that this author owned the most co-citations. Furthermore, the linear regression results revealed a remarkable increase in the percentages of multiple articles of authors ( t = 13.089, P < 0.001). These also indicated that cooperation among authors had increased remarkably, which can be considered an important development in music therapy research.

Table 4 . Top five authors of publications and top five authors of co-citation counts.

Figure 7 . The network of author co-citaion. In this map, the node represents an author, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two authors. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Analysis of Keywords

The results of keywords analysis indicated research hotspots and help scholars identify future research topics. Table 5 highlights 20 keywords with the most frequencies, such as “music therapy,” “anxiety,” “intervention,” “children,” and “depression.” The keyword “autism” has the highest centrality (0.42). Figure 8 shows the top 17 keywords with the strongest citation bursts. By the end of 2019, keyword bursts were led by “hospice,” which had the strongest burst (3.5071), followed by “efficacy” (3.1161), “health” (6.2109), and “older adult” (4.476).

Table 5 . Top 20 keywords with the most frequency and centrality in music therapy study.

Figure 8 . The strongest citation bursts of the top 17 keywords. The red measures indicate frequent citation of keywords, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of keywords.

Analysis of Co-cited References

The analysis of co-cited references is a significant indicator in the bibliometric method ( Chen, 2006 ). The top five co-cited references and their main findings are listed in Table 6 . These are regarded as fundamental studies for the music therapy knowledge base. In terms of co-citation counts, “individual music therapy for depression: randomized controlled trial” was the key reference because it had the most co-citation counts. This study concludes that music therapy mixed with standard care is an effective way to treat working-age people with depression. The authors also explained that music therapy is a valuable enhancement to established treatment practices ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Meanwhile, the strongest citation burst of reference is regarded as the main knowledge of the trend ( Fitzpatrick, 2005 ). Figure 9 highlights the top 71 strongest citation bursts of references from 2000 to 2019. As can be seen, by the end of 2019, the reference burst was led by author Stige B, and the strongest burst was 4.3462.

Table 6 . Top five co-cited references with co-citation counts in the study of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Figure 9 . The strongest citation bursts among the top 71 references. The red measures indicate frequent citation of studies, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of studies.

Figure 10A presents the co-cited reference map containing 577 nodes and 1,331 links. The figure explains the empirical relevance of a considerable number of articles and reviews. Figure 10B presents the co-citation map (timeline view) of reference from publications on top music therapy research. The timeline view of clusters shows the research progress of music therapy in a particular period of time and the thematic concentration of each cluster. “Psychosis” was labeled as the largest cluster (#0), followed by “improvisational music therapy” (#1) and “paranesthesia anxiety” (#2). These clusters have also remained hot topics in recent years. Furthermore, the result of the modularity Q score was 0.8258. That this value exceeded 0.5 indicated that the definitions of the subdomain and characters of clusters were distinct. In addition, the mean silhouette was 0.5802, which also exceeded 0.5. The high homogeneity of individual clusters indicated high concentration in different research areas.

Figure 10. (A) The network map of co-cited references and (B) the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. In these maps, the node represents a study, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two studies. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field. (A) The nodes in the same color belong to the same cluster. (B) The nodes on the same line belong to the same cluster.

Global Trends in Music Therapy Research

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from the past two decades. The results, which reveal that music therapy studies have been conducted throughout the world, among others, can provide further research suggestions to scholars. In terms of the general analysis of the publications, the features of published articles and reviews, prolific countries or regions, and productive institutions are summarized below.

I. The distribution of publication year has been increasing in the past two decades. The annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019 were divided into three stages: beginning, second, and third. In the beginning stage, there were <30 annual publications from 2000 to 2006. The second stage was between 2007 and 2014. The number of publications increased steadily. It was 2007, which marked the first time 40 articles or reviews were published. The third stage was between 2015 and 2019. The year 2015 was the key turning point because it was the first time 80 articles or reviews were published. The number of publications showed a downward trend in 2016 (72), but it was still higher than the average number of the previous years. Overall, music therapy-related research has received increasing attention among scholars from 2000 to 2020.

II. The articles and reviews covered about 49 countries or regions, and the prolific countries or regions were mainly located in the North American and European continents. According to citations on WoS, citations per study, and the H-index, music therapy publications from developed countries, such as United States and Norway, have greater influence than those from other countries. In addition, China, as a model of a developing country, had published 53 studies and ranked top six among productive countries.

III. In terms of the collaboration map of institutions, the most productive universities engaged in music therapy were located in the United States, namely, University of Minnesota (43 publications), Florida State University (33 publications), Temple University (27 publications), and University of Kansas (20 publications). It indicated that institutions in the US have significant impacts in this area.

IV. According to author co-citation counts, scholars can focus on the publications of such authors as Bruscia KE, Gold C, and Wigram T. These three authors come from the United States, Norway, and Denmark, and it also reflected that these three countries are leading the research trend. Author Bruscia KE has the largest co-citation counts and is based at Temple University. He published many music therapy studies about assessment and clinical evaluation in music therapy, music therapy theories, and therapist experiences. These publications laid a foundation and facilitate the development of music therapy. In addition, in Figure 11 , the multi-authored articles between 2000 and 2003 comprised 47.56% of the sample, whereas the publications of multi-authored articles increased significantly from 2016 to 2019 (85.51%). These indicated that cooperation is an effective factor in improving the quality of publications.

Figure 11 . The percentage of single- vs. multiple-authored articles. Blue bars mean multiple-author percentage; orange bars mean single-author percentage.

Research Focus on the Research Frontier and Hot Topics

According to the science map analysis, hot music therapy topics among publications are discussed.

I. The cluster “#1 improvisational music therapy” (IMT) is the current research frontier in the music therapy research field. In general, music therapy has a long research tradition within autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and there have been more rigorous studies about it in recent years. IMT for children with autism is described as a child-centered method. Improvisational music-making may enhance social interaction and expression of emotions among children with autism, such as responding to communication acts ( Geretsegger et al., 2012 , 2015 ). In addition, IMT is an evidence-based treatment approach that may be helpful for people who abuse drugs or have cancer. A study applied improving as a primary music therapeutic practice, and the result indicated that IMT will be effective in treating depression accompanied by drug abuse among adults ( Albornoz, 2011 ). By applying the interpretative phenomenological analysis and psychological perspectives, a study explained the significant role of music therapy as an innovative psychological intervention in cancer care settings ( Pothoulaki et al., 2012 ). IMT may serve as an effective additional method for treating psychiatric disorders in the short and medium term, but it may need more studies to identify the long-term effects in clinical practice.

II. Based on the analysis of co-citation counts, the top three references all applied music therapy to improve the quality of life of clients. They highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective method that can cover a range of clinical skills, thus helping people with psychological disorders, chronic illnesses, and pain management issues. Furthermore, music therapy mixed with standard care can help individuals with schizophrenia improve their global state, mental state (including negative and general symptoms), social functioning, and quality of life ( Gold et al., 2009 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Geretsegger et al., 2017 ).

III. By understanding the keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the research frontier can be predicted. Three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

a. Efficacy: This refers to measuring the effectiveness of music therapy in terms of clinical skills. Studies have found that a wide variety of psychological disorders can be effectively treated with music. In the study of Fukui, patients with Alzheimer's disease listened to music and verbally communicated with their music therapist. The results showed that problematic behaviors of the patients with Alzheimer's disease decreased ( Fukui et al., 2012 ). The aim of the study of Erkkila was to determine the efficacy of music therapy when added to standard care. The result of this study also indicated that music therapy had specific qualities for non-verbal expression and communication when patients cannot verbally describe their inner experiences ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Additionally, as summarized by Ueda, music therapy reduced anxiety and depression in patients with dementia. However, his study cannot clarify what kinds of music therapy or patients have effectiveness. Thus, future studies should investigate music therapy with good methodology and evaluation methods ( Ueda et al., 2013 ).

b. Health: Music therapy is a methodical intervention in clinical practice because it uses music experiences and relationships to promote health for adults and children ( Bruscia, 1998 ). Also, music therapy is an effective means of achieving the optimal health and well-being of individuals and communities, because it can be individualized or done as a group activity. The stimulation from music therapy can lead to conversations, recollection of memories, and expression. The study of Gold indicated that solo music therapy in routine practice is an effective addition to usual care for mental health care patients with low motivation ( Gold et al., 2013 ). Porter summarized that music therapy contributes to improvement for both kids and teenagers with mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, and increases self-esteem in the short term ( Porter et al., 2017 ).

c. Older adults: This refers to the use of music therapy as a treatment to maintain and slow down the symptoms observed in older adults ( Mammarella et al., 2007 ; Deason et al., 2012 ). In terms of keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the most popular subjects of music therapy-related articles and reviews focused on children from 2005 to 2007. However, various researchers concentrated on older adults from 2017 to 2019. Music therapy was the treatment of choice for older adults with depression, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disorders ( Brotons and Koger, 2000 ; Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Johnson et al., 2011 ; Deason et al., 2012 ; McDermott et al., 2013 ; Sakamoto et al., 2013 ; Benoit et al., 2014 ; Pohl et al., 2020 ). In the study of Zhao, music therapy had positive effects on the reduction of depressive symptoms for older adults when added to standard therapies. These standard therapies could be standard care, standard drug treatment, standard rehabilitation, and health education ( Zhao et al., 2016 ). The study of Shimizu demonstrated that multitask movement music therapy was an effective intervention to enhance neural activation in older adults with mild cognitive impairment ( Shimizu et al., 2018 ). However, the findings of the study of Li explained that short-term music therapy intervention cannot improve the cognitive function of older adults. He also recommended that future researchers can apply a quality methodology with a long-term research design for the care needs of older adults ( Li et al., 2015 ).

Strengths and Limitations

To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first one to analyze large-scale data of music therapy publications from the past two decades through CiteSpace V. CiteSpace could detect more comprehensive results than simply reviewing articles and studies. In addition, the bibliometric method helped us to identify the emerging trend and collaboration among authors, institutions, and countries or regions.

This study is not without limitations. First, only articles and reviews published in the WoS Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index were analyzed. Future reviews could consider other databases, such as PubMed and Scopus. The document type labeled by publishers is not always accurate. For example, some publications labeled by WoS were not actually reviews ( Harzing, 2013 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Second, the limitation may induce bias in frequency of reference. For example, some potential articles were published recently, and these studies could be not cited with frequent times. Also, in terms of obliteration by incorporation, some common knowledge or opinions become accepted that their contributors or authors are no longer cited ( Merton, 1965 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Third, this review applied the quantitative analysis approach, and only limited qualitative analysis was performed in this study. In addition, we applied the CitesSpace software to conduct this bibliometric study, but the CiteSpace software did not allow us to complicate information under both full counting and fractional counting systems. Thus, future scholars can analyze the development of music therapy in some specific journals using both quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Conclusions

This bibliometric study provides information regarding emerging trends in music therapy publications from 2000 to 2019. First, this study presents several theoretical implications related to publications that may assist future researchers to advance their research field. The results reveal that annual publications in music therapy research have significantly increased in the last two decades, and the overall trend in publications increased from 28 publications in 2000 to 111 publications in 2019. This analysis also furthers the comprehensive understanding of the global research structure in the field. Also, we have stated a high level of collaboration between different countries or regions and authors in the music therapy research. This collaboration has extremely expanded the knowledge of music therapy. Thus, future music therapy professionals can benefit from the most specialized research.

Second, this research represents several practical implications. IMT is the current research frontier in the field. IMT usually serves as an effective music therapy method for the health of people in clinical practice. Identifying the emerging trends in this field will help researchers prepare their studies on recent research issues ( Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). Likewise, it also indicates future studies to address these issues and update the existing literature. In terms of the strongest citation bursts, the three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective invention, and it can benefit the health of people. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to the health of people.

Finally, multiple researchers have indicated several health benefits of music therapy, and the music therapy mechanism perspective is necessary for future research to advance the field. Also, music therapy can benefit a wide range of individuals, such as those with autism spectrum, traumatic brain injury, or some physical disorders. Future researchers can develop music therapy standards to measure clinical practice.

Author Contributions

KL and LW: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing—review, and editing. LW: software and data curation. KL: validation and writing—original draft preparation. XW: visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This study was supported by the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation of China (161092), the scientific and technological research program of the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (19080503100), and the Shanghai Key Lab of Human Performance (Shanghai University of Sport) (11DZ2261100).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Abbreviations

WoS, Web of Science; ESI, essential science indicators; IF, impact factor; IMT, improvisational music therapy; ASD, autism spectrum disorder.

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Keywords: music therapy, aged, bibliometrics, health, web of science

Citation: Li K, Weng L and Wang X (2021) The State of Music Therapy Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis. Front. Psychol. 12:697726. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697726

Received: 20 April 2021; Accepted: 12 May 2021; Published: 10 June 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Li, Weng and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Xueqiang Wang, wangxueqiang@sus.edu.cn

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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38 Music Therapy Research: Context, Methodology, and Current and Future Developments

Jane Edwards, Deakin University

• Published: 09 June 2015
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Music therapy is an evidence-based profession. Music therapy research aims to provide information about outcomes that support music therapy practice including contributing to theoretical perspectives that can explain why changes occur during treatment. Music therapy research has been conducted in a range of health, education, and community contexts throughout the world. Initially many music therapy developments in the university sector occurred through the establishment of training programmes that were developed and delivered by music therapists with professional experience in leading services in education and health care. Now many music therapy training programmes are led by people with practice experience along with research qualifications, and some universities offer music therapy doctoral pathways. Music therapy research capacity has expanded through a notable increase in PhD graduates as well as an increase in funded research in music therapy. This chapter covers: (1) traditions, (2) trends, and (3) contexts for music therapy research.

Introduction

Research is the process by which new knowledge is developed, existing knowledge is extended, and new theoretical frameworks are founded. In health care, research provides evidence for effective ways of working with patients or clients to achieve positive change; maintaining or improving optimal health and well-being. Research methods in health and education are characterized by a guiding research question or hypothesis, a theoretical or epistemological 1 orientation adopted by the researcher, a data source, and a selected method of data collection and analysis that is agreed in advance of the research commencing. All research is bound by an ethical code which is assured by approval from an Institutional Review Board, or an ethics committee. This process confirms that the processes of the research will cause no harm or discomfort to the participants, and will add value to existing knowledge.

Music therapy research is usually undertaken within the context of a university with outreach to recruit patients or students in health care or education. Initially music therapy in the university sector was built up through training programmes that were developed and delivered by people with professional experience in developing and leading music therapy services in education and health care. As higher education institutions across the world have become increasingly invested in all academic staff being research active including attaining PhDs and regularly applying for competitive research funding this has influenced the landscape of music therapy within the higher education environment. Increasingly it is unusual to find a course leader who does not either have a PhD or is working towards a PhD. Full-time permanent academic positions across the university context internationally usually require that the person has a PhD and a substantial body of work that has contributed to knowledge development in their specialist field.

Traditions of research in music therapy

In the fledgling years of music therapy research a commitment to quantitative methods within a strict positivist epistemology can be observed, especially in research publications within the USA. This was partly because of the influence of behavior modification as a technique in therapy practice ( Madsen et al. 1968 ). Modifying behavior that could be observed and measured was the goal of music therapy. Many researchers used randomized controlled trials (RCT) to examine the effects of music therapy on behaviors of clients. RCTs are studies in which participants are randomly assigned to either a music therapy treatment group, or to a control group which does not receive the treatment. The RCT is considered a gold standard within medical research ( Greenhalgh 2014 ). It is a highly effective method by which to test the effects and benefit of pharmacological medications. It can also show treatment outcomes when groups are compared where one group receives a treatment and another group, matched with the treatment group, do not (see Robb and Burns , this volume). Because of the alignment of music therapy with allied health, and the delivery of many music therapy services within medical contexts, the use of the RCT has been common in music therapy research ( Bradt 2012 ).

The most important historical development in this type of research was the introduction of randomization, where participants or subjects are randomly assigned to one of the groups, whether treatment, control, or placebo (see Robb and Burns , this volume). This random allocation to groups minimizes bias and increases the likelihood that the results of the research will be trustworthy.

In the later part of the twentieth century music therapy research reports using new methods entered the published literature, and references to new methods can be observed (for example, Aigen 1993 ; Amir 1993a , b ; Comeau 1991 ; Forinash 1992 ; Forinash and Gonzalez 1989 ; Langenberg et al. 1993 ). The early years of qualitative methods followed along the same route as other allied health research where qualitative inquiry or qualitative research became a commonly used descriptor ( Edwards 2012 ). Although qualitative is a useful description for many research methods it is not in and of itself a method. Distinctions between methods and epistemologies within qualitative traditions have not always been well defined in music therapy research reports ( Aigen 2008 ), and also in other allied health research writings ( Carter and Little 2007 ). In the maturation of music therapy research a wider range of methods and traditions have been engaged, and knowledge about different methods has become more elaborated and differentiated. It is now agreed that all methods have an underlying epistemology, and in using qualitative method research it is essential to be able to state ones position in relation to the theory of knowledge creation to which one subscribes ( Edwards 2012 ). Frequently used qualitative research methods in music therapy are grounded theory (see Daveson this volume; O’Callaghan 1996b ; 2012 ), and phenomenology ( Ghetti this volume).

An important distinction between research methods is whether they use inductive or deductive processes. Inductive refers to the way in which the researcher allows the information to be induced from the data during analysis ( O’Callaghan and McDermott 2004 ; O’Callaghan 1996a ). The researcher looks closely at the data, usually text or arts based, and reflects on the materials allowing meanings to emerge. Research which is deductive uses a pre-defined criteria to examine the data. For example, looking for particular incidences of a word in text or measuring a baseline behavior then providing treatment and following up with a further measure. Deductive might also refer to research in which the themes to be examined are decided in advance even when a qualitative method is used.

Research is published in journals following a process of anonymous peer review. A paper is submitted to just one journal and then the editor sends an anonymized version of the paper for review to at least two professionals with expertise in the area of the paper’s content. The reviewers read the paper and provide feedback to the editor about their opinion of the paper. Reviewers can recommend the paper should be published, or they can request revisions, or they can recommend that the paper be rejected. It is not unusual that articles are rejected. It can be because the editor or reviewers do not think the topic of the paper is relevant to the journal, or there can be issues of quality with the research that deem it unsuitable for publication. Many researchers make revisions to rejected papers and then submit them to another journal. It is unacceptable to submit to more than one journal at a time, and authors must sign a declaration at submission that the work has not been published elsewhere or been submitted for review to another journal.

Peer reviewed articles appear in the following English language journals of music therapy: Australian Journal of Music Therapy, British Journal of Music Therapy, Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy , the New Zealand Journal of Music Therapy , and Voices . There are also related journals which publish music therapy research papers including: Psychology of Music, Music and Medicine , and The Arts in Psychotherapy . Music therapy research also appears in medical and therapy journals (for example, Loewy et al. 2013 , O’Callaghan et al. 2014 ). Therefore when students are researching projects or writing papers are encouraged to search the journal literature as well as reading relevant books and book chapters.

Trends in music therapy research

In this part of the chapter three trends in music therapy research will be discussed: (1) music therapy and evidence-based medicine, (2) arts-based research, and (3) mechanisms of change in music therapy.

Music therapy and evidence-based medicine

A number of music therapists have considered the ways that the profession can respond to the imperative of evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM can be traced back to the 1960s but it more formally entered the lexicon of health care practice through the 1990s ( Smith and Rennie 2014 ). As a PhD researcher in a department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the 1990s the author observed firsthand the shift in thinking about practice and services that occurred when EBM began to be a main point of interest for researchers, not just in medicine but also through nursing and allied health departments. In order to consider the implications for music therapy she gave a series of presentations which were then worked into scholarly papers for publication. After initial rejection some of the ideas were eventually published ( Edwards 2005 , 2004 , 2002 ). Since that time others have also written about EBM and music therapy (for example Abrams 2010 , and Standley 2012 ).

Rather than relying on the outcome of a single RCT to develop new practices in health care, EBM proposed an evidence hierarchy founded on single cases (weak evidence) through to meta-analyses (strong evidence). In a meta-analysis the research findings from a number of studies with patients who have similar characteristics are analyzed statistically to show whether the changes that have occurred across all of the studies are convincing enough to warrant inclusion of the treatment in standard care. Dileo and Bradt concluded that “Overall, EBP [practice] intends to assure that patient treatment is safe, effective, and cost-effective.”(2009, p. 170)

Abrams has positioned evidence-based music therapy having multiple benefits for the profession:

The virtues of an integral understanding of evidence-based music therapy practice are numerous. It can help promote clarity of the different roles, purposes, strengths, and limits of each domain of evidence. It provides accountability to core values, standards of integrity, and standards of rigor, all internally consistent within a given perspective in any given instance. Moreover, it encourages an awareness of the applicability and relevance of evidence to clinical work in any given case. Abrams 2010 , p. 374

Earlier conceptualizations of EBM pointed out that music therapists are often referred clients or patients for whom other therapeutic supports or treatments have not been effective ( Edwards 2005 ). Therefore because of the complexity of the client’s situation and their unique needs traditional processes of matching of clients in control and treatment groups in the traditional RCT might not be possible.

Concepts used in evidence are now turning towards music therapy participants’ views to be a better accessed and utilized form of evidence (for example, Ansdell and Meehan 2010 ). Although initially this author’s concerns about EBM focused on inappropriate application by managers to limit innovation and cut services, in practice EBM has some but not complete influence on service leaders’ decisions to support or close programmes. At the same time it has produced an outstanding number of music therapy meta-analyses published in the most important medical evidence database in the world, the Cochrane Library (for example Mössler et al. 2011 ).

Arts-based research

The arts are increasingly being used in health care and related research to learn about the experiences of care workers and recipients, to gain access to marginalized voices, and to communicate research findings to a wider audience. Ledger and Edwards 2011 , p. 313

Arts-based research is a movement that has developed internationally with minimal input from creative arts therapists. Ledger and Edwards (2011) provided a number of examples in which music therapists appeared reluctant to describe their research methods as arts based . This reluctance was hypothesized as emerging from anxiety about seeming scientific enough, especially when conducting research in health and medical contexts.

As artistic processes within music are central to music therapy practice, the use of music making or other creative arts processes could be considered compatible with the goals of music therapy inquiry. It is therefore puzzling why arts based processes are not more widely used in music therapy research.

Arts-based research was included in the main research textbook to date in music therapy ( Wheeler 2005 ). Dianne Austin and Michele Forinash make a distinction between arts based research and the studies that have analyzed music created in music therapy sessions. They have shown that the arts can be used at every step in the research process to develop rich and expressive findings. Arts-based research is explained as offering a valuable way to gain insights that might not otherwise be discoverable ( Austin and Forinash 2005 ).

Mechanisms of change in music therapy

Research contributes to knowledge about change, but researchers also have a responsibility to theorize why the change occurs. Research relevant to music therapy from the fields of psychology and neuroscience are key to understanding the mechanisms of change in music therapy. For example, music therapy relies on the evocative potentials of music to develop a way of relating between the therapist and the client that is helpful in meeting the client’s needs and contributing to their well-being. Some of these evocative capacities include the ability of music to influence affect. In order to be able to interact and support clients in a way that is helpful and informed, understanding how music influences emotional states is key. Music therapists have extensive experience and expertise in observation of musical responses. As an experienced music therapy practitioner the following mechanism as to how emotional response to music might occur makes sense to the author. Julin and Västfjäll have proposed that when humans listen to music all of the following psychological processes happen, not separately but concurrently, and this is why an emotional response occurs:

(1) brain stem reflexes, (2) evaluative conditioning, (3) emotional contagion, (4) visual imagery, (5) episodic memory, and (6) musical expectancy. Juslin and Västfjäll 2008 , p. 563

Their proposition is interesting for music therapy practitioners to engage in order to understand the instantaneous aspects of response over which an individual has no control, and to confirm that there is no one piece of music that has the same effect on every listener. However, many psychological theories such as these that are relevant to music therapy are silent on the core interpersonal and relational aspects of music therapy. Therefore neuropsychological and physiological theories need to be accessed in order to further understanding of music therapy as a relational practice.

Developing theories about brain growth indicate that infant brains develop in collaboration and interaction with other brains ( Schore 2010 ). Loving, predictable responsiveness from the adult care giver is essential for an infant’s healthy start in life. The failure of the infant-parental bond to coalesce and attachment to be formed is disastrous for the child’s ongoing development. This can occur because of maltreatment and/or neglect, or because of demands on the carer’s own resources result in them being unavailable to the infant’s needs. This has lifelong consequences on development, particularly the skills needed for social interaction with others, and the resilience to deal with stressful experiences and events. Neurosequential modelling proposes that the infant brain develops in stages.

The brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion with four main anatomically distinct regions: brainstem, diencephalon, limbic system, and cortex. During development the brain organizes itself from the bottom up, from the least (brainstem) to the most complex (limbic, cortical) areas. While significantly interconnected, each of these regions mediates distinct functions, with the lower, structurally simpler areas mediating basic regulatory functions and the highest, most complex structures (cortical) mediating the most complex functions. Each of these main regions develops, organizes, and becomes fully functional at different times during childhood… Perry 2009 , p. 243

This theory is important for music therapy because it provides information to explain why children who have not developed self-regulatory processes due to severe early relational trauma, for example what Perry described as the “overanxious, impulsive, dysregulated child” (p. 243), might behave differently in the regulating holding environment of music therapy where predictable structure can contain and support the child’s actions and spontaneity (for relevant case examples, see Drake 2011 ).

The therapeutic opportunities in music therapy lie not only in the client’s responses to music but equally and sometimes more importantly in the therapist-client relating. Porges’ Polyvagal Theory is so named because it associates two physiological systems with feelings of safety and security and explains how these function in interpersonal relating. These are:

(a) the commonly known fight-or-flight system that is associated with activation of the sympathetic nervous system… and (b) a less-known system of immobilization and dissociation that is associated with activation of a phylogenetically more ancient vagal pathway. Geller and Porges 2014 , p. 180

Using the Polyvagal Theory ( Porges 2011 ) Geller and Porges (2014) have illuminated therapeutic presence as a salient factor reliant on neurophysiological processes by which safety, security, and trust are experienced in the therapeutic relationship. Given that many people who seek or are referred to psychological services have experienced a breakdown of their capacity to cope, or to relate successfully with others, the ability to provide safety and security in the interpersonal space is crucial to providing opportunities for capacity building towards growth and change.

Expert therapists have reported that the experience of therapeutic presence involves concurrently (a) being grounded and in contact with one’s integrated and healthy self; (b) being open, receptive to, and immersed in what is poignant in the moment; and (c) having a larger sense of spaciousness and expansion of awareness and perception. This grounded, immersed, and expanded awareness also occurs with (d) the intention of being with and for the client in service of their healing process. By being grounded, immersed, and spacious, with the intention of being with and for the other, the therapist invites the client into a deeper and shared state of relational therapeutic presence. Geller and Porges 2014 , p. 180

Polyvagal theory has contributed to the development of new ways of working as well as supporting existing practices in music therapy. As Loewy (2011) noted:

… [Polyvagal Theory] contributes to the theoretical justification for the role that music therapy can play in activating neural circuits that regulate reactivity. Porges’ rationale for and description of feeding and rocking as primal attachment behaviors which influence vagal afferent pathways is an essential contributor to the current thinking about the importance of the quality of care in the first stage of life. Music therapy practices that activate somatomotor components which trigger visceral change influence attachment practices which are critically important in the early years. Loewy 2011 , p. 182

The relational dimensions of music therapy practice are underpinned by multiple psychobiological principles including those encapsulated in communicative musicality initially developed by Stephen Malloch in his postdoctoral work at Edinburgh University, which was then further elaborated ( Malloch and Trevarthen 2009 ). Malloch and Trevarthen (2009) documented how the development of the theory and observation of the presence of communicative musicality occurred through many decades of research in the last century. Importantly multiple theorists and researchers from a range of fields, whether during field observations or in laboratory based experimental work, noted the expressive, dance and song like interactions between infants and the adults who share loving relationships with them. These multiple perspectives result in the conclusion that:

… we are evolved to know, think, communicate, create new things and care for one another in movement—through a sense of being in rhythmic time with motives and in tune with feelings to share the energy and harmony of meaning and of relating. Malloch and Trevarthen 2009 , p. 8

Contexts for research

All research conducted with service users in music therapy involves a context. This may be a single site such as a school or a hospital (see Colwell , this volume), or multiple sites. It may involve a service such as an oncology department, or additionally it may involve participants who access multiple services, for example children with cerebral palsy. Each context differs as to how service users or students can be approached to be involved in the research, and who will act as formal or informal gate-keepers. Researchers planning projects need to factor in how the people who will contribute to managing the data collection of the project will be sorced, and how these potential gate-keepers will assist in managing the recruitment and involvement of service users. Often people who are crucial to the research such as gate-keepers receive little acknowledgement either in research reports, or in international publications. This can make it difficult for novice researchers to understand how crucial they are to conducting research which relies on data collection from service users or students ( Porter et al. 2014 ).

Clinicians working within a service are often the referring point for participation in a music therapy project. The clinician can decide whether a person who meets the criteria for the project is able to manage the requirements of the project participation, and would potentially benefit from being a research participant. Clinicians are protective of their clients or patients. Therefore the researcher must take care to ensure that the clinician has confidence in the researcher and the research processes, that participants will not be taxed or made demands of in any problematic way. The gatekeeper may also be encoraged to note that the client may end up receiving music therapy, and that this participation may be highly enjoyable and potentially therapeutically beneficial.

One contextual dimension that has received limited attention in the literature is the role of the researcher and how this differs from the role of music therapist. Ledger (2010a) has reflected on her experiences as a music therapy researcher undertaking an ethnographic research project in a hospital that was developing a new music therapy service. She wrote:

Returning to the familiar setting of a hospital brought to the fore a set of previously held positions and behaviors. I needed to manage not only the boundary between researcher and music therapist but also the boundaries between researcher and colleague, researcher and friend, and experienced music therapist and student. These boundaries needed to be negotiated and renegotiated throughout the duration of my ethnography. There were times when it was helpful to cross boundaries in order to build rapport and to show appreciation to the staff who contributed to my research. However, there were also times when I needed to establish clear boundaries and to reiterate my research intentions. Ledger 2010a , p. 300

Ledger’s further reflection reveals some of the dilemmas that can arise when conducting qualitative methods research ( Ledger 2010b ). Unlike other types of research where one might collect data through testing or questionnaires, ethnography involves participation and observation. Being aware of the need to manage and negotiate role identity is an important part of undertaking this work.

The future of music therapy research

As music therapy matures and grows as a field of practice it is developing its depth and breadth of research engagement. Contemporary research is immensely inspiring, especially for increasingly sounding the voices of service users ( Ansdell and Meehan 2010 ; Solli et al. 2013 ), and the careful development of research procedures which ensure the complexity of musical experiences are not lost in the need for research rigor ( Erkkilä et al. 2011 ). The development of greater sophistication in mixed methods research (see Erkkilä , this volume) will ensure that the outcomes of psychological testing or observation of the therapist will not be privileged over the lived experience of participants. The increasing harnessing of the capacities of technology in conducting systematic evaluation of music therapy services show promising developments ( Streeter et al. 2012 ). More robust theoretical engagement with neuroscience and psychophysiology (for example Loewy 2011 ) and social theories ( Baines 2013 ) will ensure that music therapy has strong theoretical bones upon which the flesh and sinew of competent practice can continue to grow.

Epistemology refers to theory of knowledge. All research has an epistemological foundation whether or not it is made explicit. For further information see Edwards (2012) .

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Student Research Projects

• Music Therapy Research

Research activity is critical to the advancement of the music therapy profession as it enhances the understanding of music as unique human behavior and provides best practice guidelines for clinicians. 

Masters Theses and Clinical Projects

Alison Belinsky (clinical project), Development of a Musical Executive Function Training protocol for adults with schizophrenia

John Britton (clinical project), The Development of a M usic-mindfulness Intervention for Patients with Cancer

Ruthanne Cain (clinical project), The Role of Musical Triggers in Substance Use Disorder

Carolyn Dachinger (thesis), Impulsivity and Performance on a Music-based C ognitive R ehabilitation P rotocol in Persons with Alcohol Dependence

Angela Davis (thesis), The Effect of Film S core on Emotion and Self-talk

Jenny Denk (thesis), An Exploratory Study Examining the Impact of a Music Therapy Support Group on Perceived Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Long-term Caregivers

Esther Hood (clinical project), Developing the Music Assessment of Pediatric Voice (MA-PV)

Anqi Jiang (thesis), The Effect of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) on Gait in Young Children with Cerebral Palsy

Amy Kalas (thesis), Joint Attention Responses to Simple versus C omplex Music of Children with Autism Spectrum D isorder

Stephanie Kawzenuk (thesis), Music Therapy Undergraduate Education and S tudent Clinical Training Learning

Erin Keenan (thesis), The Immediate Effects of Rhythm on the Timing of U pper Extremity Movements in Patients with Parkinson ’ s Disease

Emily Lambert (thesis), Rhythmic Motor Tempo in Elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Katherine Lantigua (clinical project), Development of a Music Attention Control Training (MACT) program to improve selective attention in toddlers with developmental delay

Allison Lockhart (thesis), The Effect of Rhythmic Proprioceptive Input on Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): An Exploratory Study

Jessica MacLean (thesis), An Exploratory Study to Examine a Drumming-to-Speech Intervention for Prosody Perception in Preschoolers with Cochlear Implants

Brianna McCulloch (thesis), The Effect of Music on Alternating Attention in a M atch/mismatch Task in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Alecia Meila (thesis), Exploring the Use of Music Interventions on Emotion Competence in Individuals with Special Needs: A Systematic Review

Brea Murakami (thesis), Music as a Mnemonic Device for Verbal Recall in Healthy Older Adults

Andy Panavides (thesis), The Role of Personality and M ood in Music-use in a High C ognitive Task

Allison Pindale (thesis), The Effect of Musical Mnemonics and Music Training on Word Recall

Evan Privoznik (thesis), Perception of Music-Emotion in Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Marlén Rodrigeuz-Wolfe (thesis), The Effect of Preferred Music Listening on Pain Tolerance in a C old-pressor Task

Hilary Yip (thesis), A Rhythmic Cueing in Martial Arts Protocol For the Motor Skills of Children with Autism: An Exploratory Pilot Study 

Doctoral Dissertations

Carolyn Dachinger, The Effect of a Music-movement Intervention on Arousal and C ognitive Flexibility in O lder Adults with and without Mild N eurocognitive Disorder

Eunju Jeong, Music Therapy Assessment of Attention for Traumatic Brain Injury

Linda Lathroum, The Relationship between Pitch Processing and Phonological A wareness in Five- to Six-year-old Children

Hayoung Lim, Developmental Speech and Language Training through Music for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Julie Stordahl, The Influence of Music on Depression, Affect, and B enefit finding Among Women at the Completion of Treatment for Breast Cancer

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Hayes School of Music Graduate Studies

• Music Therapy Theses

Reising, M. M. (2022). Music therapy for patients who are mechanically ventilated: A phenomenological study.

Smith, W. L. (2022). What about black music? Exploring a gap in music therapy training .

Santiago, K. (2022). The music in me: The impact of music therapy on identity development in college students. A phenomenological inquiry.

McAfee, A. L. (2021). Promoting self-determination in music therapy with individuals with I/DD who communicate extraverbally: Reflections and implications for practice.

Kiefer, E. K. (2021). Heartbeat recordings in music therapy: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Cooke, C. J. (2020). Maximizing referrals and acceptance of medical music therapy: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Beebe, K. J. (2020). Perceptions of self-determination in music therapy for individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities: A survey of music therapists.

Tart, M. F. (2019). Music therapy for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome in the NICU: A qualitative content analysis .

Solberg, S. (2019). Neurologic music therapy to improve speaking voice in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Berry, A. (2019). A collaborative coalition: Action research response to a music therapy group for gender and sexual minority college students.

Esposito, K. (2019).   Creating new music therapy programs in medical settings: A phenomenological inquiry.

Mercier, A. E. (2019).  The use of creative arts in music therapy supervision: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Bodry, K. L. (2018). Clinical applications of feminist theory in music therapy: A phenomenological study.

Waller-Wicks, C. (2018). Music therapy and expressive arts to promote self-awareness and self-care in direct care staff: A phenomenological inquiry .

Donley, J. M. (2017). Understanding how Western-trained music therapists incorporate Chinese culture in their practice In China: An ethnographic study .

Lingafelt, H. H. (2017). Psychological factors in the use of music therapy with individuals experiencing pain: A survey of current practice.

Neel, K. M. (2017). Self-care for students: A pilot study on self-care education on the pre-internship music therapy students.

Barmore, E. A. (2017). The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and eating disorders: Learning from therapist, trainer, and client experiences.

King, K. W. (2016). The practice of teaching therapeutic songwriting: A survey of educators and internship supervisors.

Grimmer, M. S. (2016). Cross-cultural music therapy: Reflections of music therapists working internationally .

Dorris, A. D. (2015). Music therapy when death is imminent: A phenomenological inquiry .

Renshaw, S. (2015). The use of rap music in music therapy treatment with adolescents and young adults: A survey.

Stith, C. C. (2015). The effects of musical tempo and dynamic range on heart rate variability in healthy adults.

Honig, T. J. (2014). Wilderness imagery in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music: A phenomenological inquiry .

Tate, C. E. (2014). Breaking the silence: A qualitative study on the use of Guided Imagery and Music, expressive arts, and a body-centered perspective to address women's issues .

Barwick, C. A. (2014). Describing the subtle factors that influence moments of interactive responses during music therapy sessions for people with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and other related major neurocognitive disorders: A multiple case study.

Johnson, A. E. (2014). Benefits and challenges of therapeutic songwriting with deaf adolescent girls: A qualitative feasibility study .

Rosenblum, S. O. (2014). Group music therapy versus individual verbal therapy for mandated college students.

Wilson, S. H. (2014). Music therapy support groups for family caregivers of individuals residing in long- term care facilities: A survey of music therapists and interviews with current family caregivers.

Chwalek, C. M. (2013). The use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in music therapy: A survey of current practice.

Rayburn, A. D. (2013). A phenomenological inquiry into systemic music therapy to accompany the grief journey of a boy with high functioning autism.

Deans, C. M. (2012). The use of dreamwork with the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music: A survey of current practice .

Roberts, S. M. (2012). Current use of augmentative and alternative communication in music therapy: A survey and case study .

Dempsey, D. (2011). Grief rock band: The use of music therapy interventions to decrease depressive symptoms and facilitate expression of grief in bereaved adolescents.

Biron, R. N. (2010). Supporting pregnancy and childbirth using techniques from music therapy, counseling, and doula training .

Cloud, J. P. (2010). The use of music therapy and motivational interviewing with college student drinkers to invite “change talk.”

Hoyle, J. L. P. (2010). The role of music therapy in the bereavement process of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Leonard, K. R. (2010). A search for wholeness: Songs of healing for adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Brown, L. R. (2009). The effect of music therapy social skills interventions on children with behavioral and emotional disabilities or autism .

Schwantes, M. B. (2007). Music therapy with Mexican migrant farm workers in rural NC: A pilot study .

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MUT 100 – Music Therapy

Steps in the research process, what if you can't think of a topic, search strategy, search strategy builder.

• Suggested Resources
• Evaluation & Revision
• Writing & Documentation

Music Therapy Librarian

1. Choose a topic .

2. Decide on a search strategy to find the information you need. (This guide will help you do that.)

3. Formulate a question about your topic that your research will try to answer. (It's easier to sort through resources if you're looking for stuff that will help you answer a question.)

4. Evaluate the information you've found.

5. Revise your research question based on your new knowledge.

6. Write the paper! (Remember to cite your sources correctly!)

Suggested Resources :  

Your own interests (what do you want to know more about?)

Your professor

The librarian for music therapy

For the sake of practice, let's say you want to do your project on the following topic:

music therapy for college students with ASD

When searching for sources, it’s important to use keywords . Keywords are significant or descriptive words that convey your topic in as few words as possible. To search effectively, you also need to think of synonyms for your keywords, because different writers may use different words for the same idea, especially writers from different disciplines.

The keywords in the example topic would be music therapy , college students , and ASD .

Possible synonyms for music therapy : music intervention, songwriting, music-making, musical improvisation, sensory integration

Possible synonyms for college students : university students, first-year college students, adolescents, teenagers, young adults

Possible synonyms for ASD : autism, autism spectrum, autism spectrum disorder, autism spectrum condition, neurodivergent, neurodiverse

After you've identified keywords and synonyms for your own topic, use the Search Strategy Builder below to generate a search string you can use in library databases and Google. Remember to put phrases in quotes! (e.g. "music therapy")

  Search Strategy Builder

The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.

Now copy and paste the above Search String into a search box; try SouthernSearch or choose another Database .

The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries and is used under a Creative Commons License , via Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh at Georgia State.

• Next: Suggested Resources >>
• Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 12:11 PM
• URL: https://libguides.southernct.edu/mut100

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Good Research Topics about Music Therapy

• Active Music Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy for Survivors of Abuse
• Music Therapy Effectiveness for Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
• The Link between Ancestral Hormones and Music Therapy
• Analysis of the Effectiveness of Art and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Usefulness for Cancer Patients
• Music Therapy Impact on Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
• Healing Chronic Pain with Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Effect on the Wellness and Mood of Adolescents
• Comparing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Music Therapy
• Constructing Optimal Experience for the Hospitalized Newborn Through Neuro-Based Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: Considerations for the Clinical Environment
• Music Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Discussing Music Therapy: Reducing Stress, Health, and Social Care
• Music Therapy for Delinquency Involved Juveniles through Tripartite Collaboration
• Heidelberg Neuro Music Therapy Enhances Task-Negative Activity in Tinnitus Patients
• Music Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Interesting Topics to Write about Music Therapy

• How Does Music Therapy Promote Positive Mental Health?
• The Relationships between Learning and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy for Sexually Abused Children
• Managing Sickle Cell Pain with Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: How Does Music Impact Our Emotions?
• Dealing with Depression with the Help of Music Therapy
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy and Drug Therapy for Children with Autism
• The Link between Music Therapy and Personality Theory Psychology
• How Music Therapy Improves Depression Among Older Adults
• Music Therapy: The Best Way to Help Children with Mental Illness
• Interventions of Music Therapy for Stress Reduction
• Neurologic Music Therapy Training for Mobility and Stability Rehabilitation
• Nursing Theory for Music Therapy Quality Improvement Program
• The Help of Music Therapy in Pain Management
• Relationship between Hypertension and Music Therapy
• Yoga and Music Therapy as Effective Methods of Stress Management

17 Ways to Support Students Whose Behavior ...

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Home » 500+ Music Research Topics

500+ Music Research Topics

Music is a universal language that has the power to evoke emotions, bring people together, and express complex ideas and feelings. As a result, it has been the subject of extensive research and analysis across a wide range of fields, from psychology and neuroscience to sociology and cultural studies. Whether you are a music student, researcher , or simply a curious enthusiast, there are countless fascinating and important topics to explore within the realm of music research. From the history and evolution of different musical genres to the impact of music on human behavior and cognition, the possibilities for investigation and discovery are virtually endless. In this post, we will highlight some of the most interesting and relevant music research topics that you can explore in your own studies or simply as a way to deepen your appreciation and understanding of this rich and diverse art form.

Music Research Topics

Music Research Topics are as follows:

• The impact of music on memory retention.
• The evolution of hip-hop music and its influence on popular culture.
• The relationship between music and emotions.
• The role of music in religious and spiritual practices.
• The effects of music on mental health.
• The impact of music on athletic performance.
• The role of music in therapy and rehabilitation.
• The evolution of classical music through the ages.
• The impact of technology on music creation and distribution.
• The relationship between music and language acquisition.
• The cultural significance of music in different parts of the world.
• The influence of popular music on politics and social issues.
• The impact of music on academic performance.
• The role of music in film and television.
• The use of music in advertising and marketing.
• The psychology of musical preferences.
• The effects of music on sleep patterns and quality.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity.
• The influence of music on fashion and style.
• The impact of music education on childhood development.
• The role of music in memory recall and nostalgia.
• The effects of music on physical health.
• The relationship between music and brain development.
• The impact of music on the immune system.
• The influence of music on social behavior.
• The evolution of jazz music and its impact on society.
• The role of music in cultural preservation and identity.
• The effects of music on stress levels and anxiety.
• The relationship between music and social movements.
• The impact of music on language learning and pronunciation.
• The effects of music on learning and cognition.
• The influence of music on political ideologies and movements.
• The impact of music on academic achievement.
• The relationship between music and cultural assimilation.
• The role of music in international diplomacy.
• The effects of music on physical performance and endurance.
• The impact of music on memory consolidation and recall.
• The influence of music on fashion trends and subcultures.
• The role of music in socialization and identity formation.
• The effects of music on perception and attention.
• The impact of music on decision making and judgment.
• The relationship between music and romantic attraction.
• The role of music in social justice movements.
• The effects of music on motor skills and coordination.
• The influence of music on cultural exchange and globalization.
• The impact of music on language and cultural barriers.
• The relationship between music and cultural appropriation.
• The role of music in community building and activism.
• The effects of music on motivation and goal setting.
• The influence of music on fashion advertising and marketing.
• The impact of music on social inequality and discrimination.
• The relationship between music and cultural hegemony.
• The role of music in political propaganda and manipulation.
• The effects of music on physical therapy and rehabilitation.
• The influence of music on cultural diplomacy and international relations.
• The impact of music on the environment and sustainability.
• The relationship between music and social hierarchies.
• The role of music in cultural exchange and intercultural communication.
• The effects of music on creative thinking and problem solving.
• The influence of music on consumer behavior and product preferences.
• The impact of music on social mobility and economic inequality.
• The relationship between music and cultural diversity.
• The role of music in intergenerational communication and conflict resolution.
• The effects of music on mood and emotional regulation.
• The influence of music on cultural authenticity and representation.
• The impact of music on memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
• The impact of music on recovery and rehabilitation in individuals with physical injuries.
• The role of music in promoting cultural exchange and understanding in international education.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international relations.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international human rights.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with ADHD.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the food and beverage industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-sexual orientations.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and retention in the finance industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international development.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and depression in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the transportation industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-abilities.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in college students.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and acceptance in international cooperation.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the entertainment industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-language backgrounds.
• The impact of music on creativity and innovation in the tech startup industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international peacekeeping.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with traumatic brain injury.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the travel industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and productivity in the education industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international cooperation.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and anxiety in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the home appliance industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-culture backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in graduate students.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and acceptance in international diplomacy.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with attention deficit disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the construction industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-spiritual backgrounds.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity in the healthcare industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international justice.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the hospitality industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-political backgrounds.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and retention in the automotive industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international diplomacy.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and depression in individuals with major depressive disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the telecommunications industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-ethnic and racial backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in high school students with disabilities.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and acceptance in international trade.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with borderline personality disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the fashion industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-heritage backgrounds.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with schizophrenia.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the technology industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-race identities.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and retention in the hospitality industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in global development.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and anxiety in individuals with social phobia.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the toy industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-faith backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in high school students.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with oppositional defiant disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the beauty industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-ethnicity backgrounds.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity in the fashion industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international aid.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with dementia.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the fitness industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-gender identities.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and productivity in the technology industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international tourism.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and depression in individuals with anxiety disorders.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the pet industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-education backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in middle school students.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the home decor industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-sex identities.
• The impact of music on creativity and innovation in the gaming industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in international conflict resolution.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with bipolar disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the sports industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-nationality and mixed-linguistic backgrounds.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and retention in the retail industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in global governance.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and anxiety in individuals with panic disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the electronics industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-citizenship backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in elementary school students.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and acceptance in international security.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with conduct disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the agriculture industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-religious backgrounds.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with traumatic brain injuries.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with disability identities.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and acceptance in the healthcare industry.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and anxiety in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with LGBTQ+ identities.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and productivity in the gig economy.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in education policy.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-age identities.
• The impact of music on creativity and innovation in the advertising industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in urban planning.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the food industry.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and retention in the nonprofit sector.
• The role of music in promoting cultural understanding and acceptance in international business.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and depression in individuals with chronic pain.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the gaming industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-sexual orientation identities.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural communication and understanding in foreign policy.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with social anxiety disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the craft industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-disability identities.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity in the media industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in corporate social responsibility.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with substance use disorders.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the automotive industry.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and productivity in the education sector.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international law.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the wellness industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-nationality backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic performance and motivation in adult learners.
• The role of music in promoting cultural understanding and acceptance in global governance.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the furniture industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-generational backgrounds.
• The impact of music on creativity and innovation in the film industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural integration and social cohesion in diverse communities.
• The effects of music on cognitive functioning and mental health in individuals with multiple sclerosis.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the tech industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in second-generation immigrants.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural communication and understanding in diplomacy.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and self-esteem in individuals with eating disorders.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the publishing industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in biracial and multiracial families.
• The impact of music on creativity and innovation in the workplace.
• The role of music in promoting cultural awareness and sensitivity in the criminal justice system.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with schizophrenia.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with refugee backgrounds.
• The role of music in promoting cultural understanding and acceptance in global marketing.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and anxiety in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed religious backgrounds.
• The impact of music on academic achievement and retention in community college students.
• The role of music in promoting cultural exchange and understanding in international development.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with bipolar disorder.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the luxury goods industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with immigrant parents.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity in the tech industry.
• The role of music in promoting cultural sensitivity and understanding in journalism.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and depression in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the wine industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with non-binary gender identities.
• The impact of music on job satisfaction and productivity in remote workers.
• The role of music in promoting cultural diversity and understanding in international relations.
• The role of music in promoting cultural awareness and sensitivity in diplomacy.
• The effects of music on emotional regulation and self-esteem in individuals with body dysmorphia.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with immigrant grandparents.
• The role of music in promoting cultural understanding and acceptance in global advertising.
• The effects of music on social skills and behavior in individuals with borderline intellectual functioning.
• The relationship between music and cultural representation in the fragrance industry.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and mental health in individuals with mixed-citizenship status.
• The impact of music on creativity and productivity in the creative industries
• The relationship between music and social cohesion in diverse communities.
• The role of music in social justice movements and protests.
• The effects of music on pain management and perception.
• The influence of music on cultural hybridity and globalization.
• The impact of music on social identity and self-esteem.
• The relationship between music and cultural imperialism.
• The role of music in therapeutic settings for children and adolescents.
• The effects of music on language development in bilingual children.
• The influence of music on cultural representation in the media.
• The impact of music on interpersonal relationships and communication.
• The relationship between music and cultural hegemony in the digital age.
• The role of music in community-based initiatives for social change.
• The effects of music on mental health in marginalized communities.
• The influence of music on cultural identity and self-expression.
• The impact of music on academic engagement and success in at-risk students.
• The relationship between music and cultural appropriation in popular culture.
• The role of music in cultural diplomacy and international relations in the 21st century.
• The effects of music on cognitive processing in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• The influence of music on cultural hybridity and transnationalism.
• The impact of music on social justice advocacy and awareness-raising.
• The relationship between music and cultural resistance in marginalized communities.
• The role of music in the negotiation of cultural identities in the diaspora.
• The effects of music on language processing and learning in second language acquisition.
• The influence of music on cultural exchange and intercultural communication in the digital age.
• The impact of music on academic achievement in students with disabilities.
• The relationship between music and cultural hegemony in the music industry.
• The role of music in the socialization and empowerment of girls and women.
• The effects of music on physical health in individuals with chronic pain.
• The influence of music on cultural authenticity and representation in the tourism industry.
• The impact of music on the construction of gender and sexuality in popular culture.
• The relationship between music and cultural appropriation in the fashion industry.
• The role of music in promoting cross-cultural understanding and empathy.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Research 

Research is an integral component of music therapy as an evidence-based contemporary profession and discipline. in addition to exploring and demonstrating the impact of music therapy and ensuring high standards of practice, research evidence informs funding and policy making decisions in the field..

UK music therapists have been and continue to be integral in the development of regional and international research initiatives and collaborations, as well as in the provision of education within research active environments.

As part of its aim to promote the art and science of music therapy, BAMT supports and develops further research in music therapy. In particular BAMT aims:

• to promote current research activity and participation in research to both music therapists and public;
• to provide opportunities for music therapists to develop and share research ideas and skills;
• to enable small-scale research to happen through funding and to promote opportunities for larger funding;
• to increase awareness of current and emerging research evidence through links with stakeholders on national and international levels.

Research Work Areas

Bamt’s research agenda is currently implemented through four main research work areas, collaborations.

The BAMT Research Officer represents and advises the association in research-related matters. They can be contacted at [email protected]

• The BAMT Register of Surveys, Research and Evaluation Projects (ROSREP) provides information about music therapy research activity within the UK. It also enables researchers to recruit participants for ongoing studies.
• Other online research-related resources are listed on BAMT’s website, including the index and abstracts to the association’s peer-reviewed journal The British Journal of Music Therapy .
• The BAMT monthly e-bulletin keeps membership up to date with ongoing research activities and news.
• Access to the BAMT mailing list for sample recruitment purposes is offered to research organisations or individuals who conduct research at a professional or doctorate level. Project registration to ROSREP is a prerequisite for mailing list access.
• The BAMT Research Network provides a forum for sharing ideas, information and resources. Welcoming both experienced and novice researchers. The network provides opportunities for supporting and/or mentoring those seeking advice or guidance in research in its many guises.
• In addition to meetings and CPD events, the Research Network members receive research-related news through the network’s mailing list.
• BAMT’s Small Grants Scheme supports training and research in music therapy.
• Other funding opportunities, such as grants from the Music Therapy Charity , are circulated through the BAMT’s e-bulletin.
• BAMT is a member of The Music Research Consortium UK (MRC-UK) which represents UK professional organisations promoting research in music.
• BAMT is a member of the Council for Allied Health Professions Research (CAHPR) (previously Allied Health Professions Research Network, AHPRN) which develops AHP research, strengthens evidence of value and impact, and enhances patient care. BAMT members can access the CAHPR research hubs across the country to seek research advice as well as to attend CPD research events. 
• BAMT is open to be part of research collaborations in areas that are directly connected to the association’s charitable aims. Proposals can be sent to [email protected]

Call for Participants (updated 18.03.24)

Seeing Eye to Eye; An examination into music therapists’ understanding of the needs of people with both dementia and visual impairment within a UK care home setting.

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/angliaruskin/dementia-and-vision-impairment Thank you. Lozzie Hollis-Hills, Anglia Ruskin University Student

South American Indigenous Ritual: Insights for Music Therapy My name is George Murrell and I’m a final year Music Therapy MA student at the University of Roehampton. For my dissertation project, I’m exploring how can the ritual use of music by indigenous communities in Lowland South American can inform Western music therapy. I’m searching for music therapists who have lived-experience of at least one indigenous community in Lowland South America. Participation in the study will involve an interview of approximately 1 hour, either on Teams or in-person. If you are interested please contact me at  [email protected]  by 1/4/24. Please feel free to share this information widely with any others who may be interested or let me know if there are other networks that I might access to invite participants. Thank you. How Do Music Therapists Experience the Use of Breath in their Clinical Work in Palliative Care? Hello, my name is Elen Morgan-Williams, and I am a final-year MA Music Therapy student at the University of Roehampton. I am looking for participants for my research project: ‘How Do Music Therapists Experience the Use of Breath in their Clinical Work in Palliative Care?’ I am looking to interview three qualified and registered Music Therapists’ who have current or recent experience of delivering music therapy in palliative care. Participants should have experience of engaging with breath in their music therapy work. Interview Length: 45-60 minutes. Location: Online via Microsoft Teams. In-person interviews will be considered to accommodate individual circumstances. When: At a mutually convenient time in April. If you are interested in taking part in this study and would like further information, please contact Elen Morgan-Williams:  [email protected]  by 29th March 2024. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, Elen Morgan-Williams AN EXPLORATION OF THE IMPACT OF GENDER BIASES ON THE EXPERIENCES OF MALE MUSIC THERAPISTS WORKING IN ALL-FEMALE PSYCHIATRIC WARDS My name is Sertac Nidai and I am an MA Music Therapy student in my final year of training at the University of Roehampton. I am conducting a qualitative research study that aims to explore the question:  How do gender biases impact the experiences of male Music Therapists working in all-female psychiatric wards? I am inviting 3 male identifying Music Therapists with experience working in all-female psychiatric wards to participate in one hour online interviews. The interviews will be held on Teams and later analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. If you are interested in participating in this project and would like further information please email  [email protected]  by 29th March.

Thank you. Invitation for research participants:  What are autistic music therapists’ experiences of countertransference in clinical work?

My name is Chantel Parsons, and I am an MA Music Therapy student in my final year of study at Roehampton University.  I am looking to interview three autistic music therapists (diagnosed or self-identifying) willing to speak about their experiences of countertransference in clinical work.

Participants will take part in a semi-structured individual interview in April via MS Teams, lasting approximately one hour.

If you are interested in participating in this project and would like more information, please email  [email protected]  by March 30 th .

Thank you! Tell Out My Soul: An Investigation of Music Therapists’ experiences of using hymns in palliative care My name is Bea Kinsey and I am a Music Therapy student at the University of Roehampton. I am currently in my final year of study and carrying out a research project that explores the question: How to do music therapists experience the role of hymns in their work in adult palliative care? It is a qualitative study, and will be carrying out semi-structured interviews, lasting an hour, about music therapists’ use of hymns in adult palliative care. I am looking for three music therapists who have experience in this area to take part. The interviews will be held on Teams or in person. If you are interested in taking part or would like more information, please email  [email protected]  by Friday 29th March 2024. Thank you!

How Music Therapy Helps Children Manage Bereavement UWE MA Music Therapy Postgraduate Student is looking for participants to take part in a dissertation research study.

To find out more about the study, and to consent to take part, please click on the link below:

Link to survey

Do you have experience of working with adoptees? Link to Survey

I am looking for participants to help with my music therapy MA research project. Are you an HCPC registered music therapist who has worked with at least one adoptee? If so, you are invited to complete a qualitative online questionnaire (via Qualtrics). This should take no longer than 15 - 30 minutes to complete. Following this, I aim to recruit 3 people to attend an online interview. These questions will relate to your experience of music therapy with adoptees and there is no right or wrong way to answer the questions. Your contribution is likely to offer valuable insight to music therapists and the adoption community. I will provide you with an information sheet and you will be asked to complete a consent form and a very brief demographic form to help me to ascertain the range of people taking part. To find out more and to register your interest, please click on the survey link or or contact me at:  [email protected] This project has been reviewed by, and received a favourable opinion from the UWE Psychology Ethics Committee: reference IM 150124 PEC 03 Email:  [email protected]  and this research is being supervised by Dr Joy Gravestock who you may also contact with  any questions on  [email protected]

Call for Music Therapists -  How do young people aged 10-16 with family violence  backgrounds present in music therapy? To read more and express interest in an interview please fill in this short survey available through this link -  https://uwe.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_39J3vqQ6o2GcmsS

Thank you in advance. Sarah Price, UWE

Please use 'keywords' in search box below to discover related content in the BAMT website.

80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best music therapy topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 good research topics about music therapy, 🔍 interesting topics to write about music therapy, ❓ music therapy research questions.

• Music Therapy as Experiential Activity For this reason, a technique was applied to the 10-year-old child with developmental delays to transform the lyrics of the favorite sad melody into a more positively inspiring and uplifting one.
• Music Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients’ Quality of Life Consequently, the purpose of the project will be to review the existing literature and prepare a document with recommendations regarding MT in the discussed population, including psychiatric nurses’ acceptable role in delivering such interventions. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Art and Music Therapy Coverage by Health Insurance However, I do believe that creative sessions should be available for all patients, and I am going to prove to you that music and art are highly beneficial for human health.
• Music Therapy in Healthcare Therefore, the article suggests that music can be used for relaxation, as well as managing the health issues that may arise due to the lack of relaxation.
• Music Therapy for Children With Learning Disabilities This review includes the evidence supporting music therapy as an effective strategy for promoting auditory, communication, and socio-emotional progression in children with ASD.
• Music Therapy as a Related Service for Students With Disabilities From a neuroscientific perspective, how would music intervention improve classroom behaviors and academic outcomes of students with ADHD as a way to inform policy-makers of the importance of music therapy as a related service?
• Substance Use Disorder: Possibility of Using Music Therapy In their study, Bourdaghs and Silverman address the possibility of using music therapy as the tool for promoting the socialization of people with a substance use disorder.
• Music Therapy: The Impact on Older Adults There is therefore the need to focus more energy to aid more understating on the role of music therapy on older residents.”The recent qualitative review of literature in the area of music and music therapy […]
• Music Therapy: Alternative to Traditional Pain Medicine The sources underline that therapists should pay attention to the subjects of music and their impact on the health of clients.
• Music Therapy as a Social Work Intervention One of such interventions is music therapy which is aimed at helping people in a sensitive way accurately adjusting the possibilities this therapy may offer to the requirements of a particular client of a group […]
• The Role of Music Therapy as Alternative Treatment Music therapy is the use of music interventions to achieve individualized goals of healing the body, mind, and spirit. Thereafter, several developments occurred in the field of music therapy, and the ringleaders founded the American […]
• Music Therapy Effectiveness In addition to this, research has shown that stroke patients become more involved in therapy sessions once music is incorporated in the treatment program; this is the motivational aspect of music.
• Sound as an Element of Music Therapy This is one of the reasons why in the Abrams study the participants explained that they preferred the sound of rain, ocean waves and the soft strumming of a guitar as compared to the work […]
• Music Therapy Throughout the Soloist Globally, classical music in its sense has always been known to adjoin the listener to some transcendent understanding of the world order, the feeling of integrity with the Universe and enormous delight rising up from […]
• Music Therapy: Where Words Cease In spite of the fact that, as a rule, one indulges into art to find the shelter from the reality, the author of the book called The Soloist explores quite a different issue of the […]
• Active Music Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy for Survivors of Abuse
• Music Therapy Effectiveness of Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
• The Link Between Ancestral Hormones and Music Therapy
• Analysis of the Effectiveness of Art and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Usefulness for Cancer Patients
• Music Therapy Impact on Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
• How Music Therapy Can Be Used to Reduce Pre-Operative Anxiety
• Healing Chronic Pain With Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Effect on the Wellness and Mood of Adolescents
• Comparing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Music Therapy
• Constructing Optimal Experience for the Hospitalized Newborn Through Neuro-Based Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: Considerations for the Clinical Environment
• “Dementia and the Power of Music Therapy” by Steve Matthews Analysis
• Music Therapy for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Discussing Music Therapy Reducing Stress Health and Social Care
• Does Music Therapy Help Children With Special Needs?
• Music Therapy for Delinquency Involved Juveniles Through Tripartite Collaboration
• Heidelberg Neuro-Music Therapy Enhances Task-Negative Activity in Tinnitus Patients
• Music Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• How Does Music Therapy Promote Positive Mental Health?
• Music Therapy and Its Positive Effects on the Brain
• The Relationships Between Learning and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy for Sexually Abused Children
• Managing Sickle Cell Pain With Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: How Does Music Impact Our Emotions
• Dealing With Depression With the Help of Music Therapy
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy and Drug Therapy for Children With Autism
• Music Therapy and Its Effect on the Levels of Anxiety
• The Link Between Music Therapy and Personality Theory Psychology
• How Music Therapy Improves Depression Among Older Adults
• Music Therapy: The Best Way to Help Children With Mental Illness
• Interventions of Music Therapy for Stress Reduction
• The Real Science Behind the Theory of Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Should Not Be Considered a Therapy
• Neurologic Music Therapy Training for Mobility and Stability Rehabilitation
• Nursing Theory for Music Therapy Quality Improvement Program
• The Help of Music Therapy in Pain Management
• Relationship Between Hypertension and Music Therapy
• Yoga and Music Therapy as Effective Methods of Stress Management
• What Is Music Therapy Used For?
• What Are Some Examples of Music Therapy?
• What Kind of Music Is Used in Music Therapy?
• What Are the Side Effects of Music Therapy?
• What Mental Illnesses Does Music Therapy Help?
• Can Music Therapy Help With Anxiety?
• What Type of Music Therapy Helps Depression?
• Does Music Therapy Actually Work?
• Do Psychiatrists Use Music Therapy?
• Do Doctors Recommend Music Therapy?
• How Long Does Music Therapy Last?
• Why Is Music Therapy Not Used?
• What Is a Typical Music Therapy Session Like?
• What Are the Two Main Benefits of Music Therapy?
• How Can Music Therapy Be Done at Home?
• What Does Music Therapy Do to the Brain?
• Is Music Therapy Good for Stress?
• Can Music Therapy Help With Trauma?
• What Ages Benefit From Music Therapy?
• What Is the First Step of Music Therapy?
• Does Music Therapy Include Talking?
• What Instruments Are Used for Music Therapy?
• What Is the Difference Between Sound Therapy and Music Therapy?
• Can You Do Music Therapy Without a Degree?
• Why Is Music Therapy Better Than Medicine?
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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/.

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Reviewing the Effectiveness of Music Interventions in Treating Depression

Associated data.

Depression is a very common mood disorder, resulting in a loss of social function, reduced quality of life and increased mortality. Music interventions have been shown to be a potential alternative for depression therapy but the number of up-to-date research literature is quite limited. We present a review of original research trials which utilize music or music therapy as intervention to treat participants with depressive symptoms. Our goal was to differentiate the impact of certain therapeutic uses of music used in the various experiments. Randomized controlled study designs were preferred but also longitudinal studies were chosen to be included. 28 studies with a total number of 1,810 participants met our inclusion criteria and were finally selected. We distinguished between passive listening to music (record from a CD or live music) (79%), and active singing, playing, or improvising with instruments (46%). Within certain boundaries of variance an analysis of similar studies was attempted. Critical parameters were for example length of trial, number of sessions, participants' age, kind of music, active or passive participation and single- or group setting. In 26 studies, a statistically significant reduction in depression levels was found over time in the experimental (music intervention) group compared to a control ( n = 25) or comparison group ( n = 2). In particular, elderly participants showed impressive improvements when they listened to music or participated in music therapy projects. Researchers used group settings more often than individual sessions and our results indicated a slightly better outcome for those cases. Additional questionnaires about participants confidence, self-esteem or motivation, confirmed further improvements after music treatment. Consequently, the present review offers an extensive set of comparable data, observations about the range of treatment options these papers addressed, and thus might represent a valuable aid for future projects for the use of music-based interventions to improve symptoms of depression.

Introduction

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” −Einstein, 1929 .

Depression is one of the most serious and frequent mental disorders worldwide. International studies predict that approximately 322 million (WHO, 2017 ) of the world's population suffer from a clinical depression. This disorder can occur from infancy to old age, with women being affected more often than men (WHO, 2017 ). Thus, depression is one of the most common chronic diseases. Depressive suffering is associated with psychological, physical, emotional, and social impairments. This can influence the whole human being in a fundamental way. Without clinical treatment, it has the tendency to recur or to take a chronic course that can lead to loneliness (Alpass and Neville, 2003 ) and an increasing social isolation (Teo, 2012 ). Depression can have many causes that range from genetic, over psychological factors (negative self-concept, pessimism, anxiety and compulsive states, etc.) to psychological trauma. In addition, substance abuse (Neighbors et al., 1992 ) or chronic diseases (Moussavi et al., 2007 ) can also trigger depression. The colloquial use of the term “depressed” has nothing to do with the depression in the clinical sense. The ICD-10 (WHO, 1992 ) and the DSM-V (APA, 2013 ) provide a classification based on symptoms, considering the patient's history and its severity, duration, course and frequency. Within the last two decades, research on the use of music medicine or music therapy to treat depression, showed a growing popularity and several publications have appeared that documented this movement (e.g., Lee, 2000 ; Loewy, 2004 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ; Chen et al., 2016 ; Fancourt et al., 2016 ). However, most researchers used a very specific experimental setup (Hillecke et al., 2005 ) and thus, for example, focused only on one music genre (i.e., classical, modern; instrumental, vocal), used a predefined experimental setup (group or individual) (e.g., Kim et al., 2006 ; Chen et al., 2016 ), or specified precisely the age range (i.e., adolescents, elderly) of participants (e.g., Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ). A recent meta-analysis (Hole et al., 2015 ) reviewed 72 randomized controlled trials and concluded that music was a notable aid for reducing postoperative symptoms of anxiety and pain.

Dementia patients showed significant cognitive and emotional benefits when they sang, or listened to familiar songs (Särkämö et al., 2008 , 2014 ). Beneficial effects were also described for CNMP (Chronic Non-Malignant Pain) patients with depression (Siedliecki and Good, 2006 ) 1 . Cardiology is an area where music interventions are commonly used for intervention purposes. Various explanations were postulated and the broad range of effects on the cardiovascular system was investigated (Trappe, 2010 ; Hanser, 2014 ). Music as a therapeutic approach was evaluated (Gold et al., 2004 ), and found to have positive effects before heart surgery (Twiss et al., 2006 ), used to increase relaxation during angiography (Bally et al., 2003 ), or decrease anxiety (Doğan and Senturan, 2012 ; Yinger and Gooding, 2015 ). A systematic review (Jespersen et al., 2015 ) concluded that music improved subjective sleep quality in adults with insomnia, verbal memory in children (Chan et al., 1998 ; Ho et al., 2003 ), and episodic long-term memory (Eschrich et al., 2008 ). Music conveyed a certain mood or atmosphere (Husain et al., 2002 ), allowed composers to trigger emotions (Bodner et al., 2007 ; Droit-Volet et al., 2013 ), based on the cultural background (Balkwill and Thompson, 1999 ), or ethnic group (Werner et al., 2009 ) someone belonged to. In contrast, the emotional state itself plays a role (Al'tman et al., 2004 ) on how music is interpreted (Al'tman et al., 2000 ), and durations are evaluated (Schäfer et al., 2013 ). Subjective impressions embedded in a composition caused physiological body reactions (Grewe et al., 2007 ; Jäncke, 2008 ) and even strengthened the immune system (McCraty et al., 1996 ; Bittman et al., 2001 ). The pace of (background) music (Oakes, 2003 ), has also been used as an essential element of many marketing concepts (North and Hargreaves, 1999 ), to create a relaxed atmosphere. An in-depth, detailed illustration described the wide variety of conscious, as well as subconscious influences music can have (Panksepp and Bernatzky, 2002 ), and endorsed future research on this subject.

Distinction between the terms “Music Therapy [MT]” and “Music Medicine [MM]”

Most of us know what kind of music or song “can cheer us up.” To treat someone else is something completely different though. Therefore, evidence-based procedures were created for a more pragmatic approach. It is important to differentiate between music therapy and the therapeutic use of music. Music used for patient treatment can be divided into two major categories, namely [MT] and [MM], although the distinction is not always that clear.

Music therapy [MT]

Term used primarily for a setting, where sessions are provided by a board-certified music therapist. Music therapy [MT] (Maratos et al., 2008 ; Bradt et al., 2015 ) stands for 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 ” (AMTA) 2 . Many different fields of practice, mostly in the health care system, show an increasing amount of interest in [MT]. Mandatory is a systematic constructed therapy process that was created by a board-certified music therapist and requires an individual-specific music selection that is developed uniquely for and together with the patient in one or more sessions. Therapy settings are not limited to listening, but may also include playing, composing, or interacting with music. Presentations can be pre-recorded or live. In other cases (basic) instruments are built together. The process to create these tailor-made selections requires specific knowledge on how to select, then construct and combine the most suitable stimuli or hardware. It must also be noted that music therapy is offered as a profession-qualifying course of study.

Music medicine [MM] (i.e., functional music, music in medicine)

Carried out independently by professionals, who are not qualified music therapists, like relaxation therapists, physicians or (natural) scientists. A previous consultation, or collaboration, with a certified music therapist can be helpful (Register, 2002 ). In recent years, significant progress has been made in both the research and clinical application of music as a form of treatment. It has valuable therapeutic properties, suitable for the treatment of several diseases. The term “music medicine” is used as a term for the therapeutic use of music in medicine (Bradt et al., 2015 , 2016 ), to be able to differentiate it from “music therapy.” [MM] stands for a medical, physiological and physical evaluation of the use of music. If someone listens to his or her favorite music, this is sometimes also considered as a form of music medicine. [MM] deliberately differs from music therapy as part of psychiatric care or psychotherapy. It is important to stress out that the term “Music Therapy [MT]” should not be used for any kind of treatment involving music, although there is without doubt a relationship between [MT] and [MM]. What all of them have in common is the focus on a scientifically, artistically or clinically based approach to music.

“Seamless Transitions” between music therapy [MT] and music medicine [MM]

Activity used for treatment is ambiguous or not clearly labeled as “Music Therapy” or “Music Medicine.” It should not be forgotten that the definition of “Music Therapy” is not always clearly distinguishable from “Music Medicine.” One possible scenario would be a physician (i.e., “non-professional”), who is not officially certified by the AMTA (or comparable institutions), but still acts according to the mandatory rules. In addition, depending on one's home country, uniform standards or eligibility requirements might be substantially different. We think that every effort should be recognized and therefore postulate one definition that can describe the main principle of [MT], [MM], and everything in between, in one sentence: “ Implementation of acoustic stimuli (“music”) as a medium for the purpose of improving symptoms in a defined group of participants (patients) suffering from depression.”

Materials and methods

Literature search.

Search strategy and selection process was performed according to the recommended guidelines of the Cochrane Centre on systematic literature search (Higgins and Green, 2008 ). Our approach ( Figure 2 ) was according to their scientific relevance, supplemented by the analysis of relevant journals, conferences and workshops of recent years. We obtained 60,795 articles from various search engines as initial result. Retrieved data was collected and processed on an existing personal computer with the latest Windows operating system.

Search, collection, selection, and review strategies

We used a combination of words defining three search-categories (Music-, Treatment-, and Depression associated) as well as several words (e.g., Sound, Unhappy, and Treatment) assigned to each category as described in the collection process.below. If synonyms of those keywords were identified, they were added as well. Theme-categories 3 were created next, then related keywords identified and added into a table. “Boolean Operators 4 ” were used as logical connectives to broaden and/or narrow our search results within many databases (mostly search engines as described below).

This way the systematic variation of keyword-based queries and search terms could be performed with much more efficiency. To find the most relevant literature on the subject, keywords were entered into various scientific search engines, namely PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. After the collection process, several different steps were used to reduce the number of retrieved results. Selection out of the collected material included to narrow down search results to a limited period of time. We decided to choose a period between 1990 and 2016 (i.e., not exceeding 26 years), because within these years several very interesting works of research were published, but often not mentioned explicitly, discussed in detail, or the main target of a comparative review. After several papers were excluded, a systematic key phrases search was conducted once more to retrieve results, limited to original research articles 5 . We also removed search results that quoted book chapters, as well as reports from international congresses and conferences. Research papers that remained were distinguished from duplicates (or miss-matches not dismissed yet). Based on our predefined criteria for in- and ex-clusion, relevant publications were then selected for an intensified review process. Our plan was to apply the following inclusion criteria: Original research article, published at time of selection, music and/or instruments were used intentionally to improve the emotional status of participants (i.e., intended or officially confirmed as music therapy). The following exclusion criteria were used: No original research, article was not published (e.g., project phase, in review), unverified data or literature was used, participants did neither receive nor interact with music. Not relevant for in- or exclusion was the kind of questionnaire used to measure depression, additional diagnostic measures for pathologies other than depression, spatial and temporal implementation of treatment, demographics (i.e., number, age, and gender) participants had, or distinctive features (like setting, duration, speakers, live version, and recorded) of stimuli. After the initial number of results, the remaining articles were manually checked for completeness and accuracy of information. Our final selection of articles included 28 research papers.

General information — (Figure ​ (Figure1 1 )

“Road-Map” Outline of the following results section (idea, concept and creation of this Figure by Leubner).

Evaluating the methodological quality of our meta-review

During the review process, we used a very strict self-monitoring procedure to ensure that the quality of scientific research was met to the best of our knowledge and stood in accordance with the standards of good scientific practice. Every effort has been made to provide the accuracy of contents as well as completeness of data published within our meta-review. Inspired by another author's meta-review (Kamioka et al., 2014 ), we evaluated our work by the AMSTAR checklist (Shea et al., 2007 ) 6 and found no reasons for objection regarding our selection of reviews. AMSTAR (acronym for “Assessment of Multiple SysTemAtic Reviews”), a questionnaire for assessing systemic reviews, is based on a rating scale with 11 items (i.e., questions). AMSTAR allows authors to determine and graduate the methodological quality of their systematic review.

Effect size

We investigated a wide variety of scholarly papers within our review. There were many different approaches and several procedures. As far as intervention approaches and procedures were concerned, we found (very) similar trends in several papers. To ensure that those different tendencies were not only based on our pure assumption as well as biased interpretation, we also calculated the effect-size correlation by using the mean scores as well as standard deviations for each of the treatment and control groups, if this setup was used by the respective researcher. Most trials showed a small difference in between the experimental and control group at baseline, what almost always turned into a large effect size regarding post-measurement.

Depression score improvement (DSI) — approach to compare questionnaires

As mentioned above, we selected 28 scholarly articles that used different questionnaires to measure symptoms of depression for experimental and control groups. According to common statistical standards we used a formula to evaluate and compare the relative standing of each mean to every other mean. To avoid confusion, we decided to refer to it as “Depression Score Improvement (DSI).” Mathematically speaking it stands for the mean difference between the pre-test and post-test results (i.e., score changes) in percent. (DSI Ind ) stands for an individual and (DSI{ Gr ) for a group setting. Please refer to the Supplementary Materials (Table: “Complete Display of Statistical Data”) 7 for additional information.

The results will review the works in terms of demographics, treatment implementation, and diagnostic measures.

Literature search results — (Figure ​ (Figure2 2 )

Overview of our Collection, Selection, and Review Process (idea, concept and creation of this Figure by Leubner). Initially, the total number of retrieved results was 118,000 as far as google-scholar was concerned. Analysis was complicated by the disproportionately high number of results from google-scholar. Therefore, we decided to narrow down this initial search query to a period from 1990 up to 2016, and reduced the results from google-scholar to 60,000 this way. Compared to the other two search engines, this process was done two steps ahead. At google-scholar we excluded patents as well as citations in the initial window for our search results. Unfortunately search options are very limited, and though we retrieved at first this overwhelming number of 118,000 results!. Some keywords (e.g., anxiety, pain, fear, violence) were deliberately excluded right from the beginning. This was done right at the start of our selection/search process, to prevent a systematic distortion of retrieved results.

Collection process – results

A large list of keywords, based on several questions we had, was created initially. They were combined into search-terms and finally put into search-categories as category-dependent keywords. In addition, we discussed several parameters and agreed on three categories (associated to music, treatment, and depression). By querying scientific databases, using the above-mentioned category-dependent keywords as input criteria, we retrieved a very large number of results. We then searched for a combination of the following words and/or phrases (e.g., “ music AND therapy AND depression”; “acoustic AND intervention AND unhappy” ), narrowed down the retrieved results according to a combination of several keywords (e.g., “ music therapy”; “acoustic intervention” ), and sorted this data according to relevance.

Selection process – results

In step two we applied the above-mentioned approach and narrowed down our search query to a limited period of time, then systematically searched for key phrases, and excluded duplicates as well as previously overlooked miss-matches. Our inclusion criteria can be summarized as follows: Original research article, already published at time of selection, music and/or instruments were used intentionally to improve the emotional status of participants. Our exclusion criteria were: No original research, article was not published (e.g., project phase, in review), unverified data or literature was used, participants did neither receive nor interact with music.

Review process – results

Based on our predefined criteria for inclusion and exclusion, relevant publications were then selected and used for our intensified review process. After reducing the initial number of results, we obtained the remaining articles, conducted a hand-search in selected scientific journals, and manually checked for completeness as well as accuracy of the contained information. The final selection of articles, according to our selection criteria, included 28 papers.

Demographics 8

To begin with, the number of participants as well as age and gender related basic demographics were analyzed.

Participants – results

Our final selection of 28 studies included 1,810 participants, with group sizes between five and 236 persons (n av = 64.64; SD = 56.13). For experimental groups, we counted 954 individuals ( n min = 5; n max = 116; n av = 34.07; SD = 27.78), and 856 ( n min = 10; n max = 120; n av = 30.57; SD = 29.10) for the control respectively. Although three authors (Ashida, 2000 ; Guétin et al., 2009b ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ) did not use a control sample, those articles were nevertheless considered for calculating accurate and up-to-date data. Depending on each review, sample groups differed profoundly in number of participants. The smallest one had five participants (Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ), followed by three authors (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Ashida, 2000 ; Guétin et al., 2009b ) who used between 10 and 20 individuals in their clinical trials. Medium sized groups of up to 100 participants were found in six articles (Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Wang et al., 2011 ; Lu et al., 2013 ). Large groups with more than 100 (Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Silverman, 2011 ), or 200 (Chen et al., 2016 ) participants were the exception, and 236 participants (Chang et al., 2008 ) presented the upper end in our selection.

Age groups – results

Within our selected articles, the youngest participant was 14 (Hendricks et al., 1999 ), and the oldest 95 years of age (Guétin et al., 2009a ). We then separated relevant groups, according to their age, into three categories, namely “young,” “medium,” and “elderly.”

Participants were defined as “young,” if their mean age was below or equal to 30 years (≤30). Young individuals did show minimal better (i.e., higher) depression score improvements (DSI) (mean difference between the pre-test and post-test results was calculated in percent), if they attended group (mean DSI Gr = 53.83%) 9 , rather than individual (DSI Ind = 40.47%) music intervention sessions. These results may be due to the beneficial consequences of social interactions within groups, and thus confirm previous study results (Garber et al., 2009 ; Tartakovsky, 2015 ).

We used the term “medium” for groups of participants, whose mean ages ranged between 31 (>30) and 59 years (<60). Medium-aged participants presented much better results (i.e., higher depression score improvements), if they attended a group (mean DSI Gr = 48.37%), rather than an individual (mean DSI Ind = 24.79%) intervention setting. However, it should be stressed that our findings only show a positive trend and thus should not be evidence.

The third and final group was defined by us as “elderly” and included participants with a mean age of 60 years or above (≥60). Noticeable results were found for the age group we defined as elderly, as participants showed slightly better (i.e., higher) score improvements (mean DSI Ind = 48.96%), if they attended an individual setting. Considering the music selection that had been used for elderly participants, a strong tendency toward classical compositions was found (e.g., Chan et al., 2010 ; Han et al., 2011 ). Because a relevant number of participants came from Asian countries (e.g., China, Korea), elderly people from those research articles received, in addition to classical music, quite often Asian oriented compositions as well. Despite our extensive investigations, the influence this combination had on results, remained uncertain. Positive tendencies within those groups might be due to “traditional” and/or “culture related” factors. It is, however, also conceivable that combining Western classical with traditional Asian music is notably suited to produce better results. Concerning this matter, future research on western depression patients treated with a combination of classical Western, and traditional Asian music might be a promising concept to be further explored.

Gender – results

As far as gender was concerned, we subdivided each sample group in its female and male participants. Women and men were found in 20 study designs. This was the most frequently used constellation. Within this selection, we did not find any significant differences, and so no further analysis was done. Only women took part in two studies (Chang et al., 2008 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) 10 . Interestingly the same stimuli setup was used in both cases. It consisted of instrumental music without vocals, stored on a digital record, and was presented via loudspeakers from a CD (Chang et al., 2008 ) or MP3 player (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ). Only men were seen in four research papers (Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ; Albornoz, 2011 ; Chen et al., 2016 ). A significant improvement of depression scores was reported for every experimental group, and once (Albornoz, 2011 ) for a corresponding control setting (received only standard and no alternative treatment). Three articles (Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ; Albornoz, 2011 ; Chen et al., 2016 ) shared several similarities, as percussion instruments (e.g., drums, tambourines) were part of each genre selection, all participants received music interventions in a group setting, and stimuli were actively produced within a live performance. In addition, the BDI questionnaire has also been used in three cases (Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Albornoz, 2011 ; Chen et al., 2016 ), and thus we were able to perform a search for similarities or tendencies. The average duration for one music intervention was 80 ( SD = 45) min and the total number of sessions was 17 ( SD = 5) in average. Two publications (Hsu and Lai, 2004 ; Wang et al., 2011 ) did not offer any information about gender related distribution of participants.

Music therapy [MT] vs. music medicine [MM] — study results

Music-therapy [mt].

Within our selection of 28 articles, six explicitly mentioned a certified music therapist (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ; Choi et al., 2008 ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Han et al., 2011 ; Silverman, 2011 ) 11 . For five articles with available data, a combined average depression score improvement (DSI) of 40.87% ( SD = 7.70%) was calculated for the experimental groups. As far as the relevant control groups were concerned, only twice depression scores decreased at all (Choi et al., 2008 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Table ​ Table1 1 ).

Music-Therapy interventions—music types and results.

Regarding the kind of music provided by a board-certified music therapist, we found some similarities that stood out and appeared more frequently, when compared to music medicine interventions. Percussion music (mainly drumming) was used by four researchers (Choi et al., 2008 ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Han et al., 2011 ). One author (Choi et al., 2008 ) used music based on instruments that were selected according to participant's preferences. Included were, for example, egg shakes, base-, ocean-, and paddle-drums. Participants actively played and passively listened to instruments or sounds, complemented by singing together. Another researcher (Erkkilä et al., 2011 ) preferred the African Djembe 12 drum as well as a selection of several percussion sounds created digitally by an external MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface ) synthesizer. Percussion-oriented improvisation that included rhythmic drumming and vocal patterns was another approach one scholar (Han et al., 2011 ) used for his stimuli selection. Congas, Cabassas, Ago-Gos, and Claves was the percussion-based selection (in addition a guitar and a Piano was also available) in the fourth music-therapy article (Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ). Twice, music without the use of percussion instruments or drums in general, was selected for the intervention. Once (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ) relaxing, slow and rhythmic harp-samples, played from a cassette-player, were used. In addition, each of the participants was invited to bring some samples of her or his favored music titles. The second one (Silverman, 2011 ) decided to play a “12-bar Blues” (i.e., “blues changes”) 13 progression as an introduction, followed by a Blues songwriting session. The last-mentioned music-therapy project was the only article out of six, where participants within their respective music intervention group did not present a significant reduction of depression. A very interesting “fund” was that none of the music-therapy articles neither concentrated their main music selection on classical, nor on Jazz music. When we looked for other distinctive features it turned out that stimuli were actively produced within a live performance in five articles. There was only one exception (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ), where a passive presentation of recorded stimuli was preferred by the scholar.

Music-medicine [MM]

The remaining 22 research articles did not explicitly mention a certified music therapist. In those cases, some variant of music medicine was used for intervention. Often the expression music therapy was used, although a more detailed description or specific information was neither published nor available upon our request. With one exception (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ), we could calculate the (DSI) 9 for 25 articles that used some variant of music-medicine [MM].

When we investigated the kind of music that was used, a broader selection of genres was found. Percussion based tracks and drumming appeared in five scholarly papers (Ashida, 2000 ; Albornoz, 2011 ; Lu et al., 2013 ; Chen et al., 2016 ; Fancourt et al., 2016 ). Researchers that used drums reported a significant depression score improvement for every experimental group and we calculated an average of 53.71% for those five articles. Regarding the kind of genre used in our selection of music-medicine articles, a wider range of genres was found. One of the biggest differences was that only music-medicine articles used, in addition to percussion stimuli, also classical and Jazz music for their intervention. Please note that for reasons of confusion, we do not mention the Seamless Transitions between Music Therapy [MT] and Music Medicine [MM] from the “Materials and Methods Section.”

Music genres (selection of music titles) – results

Regarding the kind of music used in our selection of research articles, a wide range of genres was found. Mainly three styles, classical 14 (9x), percussion 15 (9x), and Jazz (5x) music were used more frequently for music intervention. The evaluation took place when specific compositions showed significantly greater improvements in depression compared to other research attempts. Utilizing our comprehensive data analysis, music titles were categorized according to genre or style (e.g., classical music, Jazz), narrowed down (e.g., Jazz), sorted by magnitude of depression score improvements (DSI) 9 , and finally examined for distinctive features (like setting, duration, speakers, live version, recorded). Similarities that stood out and appeared more frequently among one selected music genre were compared with the 28 scholarly articles we selected for our meta-review.

Classical music – results

In nine articles, classical music (Classical or Baroque period) 22 was used. Several well-known composers such as W.A. Mozart (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ), L. v. Beethoven (Chang et al., 2008 ; Chan et al., 2009 ) and J. S. Bach (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ; Koelsch et al., 2010 ) have been among the selected samples. If classical music was used as intervention, our calculations revealed that four studies out of eight 16 were among those with depression score improvements (DSI) 31 that were above the average 17 of 39.98% ( SD = 12). When we looked for similarities between these, three of the four studies (Harmat et al., 2008 ; Chan et al., 2009 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ) used individual sessions, rather than a group setting (Koelsch et al., 2010 ). For all four articles mentioned above, we calculated an average of 11 ( SD = 10) for the total number of sessions that included classical music. The remaining five articles on the other hand, presenting results not as good as the aforementioned, showed an average of 30 ( SD = 21) music interventions. One plausible hypothesis might be “saturation effect” caused by too many interventions in total. Too little variety within the selection of music titles has probably played an important role as well. A general tendency that less intervention sessions in total would lead to better results for every case where classical compositions were included could not be confirmed for our selection.

Percussion (drumming-based) music – results

Percussion music (mainly drumming) was used by nine 18 researchers, and among those, two ways of integration were found. On the one hand, rhythmic percussion compositions were included as part of the music title selection used for intervention. On the other hand, and this was the case in nine articles, various forms of drums had been offered to those who joined the experimental groups, allowing them to “produce their own” music. Sometimes participants were accompanied by a music therapist (e.g., Albornoz, 2011 ) or professional artist (Fancourt et al., 2016 ), who gave instructions on how to use and play these instruments. When we looked for trends or distinctive features percussion music (in particular drumming) had, it turned out that, except one article (Erkkilä et al., 2011 ), all were carried out within a group, rather than an individual setting. A further search for additional similarities, leading to better outcome scores, did not deliver any new findings as far as improvement of depression was concerned. Participants in altogether 7 out of 9 percussion groups were medium aged, two authors (Ashida, 2000 ; Han et al., 2011 ) described elderly participants, whereas none of the percussion groups included young participants.

A wide and even distribution of reduced depression scores across all outcome levels became apparent, when participants received percussion (or drumming) interventions. We calculated an average depression score improvement (DSI) of 47.80% ( SD = 14). Above-average results regarding depression score improvement (DSI), were achieved in four experiments that had an average percussion session duration of 63 ( SD = 19) min. In comparison, we calculated for the remaining five articles an average of 93 ( SD = 26) min. Although a difference of 30 min showed a clear tendency, it was not enough of a difference to draw any definitive conclusions.

Jazz music – results

Finally, five 19 researchers used primarily Jazz 20 as music genre for their intervention. Featured performers (artists) were Vernon Duke (“April in Paris”) (Chan et al., 2009 ), M. Greger (“Up to Date”), and Louis Armstrong (“St. Louis Blues”) (Koelsch et al., 2010 ). Unfortunately, available data was quite limited, mainly since most authors did not disclose relevant information and a detailed description was rarely seen. Some interesting points were also found for research articles that used Jazz as a treatment option. All five of them were among those with good outcome scores, as far as depression reduction was concerned. Test scores ranged between a significance level of p < 0.01 (Guétin et al., 2009a ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ; Chen et al., 2016 ) and sometimes even better than p < 0.001 (e.g., Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Fancourt et al., 2016 ). Depression score improvement (DSI) had an average of 43.41% ( SD = 6). However, there was no clear trend leading toward Jazz as a more effective intervention option, when compared to other music genres. This was assumed because the two studies that showed the best 21 reduction in depression [Chan et al., 2010 (DSI = 48.78%); Koelsch et al., 2010 (DSI = 4 6.58%)] used both classical music in addition to Jazz as an intervention. Experimental groups received two types of intervention (i.e., classical music and Jazz) which eventually blurred outcome scores or prevented more accurate results. Since it was not possible to differentiate to what extent either classical music or Jazz was responsible for the positive trend in reducing symptoms of depression, further research in this field is needed.

Additional music genres – results

Numerous other music styles were used in the experiments, ranging from Indian ragas 22 played on a flute (Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Deshmukh et al., 2009 ), nature sound compositions (Ashida, 2000 ; Chang et al., 2008 ), meditative (Chan et al., 2010 ), or slow rhythm music (Chan et al., 2012 ), to lullabies (Chang et al., 2008 ), pop or rock (Kim et al., 2006 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ), Irish folk, Salsa, and Reggae (Koelsch et al., 2010 ), only to name a few. As far as we were concerned all those genres mentioned above would present interesting approaches for future research. Due to a relatively small number and simultaneously wide-ranging variety, more thorough investigations are needed, though. These should be examined independently. As far as the above-mentioned music genres, other than classical, percussion, or Jazz were concerned, no indication for a preferable combination was observed.

Experimental vs. control groups – results

Non-significant results for experimental groups ( p > 0.05).

In two (Deshmukh et al., 2009 ; Silverman, 2011 ) out of 28 studies within our selection of research papers, no significant reduction in depression scores was reported, after participants participated in music interventions. Within those two cases all relevant statistical observations differed without any obvious similarities indicating reasons for non-significant results. Although the results did not meet statistical significance for symptom improvement, both authors explicitly pointed out that positive changes in the severity of depression became obvious for the respective experimental groups. We declared one article (Guétin et al., 2009b ) as significant, although it was marked as non-significant in our complete table. This was due to the overall results of this specific research paper, with significant [HADS-D] test scores for weeks 5, 10, and 15. Only week 20 did not follow this positive trend of improvement. It is also important to mention that after music treatment every one of the additional tests [HADS-A for Anxiety; Face(-Scale) to measure mood] showed significant improvements for the experimental group.

Alternative treatment for corresponding control groups

Control groups, who received an alternative (i.e., non-music) intervention, were found in nine research articles (e.g., Guétin et al., 2009a ; Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ) 23 . We investigated whether there were particularly noticeable differences in outcome scores, when relevant control groups, who received an alternative treatment, were compared to those who received no additional intervention at all (or only the usual treatment) 24 . As far as these nine articles were concerned, a significant reduction ( p < 0.05) in depression scores was found in every experimental but only one control setting (Hendricks et al., 1999 ). In this case, an entirely different result became apparent, when control participants received a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy [CBT] and a significant reduction ( p < 0.05) in depression scores was measured compared to the respective baseline score, although music still lead to better results. Another scholar (Chan et al., 2012 ) 25 , instructed participants in the control group to take a resting period, while simultaneously the experimental attendees joined their music intervention session. This alternative approach did not reduce the [GDS-15] depression score, but even increased it. Interestingly, the same author previously published (Chan et al., 2009 ) a significant ( p = 0.007) increase (i.e., worsening of depression) for the relevant control setting. To be complete, a resting period was also conducted in another case (Hsu and Lai, 2004 ), but results showed also no significant reduction in depression scores. Other attempts to provide an alternative intervention for the control group have been monomorphic tones (Koelsch et al., 2010 ) that corresponded to the experimental music samples (in pitch-, BPM-, and duration), verbal treatment sessions (Silverman, 2011 ), antidepressant drugs (Verrusio et al., 2014 ) 26 , reading sessions (Guétin et al., 2009a ) or a “conductive-behavioral” psychotherapy (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ).

Significant results for control groups ( p < 0.05):

Significant reduction of depression ( p < 0.05) in corresponding control (“non-music treatment”) groups was reported twice (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Albornoz, 2011 ) within our selection of scholarly articles. In one instance (Albornoz, 2011 ) the relevant participants received only standard care, but in the other case (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) an already above mentioned alternative treatment (i.e., “Cognitive-Behavioral Activities”) was reported.

Spatial and temporal implementation of treatment

Individual vs. group intervention – results.

As postulated by previous literature (Wheeler et al., 2003 ; Maratos et al., 2008 ), we differentiated mainly two scenarios based on the number of participants who attended music intervention sessions and referred to them as “group” or “individual.” Group sessions can awaken participants' social interactions and individual sessions often provides motivation (Wheeler et al., 2003 ). Here, a “group” scenario was specified, if two or more persons ( n ≥ 2) were treated simultaneously, whereas “individual” determined experimental settings where only one single person received music interventions individually ( n = 1). Among our article selection we could find a well-balanced distribution of 15 trials with participants who received music interventions in a group, while 13 researchers used an individual setting. First, the impact of individual compared to group treatment was evaluated. Here an almost equivalent outcome (for the significance-level of results) across all 13 individual, compared to 15 group settings was found, without any advantage to one over the other. Non-significant improvements were seen once for a group (Silverman, 2011 ) and once 27 for an individual (Deshmukh et al., 2009 ) intervention.

Single-session duration – results

The question whether groups showed different (i.e., more or less) improvements, if the duration of one single session was altered, we decided to use the intervention length as a key metric (Figure ​ (Figure3). 3 ). Except for two instances (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Wang et al., 2011 ), 26 research papers reported the duration one single treatment had. Among those 20 min (Guétin et al., 2009a ) was the shortest, and 120 min (Albornoz, 2011 ; Han et al., 2011 ) the longest duration for one session. The average for all 26 articles was 55 min, 70 min for 13 28 group settings, and 40 min as far as the 13 individual intervention setups were concerned.

Session- and research duration–vs.–[DSI] results in dependence of treatment setting.

Entire research (=) intervention program duration – results

Continuing our review process, some interesting diversity was found for the scheduled (i.e., total) treatment duration (Figure ​ (Figure3). 3 ). It ranged from 1 day in two cases (Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Silverman, 2011 ) up to 20 (Guétin et al., 2009b ), or even 24 weeks (Verrusio et al., 2014 ). Out of 26 trials an average duration of 7 weeks was found. In two cases, the data was missing (Wang et al., 2011 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ). The scheduled (i.e., total) treatment duration was determined by a variety of factors. Our investigation, whether there was any relationship between the entire duration of experimental projects and relevant outcome scores, delivered the following results. For an individual (Ind) therapy setting, we isolated eight 29 research papers with above average 30 results in depression score improvement (DSI Ind > 36.50%). We then calculated for the entire project an average duration of almost 7 weeks. For the remaining five 31 articles that also used an individual approach, but had below average depression score improvements, an average duration of 6 weeks was found. A different picture became apparent when we selected those four 32 articles that presented better than average (DSI Gr > 49.09%) results in depression score improvement, after participants received music intervention in a group (Gr). Percussion music (mainly drumming) was used by three researchers (Ashida, 2000 ; Lu et al., 2013 ; Chen et al., 2016 ). In comparison, the fourth author (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) used a selection of relaxing music for treatment. For this setup, a combined duration of six ( SD = 4) weeks was calculated for the entire project length. On the other hand, a mean close to 10 ( SD = 7) weeks was found for the remaining 7 33 group intervention projects that were less successful (i.e., below average), as far as depression score reduction was concerned. Based on these results, we concluded that the length for the entire music intervention procedure might be a crucial element for successful results, and seems to be associated with the intervention type. These findings were not enough to draw further conclusions for every project though, but as far as our selection was concerned, a slightly longer intervention duration of 7 weeks led to better results if participants were treated individually. In comparison, for a group setting our calculations revealed a different picture, when we calculated the average entire duration for all relevant research projects. Here it was 6 weeks that produced the most beneficial results within groups. Drums were used for three out of the four projects that presented above average results. Once (Ashida, 2000 ) a small African drum was used for “drumming activity” at the start of every session. Each time a different participant was asked to perform with this instrument, although nobody in the experimental group was neither a professional drummer nor a musician. African drums were also used by another researcher (Chen et al., 2016 ). In addition, equipment also included one stereo, one electronic piano, two guitars, one set of hand glockenspiel, and other percussion instruments such as cymbals, tambourines, and xylophones. Finally, percussion instruments used in the third study (Lu et al., 2013 ) included hand bells, snare drums, a castanet, a tambourine, some claves, a triangle and wood blocks.

Total number of sessions – results

Continuing the analysis, we evaluated the total number of music intervention sessions. Apparently, this metric was dependent on the duration as well as frequency (“session frequency”) each intervention had. With one exception (Wang et al., 2011 ), where relevant data was missing, the number of sessions varied considerably. Only a single treatment session was used by three authors (Chan et al., 2010 ; Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Silverman, 2011 ), whereas 56 sessions (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ) marked the opposite end of the scale. For 27 articles with available data, a combined average of 15 sessions was found. As far as the total number of sessions in an individual type of setting was concerned, above average results had a combined number of 13 ( SD = 5) sessions, whereas the remaining six research works had 18 ( SD = 8) interventions. The best results in a group setting showed an average of 17 sessions ( SD = 15) and they were found in 7 scholarly publications. In comparison, we calculated 14 sessions in total for the remaining 7 articles.

Session frequency (i.e., sessions per week) – results

As described previously (Wheeler et al., 2003 ), the number of sessions can produce different results. Researchers, within our selection of 28 articles, used various approaches for their experiment, as far as the “session frequency” (i.e., number of sessions within a defined duration) was concerned. Pre-defined intervals ranged from once a week up to one time a day. Once (Choi et al., 2008 ), the article did mention the total number of sessions ( n = 15) with a “frequency” of one to two times a week and a total intervention duration of 12 weeks. To be able to present an appropriate comparison of statistical data, a mean of 1.25 sessions per week was calculated. Besides two cases (Wang et al., 2011 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) where no information was provided, the combined average session frequency for the remaining 26 articles was 2.89 ( SD = 2.50) interventions per week. Usually sessions were held once a week.

Session- and research duration – vs. – [DSI] results in dependence of treatment setting

We further investigated if there was an association between therapy setting (individual or group), the length of a single session, and trial duration with regard to symptom improvement. Groups (Figure ​ (Figure3) 3 ) showed better (i.e., above average) improvements in depression, if each session had an average duration of 60 min, and the mean length of treatment was 4–8 weeks.

In comparison, the two variables, session length and trial duration, had different effects for individual treatment approaches (Figure ​ (Figure3). 3 ). Above average results were found for sessions lasting 30 min combined with a treatment duration between 4 and 8 weeks.

Diagnostic measures – results of selected questionnaires

We discovered some distinctive features as well as certain similarities in our selection of 28 articles. They might be a guidance for future research projects and as such are presented in more detail in the subsections below.

Beck depression inventory [BDI]

There are three versions of the BDI. The original [BDI] (Beck et al., 1961 ), followed by its first [BDI-I/-1A] (Beck et al., 1988 ) and second [BDI-II] revision (Beck et al., 1996 ). Beck used a novel approach to develop his inventory by writing down the verbal symptom description of his patients with depression and later sorted his notes according to intensity or severity.

Beck depression inventory [BDI] – results

The BDI 34 (Beck et al., 1961 , 1996 ) was the most widely used screening tool in our scholarly selection. It was used in eight trials, but we only selected 7 35 studies for evaluating pre-post BDI scores. Once (Harmat et al., 2008 ), results were only provided for the experimental group, although an experimental control setting was described by the author. Twice (Harmat et al., 2008 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) two experimental groups and one control group were reported. In one case (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) two different music genres were used (“Light Pop & Heavy Rock”), and in another incident (Harmat et al., 2008 ) the second experimental group listened to an audiobook (“Music & Audiobook”). BDI baseline scores, that indicated a minimal 36 to mild 37 depression, were found in two articles (Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Harmat et al., 2008 ). Both authors reported for their experimental group a significant improvement of (BDI) depression scores. We calculated an overall average reduction of 2.72 ( SD = 0.03). Moderate 38 signs of depression, with BDI baseline scores that ranged from 18.66 (Albornoz, 2011 ) to 24.72 (Chen et al., 2016 ), were found twice. Music intervention improved BDI scores significantly, with an overall average reduction of 10.65 ( SD = 3.63) for both articles mentioned above. For the respective control groups one author (Chen et al., 2016 ) reported non-significant pre-post changes, whereas the other researcher (Albornoz, 2011 ) described a significant 39 reduction in the standard treatment group as well. The remaining three scholarly papers (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Choi et al., 2008 ; Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) described participants with a severe 40 depression, as confirmed by the initial (baseline) BDI results. One article (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ), of the three mentioned above, used one control and two experimental groups, who were treated with either “light” or “heavy” music. To be able to compare this work with the other studies one single baseline (31.75), post treatment (12.50), and pre-post difference score of 19.25 ( SD = 2.47) 41 was calculated (according to common statistical standards) for both experimental settings. Interestingly, the corresponding control sample showed a three-point increased BDI score ( p > 0.05) and no decrease at any time. Continuing with the remaining articles, even bigger initial baseline BDI scores of 39.00 ( SD = n/a) (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) and 49.30 ( SD = 3.10) (Choi et al., 2008 ) were found. In addition, both authors reported a significant pre-post BDI score reduction 42 for their experimental groups. Based on the published data it became evident that BDI scores improved significantly in each of the cases and this time an overall average reduction of 26.90 ( SD = 9.59) was calculated. Once (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) a significantly reduced BDI pre-post score was also reported for the control setting, where participants received a cognitive-behavioral activities program as an alternative (non-music) intervention.

We compared all research projects that used the BDI questionnaire (Table ​ (Table2). 2 ). Higher baseline scores almost always led to comparatively bigger score reductions in those experimental groups, who received music intervention. Except for two articles (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Albornoz, 2011 ), no significant improvements were found for control samples. For one of the above-mentioned exceptions (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) an alternative treatment (“ Cognitive-Behavioral” activities ) was provided, which might be a plausible explanation why those relatively young participants (all 14 or 15 years old) showed such reductions in BDI values. Nevertheless, it is also important to mention that the relevant experimental group improved to a greater extent (BDI PRE − BDI POST = 37.66) after treatment. As far as the other case (Albornoz, 2011 ) was concerned, no alternatives (i.e., other than basic or usual care) were offered, and thus no explanation had been established as to how the results could be explained.

Comparison of BDI results.

Geriatric depression scale [GDS-15/-30]

The original Geriatric Depression Scale [GDS-30] (Yesavage et al., 1983 ) includes 30 questions (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ; Chan et al., 2009 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ) and its shorter equivalent [GDS-15] (Yesavage and Sheikh, 1986 ) contains 15 items (Chan et al., 2010 , 2012 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ).

Geriatric depression scale [GDS-15/-30] – results

A more precise analysis of results was also done for the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15/-30) scores. As already suggested by its name, all 223 participants were elderly. Because both GDS versions are based on the same questionnaire, we combined scores of the long (i.e., GDS-30) with the short (i.e., GDS-15) test version and found a total of 223 participants in six articles (e.g., Chan et al., 2009 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ). A possible bias could be prevented because tests were evenly distributed in number, and with respect to higher GDS-30 as well as lower GDS-15 scores, calculations were adapted accordingly. Taking a closer look at the GDS-15/-30 results (Table ​ (Table3), 3 ), some similarities could be found for the most successful (all p ≤ 0.01) four research articles (Chan et al., 2009 , 2010 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ; Verrusio et al., 2014 ). All of them used and mainly focused on classical compositions as far as their music title selection was concerned. The average reduction in depression as measured by the GDS-15/-30 depression scores was 43% (−42.62%; SD = 6.24%). In comparison, every one of the remaining four research projects (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ; Ashida, 2000 ; Han et al., 2011 ; Chan et al., 2012 ) also presented significant results, albeit not as good as the above-mentioned (all p ≤ 0.05). Interestingly, as far as music genres were concerned, the focus of these less successful projects was rhythmic drumming in two cases (Ashida, 2000 ; Han et al., 2011 ). For the remaining two (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ; Chan et al., 2012 ) primarily relaxing, slow paced titles 43 were selected as intervention.

Comparison of GDS-15/-30 Results ( * )GDS-15, ( ** )GDS-30.

Other diagnostic measures for depression 44 – results 45

Several times, additional questionnaires were used to measure changes in the severity of depression.

Researchers performed those surveys (Table ​ (Table4) 4 ) in addition to their “main” depression questionnaire. Please refer to our Supplementary Material for a more comprehensive test description.

Additional tests, conducted by researchers within our article selection for investigating changes in depression.

Diagnostic measures for pathologies other than depression – results

In many instances, additional questionnaires were used (Table ​ (Table5 5 ) 49 to measure symptoms other than depression (e.g., Anxiety is known to be one of the most common depression comorbidities, Sartorius et al., 1996 ; Bradt et al., 2013 ; Tiller, 2013 ). Eight 46 researchers concentrated their investigation entirely on depression, and thus only performed questionnaires related to this pathology. In comparison, most of the remaining studies measured additional pathologies, with some of them known to be often associated comorbidities with depressive symptoms. However, because these topics were not the focus of this review, we won't discuss them here in detail. A much more detailed representation is available in the Supplementary Table. Please refer to the original studies for a more comprehensive test description.

Additional tests, conducted by researchers within our selection for investigating changes in other pathologies.

Discussion, conclusion and further thoughts

Depression often reduces participation in social activities. It also has an impact on reliability or stamina at daily work and may even result in a greater susceptibility to diseases. Music can be considered an emerging treatment option for mood disorders that has not yet been explored to its full potential. To the best of our knowledge, there were only very few meta-analyses, or systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials available that generated the amount of statistical data, which we presented here.

Certain individual-specific attributes of music are recognizable, when the medium of music is decomposed (Durkin, 2014 ) 47 into its components. Numerous researchers reported the beneficial effects of music, such as strengthening awareness and sensitiveness for positive emotions (Croom, 2012 ), or improvement of psychiatric symptoms (Nizamie and Tikka, 2014 ). Group drumming, for example, helped soldiers to deal with their traumatic experiences, while they were in the process of recovery (Bensimon et al., 2008 ). However, we have concentrated our focus of interest on patients diagnosed with clinical depression, one of the most serious and frequent mental disorders worldwide.

In this review we examined whether, and to what extent, music intervention could significantly affect the emotional state of people living with depression. Our primary objective was to accurately identify, select, and analyze up-to-date research literature, which utilized music as intervention to treat participants with depressive symptoms. After a multi-stage review process, a total of 1.810 participants in 28 scholarly papers met our inclusion criteria and were finally selected for further investigations about the effectiveness music had to treat their depression. Both, quantitative as well as qualitative empirical approaches were performed to interpret the data obtained from those original research papers. To consider the different methods researchers used, we presented a detailed illustration of approaches and evaluated them during our investigation process.

Interventions included, for example, various instrumental or vocal versions of classical compositions, Jazz, world music, and meditative songs to name just a few genres. Classical music (Classical or Baroque period) for treatment was used in nine articles. Notable composers were W.A. Mozart, L. v. Beethoven and J. S. Bach. Jazz was used five times for intervention. Vernon Duke (Title: “April in Paris”), M. Greger (Title: “Up to Date”), or Louis Armstrong (Title: “St. Louis Blues”) are some of the featured artists. The third major genre researchers used for their experimental groups was percussion and drumming-based music.

Significant criteria were complete trial duration, amount of intervention sessions, age distribution within participants, and individual or group setting. We compared passive listening to recorded music (e.g., CD), with active experiencing of live music (e.g., singing, improvising with instruments). Furthermore, the analysis of similar studies has enhanced and complemented our work. Previous studies indicated positive effects of music on emotions and anxiety, what we tried to confirm in more detail. The length of an entire music treatment procedure was suspected to be an important element for reducing symptoms of depression. A longer treatment duration of 7 weeks for an individual, compared to nearly 6 weeks in a group setting led to better (i.e., above average) outcomes. Although a difference was discovered, 1 week was not enough to draw further conclusions for each and every project. As far as intervals between sessions were concerned, we found no differences between those research articles that were among the best, compared to the remaining experimental designs. Consequently no trend was becoming apparent, favoring one over the others. We further investigated if there was any association between an individual or a group setting, if the length of a single session and trial duration were compared with regard to symptom improvement. Groups showed better improvements in depression, if each session had an average duration of 60 min, and a treatment between 4 and 8 weeks long. In comparison, the two variables, session length and trial duration, had different effects for individual treatment approaches. Above average results were found for sessions lasting 30 min combined with a treatment duration between 4 and 8 weeks. Furthermore, results were compared according to age groups (“young,” “medium,” and “elderly”). Overall, elderly people benefitted in particular from this kind of non-invasive treatment. During, but mainly after completion of music-driven interventions, positive effects became apparent. Those included primarily social aspects of life (e.g., an increased motivation to participate in life again), as well as concerned participants' psychological status (e.g., a strengthened self-confidence, an improved resilience to withstand stress).

We described similarities, the integration of different music intervention approaches had on participants in experimental vs. control groups, who received an alternative, or no additional treatment at all. Additional questionnaires confirmed further improvements regarding confidence, self-esteem and motivation. Trends in the improvement of frequently occurring comorbidities (e.g., anxiety, sleeping disorders, confidence and self-esteem) 48 , associated with depression, were also discussed briefly, and showed promising outcomes after intervention as well. Particularly anxiety (Sartorius et al., 1996 ; Tiller, 2013 ) is known to be a common burden, many patients with mood disorders are additionally affected with. Interpreted as manifestation of fear, anxiety is a basic feeling in situations that are regarded as threatening. Triggers can be expected threats such as physical integrity, self-esteem or self-image. Unfortunately, researchers merely distinguished between “anxiety disorder” (i.e., mildly exceeded anxiety) and the physiological reaction. Also, the question should be raised if the response to music differs if patients are suffering from both, depression and anxiety. Sleep quality in combination with symptoms of depression (Mayers and Baldwin, 2006 ) raised the question, whether sleep disturbances lead to depression or, vice versa, depression was responsible for a reduced quantity of sleep instead. Most studies used questionnaires that were based on self-assessment. However, it is unclear whether this approach is sufficiently valid and reliable enough to diagnose changes regarding to symptom improvement. Future approaches should not solely rely on questionnaires, but rather add measurements of physiological body reactions (e.g., skin conductance, heart and respiratory rate, or AEP's via an EEG) for more objectivity.

The way auditory stimuli were presented, also raised some additional questions. We found that for individual intervention most of the times headphones were used. For a group setting speakers were the number one choice instead. For elderly participants, a different sensitivity for music perception was a concern, when music was presented directly through headphones. Headphones add at least some isolation from background noises (i.e., able to reduce noise disturbances and surround-soundings). Another concern was that most of the time a certified hearing test was not used. Although, a tendency toward a reduction in the ability to hear higher frequencies is quite common with an increased age, there might still be substantial differences between participants.

Two authors (Deshmukh et al., 2009 ; Silverman, 2011 ) reported that participants within their respective music intervention group, did not present a significant reduction of depression. Those two had almost nothing in common 49 and were not investigated further.

Control groups, who received an alternative (“non-music”) intervention, were found in nine research articles. Significant reduction of depression in corresponding control (“non-music intervention”) groups was reported by two authors (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Albornoz, 2011 ). In one instance (Albornoz, 2011 ) the relevant participants received only standard care, but in the other case (Hendricks et al., 1999 ) an alternative treatment (Cognitive-Behavioral activities) was reported. Medical conceptions are in a constant state of change. To achieve improvements in areas of disease prevention and treatment, psychology is increasingly associated with clinical medicine and general practitioners. Under the guidance of an experienced music therapist, the patient receives a multimodal and very structured treatment approach. That is the reason why we can find specialists for music therapy in fields other than psychosomatics or psychiatry today. Examples are internal medicine departments and almost all rehabilitation centers. The acoustic and musical environment literally opens a portal to our unconscious mind. Music therapy often comes into play when other forms of treatment are not effective enough or fail completely.

Music connects us to the time when we only had preverbal communication skills (Hwang and Hughes, 2000 ; Graham, 2004 ; i.e., communication before a fully functioning language is developed; e.g., infants or children with autism spectrum disorder), without being dependent on language. Although board-certified music therapy is undeniable the most regulated, developed and professional variant, this should not hinder health professionals and researchers from other areas in the execution of their own projects using music-based interventions. The only thing they should be very precise about, is the way they define their work. Within our selection of articles the expression music therapy was used sometimes, although a more detailed description or specific information was neither published nor available upon our request. In those cases, the term “music therapy” should not be used, but instead music medicine or some of the alternatives mentioned in this manuscript (e.g., therapy with music, music for treatment). This way many obstacles as well as misunderstandings can be prevented in the first place, but high-quality research is still produced. Also, it is very important that researchers contemplate and report the details of the music intervention that they use. For example, they should report whether the music is researcher-selected or participant-selected, the specific tracks they used, the delivery method (speakers, headphones), and any other relevant details.

Encouraged by the promising potential of music as an intervention (Kemper and Danhauer, 2005 ), we pursued our ambitious goal to contribute knowledge that provides help for the affected individuals, both the patients themselves as well as their nearest relatives. Furthermore, we wanted to provide detailed information about each randomized controlled study, and therefore made all our data available, so others may benefit for their potential upcoming research project. The overall outcome of our analysis, with all significant effects considered, produced highly convincing results that music is a potential treatment option, to improve depression symptoms and quality of life across many age groups. We hope that our results provide some support for future concepts.

Author contributions

DL (Substantial contributor who meets all four authorship criteria): (1) Project idea, article concept and design, as well as planning the timeline, substantially involved in the data, material, and article acquisition, (2) mainly responsible for drafting, writing, and revising the review article, (3) responsible for selecting and final approving of the scholarly publication, (4) agreed and is accountable for all aspects connected to the work. TH (Substantial contributor who meets all four authorship criteria): (1) Substantial help with the concept and design, substantially contributed to the article and material acquisition, (2) substantially contributed to the project by drafting and revising the review article, (3) responsible for final approval of the scholarly publication, (4) agreed and is accountable for all aspects connected to the work.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

1 Participants in the two music groups (standard or patterning music) showed an increased belief in their personal power as well as a reduction in pain, depression and disability, compared to the relevant control group. The two experimental groups listened to 1 h of music each day for 7 days in a row.

2 Official definition of the American Music Therapy Association [AMTA] http://www.musictherapy.org/about/quotes/

3 Clinical speciality areas; Diagnostic, Treatment, and Therapeutic procedures, approaches, tools; Disorders; Age groups; Scientific; Country-specific; Musical Aspects; Recording hardware and equipment; Literature Genre; Publication type or medium; Year of publication; Number of authors.

4 Boolean Operators for searching databases: Concept explained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] .

5 Our preference was an experimental-control setting, but unfortunately three authors (Ashida, 2000 ; Guétin et al., 2009b ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ) did not use a control sample.

6 AMSTAR (Shea et al., 2007 )–Further Info & AMSTAR online calculator: https://amstar.ca/Amstar_Checklist.php ; National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT): http://www.nccmt.ca/resources/search/97 Questions included in the AMSTAR-Checklist (Shea et al., 2007 ) are: (I) Was an “a priori” design provided? (II) Was there duplicate study selection and data extraction? (III) Was a comprehensive literature search performed? (IV) Was the status of publication (i.e. gray literature) used as an inclusion criterion? (V) Was a list of studies (included and excluded) provided? (VI) Were the characteristics of the included studies provided? (VII) Was the scientific quality of the included studies assessed and documented? (VIII) Was the scientific quality of the included studies used appropriately in formulating conclusions? (IX) Were the methods used to combine the findings of studies appropriate? (X) Was the likelihood of publication bias assessed? (XI) Was any conflict of interest included?

7 In our Supplementary Table (“Complete Display of Statistical Data”), DSI was referred to as “Change [%].”

8 A much More Detailed Representation of Demographics is Available in the Supplementary Table ( Appendix-B ).

9 9DSI: Depression Score Improvement stands for the mean difference between the pre-test and post-test results (i.e., score changes) in percent. Please refer to the supplementary materials for additional information.

10 Music interventions: Individual setting (Chang et al., 2008 ); Group setting (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ).

11 One [MT] music-therapy article (Silverman, 2011 ) was not used for comparison and calculations because the relevant data was unavailable.

12 Djembe is based on the expression “anke djé, anke bé” which roughly translates as “everyone should come together in peace and harmony.”

13 12-bar Blues: Traditional Blues pattern that is 12 measures long. This chord progression is also used for many other music genres and quite popular in pop-music.

14 Ambiguity of the term “classical” music: In our review, this term refers to “Western Art Music” and thus includes, but is not limited to the “Classical” music period. Most of the time we used this term for music from the Baroque (1600–1750), Classical (1750–1820), and Romantic (1804–1910) period.

15 Within percussion groups various types of drums presented the instrument of choice most of the time.

16 Eight out of nine articles because in on case (Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ) scores were missing. The remaining were: Hsu and Lai, 2004 ; Chang et al., 2008 ; Harmat et al., 2008 ; Chan et al., 2009 , 2010 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ; Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 .

17 Average: Arithmetic mean of all score-changes in [%] for a defined selection (e.g., classical music). Example: We calculated the score-change in [%] for each of the eight experimental groups that received classical music as intervention. In this case the arithmetic mean (DSI Clas ) was 39.98% (i.e., average). Then every individual score can be compared to this average. If it was above, we called it “above average”.

18 Percussion music (drumming): Ashida, 2000 ; Choi et al., 2008 ; Schwantes and Mckinney, 2010 ; Albornoz, 2011 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Han et al., 2011 ; Lu et al., 2013 ; Chen et al., 2016 ; Fancourt et al., 2016 .

19 Jazz: Chan et al., 2009 , 2010 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ; Koelsch et al., 2010 ; Verrusio et al., 2014 .

20 In most cases there was no further categorization between different musical sub-genres of Jazz.

21 Greatest: Best in terms of depression score improvement (DSI) (i.e., pre-post score reduction in percent) with Jazz as intervention.

22 Raga: Classification system for music that originated during the eleventh century in Asia (mainly India).

23 Setting was always: Experimental group received music as intervention, and the corresponding control group received an (non-music) alternative.

24 For example, if elderly people lived in a retirement home, a standard daily routine or common everyday activities were seen as usual or regular treatment. If, on the other hand, a resting period (e.g., Chan et al., 2012 ) was carried out simultaneously, this was interpreted as an (“non-music”) alternative.

25 In all three of his articles within our selection (Chan et al., 2009 , 2010 , 2012 ) participants were instructed to rest.

26 Pharmacotherapy treatment included SSRI (Paroxetine 20mg/die), NaSSA (Mirtazapine 30 mg/die), and Benzodiazepine (Alprazolam).

27 As already described above, the other individual setting (Guétin Soua, et al., 2009) with pre-post results of p > 0.05 was still counted as significant.

28 Information regarding the duration for one group session was unavailable in two articles (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Wang et al., 2011 ).

29 Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ; Hsu and Lai, 2004 ; Harmat et al., 2008 ; Chan et al., 2009 , 2010 , 2012 ; Guétin et al., 2009a ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 .

30 Average DSI for all 13 articles that used an individual ( * Ind) treatment as intervention was 36.50%.

31 Gupta and Gupta, 2005 ; Kim et al., 2006 ; Chang et al., 2008 ; Deshmukh et al., 2009 ; Guétin et al., 2009b .

32 Once (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ) the relevant score was unavailable.

33 Once (Wang et al., 2011 ) the relevant score was unavailable.

34 BDI: Original BDI from1961; (1st) Revision (=) BDI-I or BDI-1A from 1978; (2nd) Revision (=) BDI-II from 1996.

35 BDI-scores were measured only once (Silverman, 2011 ), either at the end (experimental group), or at the beginning (control group) and thus was excluded for this calculation.

36 Minimal depression: BDI-I (= BDI-1A) score (=) 00–09; BDI-II score (=) 00–13.

37 Mild depression: BDI-I (= BDI-1A) score (=) 10–18; BDI-II score (=) 14–19.

38 Moderate depression: BDI-I (= BDI-1A) score (=) 19–29; BDI-II score (=) 20–28.

39 Albornoz ( 2011 ) found in both groups a significant reduction for BDI scores albeit to a significantly greater extent in the experimental (−8.08; p < 0.01) than in the control (−2.25; p < 0.05) setting.

40 Severe depression: BDI-I (=BDI-1A) score (=) 30–63; BDI-II score (=) 29–63.

41 Pre-post difference: experimental (1) “light” music (=) 17.50; experimental (2) “heavy” music (=) 21.00 (both p < 0.05 within groups) (Esfandiari and Mansouri, 2014 ).

42 Average pre-post BDI reduction of −30.73 ( SD = 9.80) combined (Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Choi et al., 2008 ).

43 One author (Chan et al., 2012 ) limited his selection to slow music (60–80 beats per minute). The other researcher (Hanser and Thompson, 1994 ) also used some “energetic” or “empowering” titles, but mainly concentrated on relaxing compositions.

44 for a reference “intervention review” about music therapy for depression see: maratos et al. ( 2008 ).

45 Every available test-result (Pre-/Post-Scores for experimental/control) can be found in our Supplementary Table 12.

46 Hendricks et al., 1999 ; Ashida, 2000 ; Hsu and Lai, 2004 ; Kim et al., 2006 ; Chan et al., 2009 , 2012 ; Castillo-Pérez et al., 2010 ; Albornoz, 2011 .

47 We used the metaphor “decomposed” based on the inspiring book by Andrew Durkin (“Decomposition: A Music Manifesto”), who refers to it “as a way…to demythologize music without demeaning it” (Review by Madison Heying).

48 A complete list, with all results we could extract, can be found in the Supplementary Table.

49 Music Therapy; Duration 90min./session; Session Frequency 7x/week; Raagas Music (Deshmukh et al., 2009 ).

Supplementary material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01109/full#supplementary-material

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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Topics

120 Music Research Paper Topics

How to choose a topic for music research paper:.

Music Theory Research Paper Topics:

• The influence of harmonic progression on emotional response in music
• Analyzing the use of chromaticism in the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach
• The role of rhythm and meter in creating musical tension and release
• Examining the development of tonality in Western classical music
• Exploring the impact of cultural and historical context on musical form and structure
• Investigating the use of polyphony in Renaissance choral music
• Analyzing the compositional techniques of minimalist music
• The relationship between melody and harmony in popular music
• Examining the influence of jazz improvisation on contemporary music
• The role of counterpoint in the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven
• Investigating the use of microtonality in experimental music
• Analyzing the impact of technology on music composition and production
• The influence of musical modes on the development of different musical genres
• Exploring the use of musical symbolism in film scoring
• Investigating the role of music theory in the analysis and interpretation of non-Western music

Music Industry Research Paper Topics:

• The impact of streaming services on music consumption patterns
• The role of social media in promoting and marketing music
• The effects of piracy on the music industry
• The influence of technology on music production and distribution
• The relationship between music and mental health
• The evolution of music genres and their impact on the industry
• The economics of live music events and festivals
• The role of record labels in shaping the music industry
• The impact of globalization on the music industry
• The representation and portrayal of gender in the music industry
• The effects of music streaming platforms on artist revenue
• The role of music education in fostering talent and creativity
• The influence of music videos on audience perception and engagement
• The impact of music streaming on physical album sales
• The role of music in advertising and brand marketing

Music Therapy Research Paper Topics:

• The effectiveness of music therapy in reducing anxiety in cancer patients
• The impact of music therapy on improving cognitive function in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease
• Exploring the use of music therapy in managing chronic pain
• The role of music therapy in promoting emotional well-being in children with autism spectrum disorder
• Music therapy as a complementary treatment for depression: A systematic review
• The effects of music therapy on stress reduction in pregnant women
• Examining the benefits of music therapy in improving communication skills in individuals with developmental disabilities
• The use of music therapy in enhancing motor skills rehabilitation after stroke
• Music therapy interventions for improving sleep quality in patients with insomnia
• Exploring the impact of music therapy on reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• The role of music therapy in improving social interaction and engagement in individuals with schizophrenia
• Music therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention for managing symptoms of dementia
• The effects of music therapy on pain perception and opioid use in hospitalized patients
• Exploring the use of music therapy in promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety during surgical procedures
• The impact of music therapy on improving quality of life in individuals with Parkinson’s disease

Music Psychology Research Paper Topics:

• The effects of music on mood and emotions
• The role of music in enhancing cognitive abilities
• The impact of music therapy on mental health disorders
• The relationship between music and memory recall
• The influence of music on stress reduction and relaxation
• The psychological effects of different genres of music
• The role of music in promoting social bonding and cohesion
• The effects of music on creativity and problem-solving abilities
• The psychological benefits of playing a musical instrument
• The impact of music on motivation and productivity
• The psychological effects of music on physical exercise performance
• The role of music in enhancing learning and academic performance
• The influence of music on sleep quality and patterns
• The psychological effects of music on individuals with autism spectrum disorder
• The relationship between music and personality traits

Music Education Research Paper Topics:

• The impact of music education on cognitive development in children
• The effectiveness of incorporating technology in music education
• The role of music education in promoting social and emotional development
• The benefits of music education for students with special needs
• The influence of music education on academic achievement
• The importance of music education in fostering creativity and innovation
• The relationship between music education and language development
• The impact of music education on self-esteem and self-confidence
• The role of music education in promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity
• The effects of music education on students’ overall well-being and mental health
• The significance of music education in developing critical thinking skills
• The role of music education in enhancing students’ teamwork and collaboration abilities
• The impact of music education on students’ motivation and engagement in school
• The effectiveness of different teaching methods in music education
• The relationship between music education and career opportunities in the music industry

Music History Research Paper Topics:

• The influence of African music on the development of jazz in the United States
• The role of women composers in classical music during the 18th century
• The impact of the Beatles on the evolution of popular music in the 1960s
• The cultural significance of hip-hop music in urban communities
• The development of opera in Italy during the Renaissance
• The influence of folk music on the protest movements of the 1960s
• The role of music in religious rituals and ceremonies throughout history
• The evolution of electronic music and its impact on contemporary music production
• The contribution of Latin American musicians to the development of salsa music
• The influence of classical music on film scores in the 20th century
• The role of music in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States
• The development of reggae music in Jamaica and its global impact
• The influence of Mozart’s compositions on the classical music era
• The role of music in the French Revolution and its impact on society
• The evolution of punk rock music and its influence on alternative music genres

Music Sociology Research Paper Topics:

• The impact of music streaming platforms on the music industry
• The role of music in shaping cultural identity
• Gender representation in popular music: A sociological analysis
• The influence of social media on music consumption patterns
• Music festivals as spaces for social interaction and community building
• The relationship between music and political activism
• The effects of globalization on local music scenes
• The role of music in constructing and challenging social norms
• The impact of technology on music production and distribution
• Music and social movements: A comparative study
• The role of music in promoting social change and social justice
• The influence of socioeconomic factors on music taste and preferences
• The role of music in constructing and reinforcing gender stereotypes
• The impact of music education on social and cognitive development
• The relationship between music and mental health: A sociological perspective

Classical Music Research Paper Topics:

• The influence of Ludwig van Beethoven on the development of classical music
• The role of women composers in classical music history
• The impact of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions on future generations
• The evolution of opera in the classical period
• The significance of Mozart’s symphonies in the classical era
• The influence of nationalism on classical music during the Romantic period
• The portrayal of emotions in classical music compositions
• The use of musical forms and structures in the works of Franz Joseph Haydn
• The impact of the Industrial Revolution on the production and dissemination of classical music
• The relationship between classical music and dance in the Baroque era
• The role of patronage in the development of classical music
• The influence of folk music on classical composers
• The representation of nature in classical music compositions
• The impact of technological advancements on classical music performance and recording
• The exploration of polyphony in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach

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What to Know About Music Therapy

Music can help improve your mood and overall mental health.

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Verywell / Lara Antal

Effectiveness

Things to consider, how to get started.

Music therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses the naturally mood-lifting properties of music to help people improve their mental health and overall well-being.  It’s a goal-oriented intervention that may involve:

• Making music
• Writing songs
• Listening to music
• Discussing music  

This form of treatment may be helpful for people with depression and anxiety, and it may help improve the quality of life for people with physical health problems. Anyone can engage in music therapy; you don’t need a background in music to experience its beneficial effects.

Types of Music Therapy

Music therapy can be an active process, where clients play a role in creating music, or a passive one that involves listening or responding to music. Some therapists may use a combined approach that involves both active and passive interactions with music.

There are a variety of approaches established in music therapy, including:

• Analytical music therapy : Analytical music therapy encourages you to use an improvised, musical "dialogue" through singing or playing an instrument to express your unconscious thoughts, which you can reflect on and discuss with your therapist afterward.
• Benenzon music therapy : This format combines some concepts of psychoanalysis with the process of making music. Benenzon music therapy includes the search for your "musical sound identity," which describes the external sounds that most closely match your internal psychological state.
• Cognitive behavioral music therapy (CBMT) : This approach combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with music. In CBMT, music is used to reinforce some behaviors and modify others. This approach is structured, not improvisational, and may include listening to music, dancing, singing, or playing an instrument.
• Community music therapy : This format is focused on using music as a way to facilitate change on the community level. It’s done in a group setting and requires a high level of engagement from each member.
• Nordoff-Robbins music therapy : Also called creative music therapy, this method involves playing an instrument (often a cymbal or drum) while the therapist accompanies using another instrument. The improvisational process uses music as a way to help enable self-expression.
• The Bonny method of guided imagery and music (GIM) : This form of therapy uses classical music as a way to stimulate the imagination. In this method, you explain the feelings, sensations, memories, and imagery you experience while listening to the music.
• Vocal psychotherapy : In this format, you use various vocal exercises, natural sounds, and breathing techniques to connect with your emotions and impulses. This practice is meant to create a deeper sense of connection with yourself.

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Music Therapy vs. Sound Therapy

Music therapy and sound therapy (or sound healing ) are distinctive, and each approach has its own goals, protocols, tools, and settings: 

• Music therapy is a relatively new discipline, while sound therapy is based on ancient Tibetan cultural practices .
• Sound therapy uses tools to achieve specific sound frequencies, while music therapy focuses on addressing symptoms like stress and pain.  
• The training and certifications that exist for sound therapy are not as standardized as those for music therapists.
• Music therapists often work in hospitals, substance abuse treatment centers, or private practices, while sound therapists may offer their service as a component of complementary or alternative medicine.

When you begin working with a music therapist, you will start by identifying your goals. For example, if you’re experiencing depression, you may hope to use music to naturally improve your mood and increase your happiness . You may also want to try applying music therapy to other symptoms of depression like anxiety, insomnia, or trouble focusing.

During a music therapy session, you may listen to different genres of music , play a musical instrument, or even compose your own songs. You may be asked to sing or dance. Your therapist may encourage you to improvise, or they may have a set structure for you to follow.

You may be asked to tune in to your emotions as you perform these tasks or to allow your feelings to direct your actions. For example, if you are angry, you might play or sing loud, fast, and dissonant chords.

You may also use music to explore ways to change how you feel. If you express anger or stress, your music therapist might respond by having you listen to or create music with slow, soft, soothing tones.

Music therapy is often one-on-one, but you may also choose to participate in group sessions if they are available. Sessions with a music therapist take place wherever they practice, which might be a:

• Community health center
• Correctional facility
• Private office
• Physical therapy practice
• Rehabilitation facility

Wherever it happens to be, the room you work in together will be a calm environment with no outside distractions.

What Music Therapy Can Help With

Music therapy may be helpful for people experiencing:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Anxiety or stress
• Cardiac conditions
• Chronic pain
• Difficulties with verbal and nonverbal communication
• Emotional dysregulation
• Feelings of low self-esteem
• Impulsivity
• Negative mood
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Problems related to childbirth
• Rehabilitation after an injury or medical procedure
• Respiration problems
• Substance use disorders
• Surgery-related issues
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Trouble with movement or coordination

Research also suggests that it can be helpful for people with:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Schizophrenia
• Stroke and neurological disorders

Music therapy is also often used to help children and adolescents:

• Develop their identities
• Improve their communication skills
• Learn to regulate their emotions
• Recover from trauma
• Self-reflect

Benefits of Using Music as Therapy

Music therapy can be highly personalized, making it suitable for people of any age—even very young children can benefit. It’s also versatile and offers benefits for people with a variety of musical experience levels and with different mental or physical health challenges.

Engaging with music can:

• Activate regions of the brain that influence things like memory, emotions, movement, sensory relay, some involuntary functions, decision-making, and reward
• Fulfill social needs for older adults in group settings
• Lower heart rate and blood pressure
• Relax muscle tension
• Release endorphins
• Relieve stress and encourage feelings of calm
• Strengthen motor skills and improve communication for children and young adults who have developmental and/or learning disabilities

Research has also shown that music can have a powerful effect on people with dementia and other memory-related disorders.

Overall, music therapy can increase positive feelings, like:

• Confidence and empowerment
• Emotional intimacy

The uses and benefits of music therapy have been researched for decades. Key findings from clinical studies have shown that music therapy may be helpful for people with depression and anxiety, sleep disorders, and even cancer.

Depression 

Studies have shown that music therapy can be an effective component of depression treatment. According to the research cited, the use of music therapy was most beneficial to people with depression when it was combined with the usual treatments (such as antidepressants and psychotherapy). 

When used in combination with other forms of treatment, music therapy may also help reduce obsessive thoughts , depression, and anxiety in people with OCD.

In 2016, researchers conducted a feasibility study that explored how music therapy could be combined with CBT to treat depression . While additional research is needed, the initial results were promising.

Many people find that music, or even white noise, helps them fall asleep. Research has shown that music therapy may be helpful for people with sleep disorders or insomnia as a symptom of depression.

Compared to pharmaceuticals and other commonly prescribed treatments for sleep disorders, music is less invasive, more affordable, and something a person can do on their own to self-manage their condition.

Pain Management

Music has been explored as a potential strategy for acute and chronic pain management in all age groups. Research has shown that listening to music when healing from surgery or an injury, for example, may help both kids and adults cope with physical pain.

Music therapy may help reduce pain associated with:

• Chronic conditions : Music therapy can be part of a long-term plan for managing chronic pain, and it may help people recapture and focus on positive memories from a time before they had distressing long-term pain symptoms. 
• Labor and childbirth : Music therapy-assisted childbirth appears to be a positive, accessible, non-pharmacological option for pain management and anxiety reduction for laboring people.
• Surgery : When paired with standard post-operative hospital care, music therapy is an effective way to lower pain levels, anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure in people recovering from surgery.

Coping with a cancer diagnosis and going through cancer treatment is as much an emotional experience as a physical one. People with cancer often need different sources of support to take care of their emotional and spiritual well-being.

Music therapy has been shown to help reduce anxiety in people with cancer who are starting radiation treatments. It may also help them cope with the side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea.

Music therapy may also offer emotional benefits for people experiencing depression after receiving their cancer diagnosis, while they’re undergoing treatment, or even after remission.

On its own, music therapy may not constitute adequate treatment for medical conditions, including mental health disorders . However, when combined with medication, psychotherapy , and other interventions, it can be a valuable component of a treatment plan.

If you have difficulty hearing, wear a hearing aid, or have a hearing implant, you should talk with your audiologist before undergoing music therapy to ensure that it’s safe for you.

Similarly, music therapy that incorporates movement or dancing may not be a good fit if you’re experiencing pain, illness, injury, or a physical condition that makes it difficult to exercise.  

You'll also want to check your health insurance benefits prior to starting music therapy. Your sessions may be covered or reimbursable under your plan, but you may need a referral from your doctor.

If you’d like to explore music therapy, talk to your doctor or therapist. They can connect you with practitioners in your community. The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) also maintains a database of board-certified, credentialed professionals that you can use to find a practicing music therapist in your area.

Depending on your goals, a typical music therapy session lasts between 30 and 50 minutes. Much like you would plan sessions with a psychotherapist, you may choose to have a set schedule for music therapy—say, once a week—or you may choose to work with a music therapist on a more casual "as-needed" basis.  

Before your first session, you may want to talk things over with your music therapist so you know what to expect and can check in with your primary care physician if needed.

Aigen KS. The Study of Music Therapy: Current Issues and Concepts . Routledge & CRC Press. New York; 2013. doi:10.4324/9781315882703

Jasemi M, Aazami S, Zabihi RE. The effects of music therapy on anxiety and depression of cancer patients . Indian J Palliat Care . 2016;22(4):455-458. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.191823

Chung J, Woods-Giscombe C. Influence of dosage and type of music therapy in symptom management and rehabilitation for individuals with schizophrenia . Issues Ment Health Nurs . 2016;37(9):631-641. doi:10.1080/01612840.2016.1181125

MacDonald R, Kreutz G, Mitchell L. Music, Health, and Wellbeing . Oxford; 2012. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586974.001.0001

Monti E, Austin D. The dialogical self in vocal psychotherapy . Nord J Music Ther . 2018;27(2):158-169. doi:10.1080/08098131.2017.1329227

American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). Music therapy with specific populations: Fact sheets, resources & bibliographies .

Wang CF, Sun YL, Zang HX. Music therapy improves sleep quality in acute and chronic sleep disorders: A meta-analysis of 10 randomized studies . Int J Nurs Stud . 2014;51(1):51-62. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.03.008

Bidabadi SS, Mehryar A. Music therapy as an adjunct to standard treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder and co-morbid anxiety and depression: A randomized clinical trial . J Affect Disord . 2015;184:13-7. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2015.04.011

Kamioka H, Tsutani K, Yamada M, et al. Effectiveness of music therapy: A summary of systematic reviews based on randomized controlled trials of music interventions . Patient Prefer Adherence . 2014;8:727-754. doi:10.2147/PPA.S61340

Raglio A, Attardo L, Gontero G, Rollino S, Groppo E, Granieri E. Effects of music and music therapy on mood in neurological patients . World J Psychiatry . 2015;5(1):68-78. doi:10.5498/wjp.v5.i1.68

Altenmüller E, Schlaug G. Apollo’s gift: New aspects of neurologic music therapy . Prog Brain Res . 2015;217:237-252. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2014.11.029

Werner J, Wosch T, Gold C. Effectiveness of group music therapy versus recreational group singing for depressive symptoms of elderly nursing home residents: Pragmatic trial . Aging Ment Health . 2017;21(2):147-155. doi:10.1080/13607863.2015.1093599

Dunbar RIM, Kaskatis K, MacDonald I, Barra V. Performance of music elevates pain threshold and positive affect: Implications for the evolutionary function of music . Evol Psychol . 2012;10(4):147470491201000420. doi:10.1177/147470491201000403

Pavlicevic M, O'neil N, Powell H, Jones O, Sampathianaki E. Making music, making friends: Long-term music therapy with young adults with severe learning disabilities . J Intellect Disabil . 2014;18(1):5-19. doi:10.1177/1744629513511354

Chang YS, Chu H, Yang CY, et al. The efficacy of music therapy for people with dementia: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials . J Clin Nurs . 2015;24(23-24):3425-40. doi:10.1111/jocn.12976

Aalbers S, Fusar-Poli L, Freeman RE, et al. Music therapy for depression . Cochrane Database Syst Rev . 2017;11:CD004517. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004517.pub3

Trimmer C, Tyo R, Naeem F. Cognitive behavioural therapy-based music (CBT-music) group for symptoms of anxiety and depression . Can J Commun Ment Health . 2016;35(2):83-87. doi:10.7870/cjcmh-2016-029

Jespersen KV, Koenig J, Jennum P, Vuust P. Music for insomnia in adults . Cochrane Database Syst Rev . 2015;(8):CD010459. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010459.pub2

Redding J, Plaugher S, Cole J, et al. "Where's the Music?" Using music therapy for pain management . Fed Pract . 2016;33(12):46-49.

Novotney A. Music as medicine . Monitor on Psychology . 2013;44(10):46.

McCaffrey T, Cheung PS, Barry M, Punch P, Dore L. The role and outcomes of music listening for women in childbirth: An integrative review . Midwifery . 2020;83:102627. doi:10.1016/j.midw.2020.102627

Liu Y, Petrini MA. Effects of music therapy on pain, anxiety, and vital signs in patients after thoracic surgery . Complement Ther Med . 2015;23(5):714-8.doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2015.08.002

Rossetti A, Chadha M, Torres BN, et al. The impact of music therapy on anxiety in cancer patients undergoing simulation for radiation therapy . Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys . 2017;99(1):103-110. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2017.05.003

American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). Guidance for music listening programs .

15 Music Therapy Activities and Tools

As a therapy, music is a proven way to reduce stress and to get into a mindful state of consciousness.

Music therapy includes listening, communicating, and understanding. It is a popular method used in hospitals, educational institutions, and other clinical settings to ease clients and make them comfortable.

Psychologists believe that music therapy improves the quality of life (Scott, 2018). From pain to personal loss, attentional disorders to relationship issues, music therapy is one fix that suits all.

Professor Suzanne Hanser of Berklee College of Music said that music therapy serves five significant purposes:

• Shifting one’s attention from problems to solutions.
• Offering a rhythmic structure for relaxation and breathing.
• Helping clients visualize positive imagery that evokes pleasure and happiness.
• Helping them achieve a deep state of relaxation.
• Changing mood.

Music therapy stands undisputed as a heal for negative stress and burden. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most useful resources on music therapy for kids and adults. With a range of exercises, activities, and kinds of music, the tools mentioned in the sections below can be a great start to uncovering the real benefits of music therapy on all levels.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

What are music therapy activities and tools, 3 music therapy techniques, a look at music therapy interventions, 3 examples of music therapy in action, common questions on the application of music therapy, 3 music therapy activities and exercises, application ideas for kids, 2 music therapy worksheets, 2 questionnaires (incl pdf), 2 books on music therapy, a take-home message.

Music therapy is an expressive art therapy . Whether you are writing a song, listening to it, or singing alongside – music therapy in any form requires some form of communication and expression.

Music therapy is mostly conducted under supervision, where the therapist uses specialized tools or other mechanisms to implement the program successfully.

For example, musical instruments like the guitar or piano are popular music therapy tools. Some forms of music therapy also involve imagery, where the therapist gently guides the client to imagine himself in a pleasant situation and plays soothing music to create the right ambiance for it.

There are numerous tools and activities that music therapists use.

Some of them are:

A musical instrument

Clients love to hear their therapist play and sing along. Having a guitar, ukulele, keyboard, or harp, is excellent for brightening up the session. It brings in an immediate sense of joy and works brilliantly for youngsters in music therapy.

Playing music on a good speaker is ideal for group therapy. It creates a sense of livelihood and encourages clients to participate in the process. Besides, it also helps the therapist to make sure he is audible to all.

A screen for visual activities

When using visual imagery to accompany the music, therapists often keep a tablet or other devices to project the image on the screen. Besides keeping clients engaged throughout the session, visual tools act as a catalyst in enhancing the positive impact of music on our mind.

Paper and pen

Many music therapists keep pen and paper for recording and managing feedback. It is also used in songwriting activities or sentence completion games where the clients express themselves through words.

The core purpose of music therapy is to strengthen one’s emotional skills and calls for a positive shift in mindset . Various methods or music therapy activities are used by professionals to meet these goals (Kimberley 2012).

For example, some music therapy activities include:

• Writing and singing songs.
• Improvising on songs and music pieces.
• Playing a musical instrument.
• Using musical devices and technology.
• Listening to music (with and without visual imagery).
• Exchanging information through music.

What music therapy techniques do you know? We reflect on three techniques.

1. Drumming

Drumming is an excellent music tool for inducing light-hearted fun, positive addiction, and unhindered engagement. Scientists believe that drumming activities increase cellular activity that helps the body fight against neurological and endocrinological disorders.

Besides improving bodily functions, drumming also has a positive social connotation and brings people together as part of a group.

There are no rules in drumming interventions. Clients are free to choose their way and play the instrument as they like.

Rick Allen, a famous drummer and the founder of the Raven Drum Foundation, suggested that some immediate benefits of drumming include:

• Reduction of stress, trauma, and anxiety.
• Controlling symptoms of chronic pain.
• Revitalizing the immune system.
• Creating a sense of social connection.
• Emotional catharsis or release of bottled-up anger and aggression.
• Providing scope for self-realization and introspection.

Singing is a universal music therapy technique that is suitable for clients of all ages and backgrounds. It has been incorporated in various forms and activities and is a widely used music therapy tool today. Many psychologists call singing the ‘mega-vitamin’ for the brain.

Studies have shown that listening to songs or singing along with them helps in repairing damaged brain tissues. This is a reason why singing is a crucial part of treating Parkinson’s disease, dementia, or Alzheimer’s (Gerdner and Swanson,1993).

3. Vibro-Acoustic Therapy

Vibro-Acoustic Therapy or VAT is a scientific approach of combining low-frequency vibrations with the resonations of slow-paced music. The International Society of VAT mentioned that ‘sound waves helps in circulating positive energy throughout the body.’ It activates the body and allows it to use the inbuilt repair mechanisms to calm the mind and body.

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Music therapy interventions are broadly categorized as active interventions and receptive interventions. In general, all forms of music therapy interventions use the power of tunes and sound waves to penetrate the human mind and help it attain a peaceful state. Whether a person is creating music, playing it, or listening to it, the instant emotions that the process evokes help bring about the positive shift in focus.

Active music interventions are the ones where clients and therapists are equally involved in the therapeutic process. Activities such as dancing, group singing, solo performances, or musical games are ideal examples of active interventions of music therapy.

In receptive or passive interventions, clients are mostly listeners more than performers. These interventions include music relaxation therapies, mindful music meditation, or the like.

A popular music intervention that many neuroscientists rely on is Neurologic Music Therapy or NMT. It is a scientific technique that records brain functions before and after exposure to relaxing music to induce desirable changes in the client. NMT is a therapy of choice for helping clients with neuro-linguistic troubles, and it also helps in developing motor skills in children and young adults. (Koelsch, 2009).

The earliest evidence of a musical instrument was a bone flute that was arguably about 40,000 years old. The in-grained impact of music therapy that more or less all of us experience is partly due to these ancient links of music and human living (Rolvsjord, 2010).

Music therapy has been around since the Stone Age. Ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures like the Aborigines of Australia and some African tribes used singing and musical group activities to pray, celebrate, or sail through tough times (such as drought, flood, or extreme weather conditions).

The Ancient Greek civilization also leaves traces of how they incorporated music into their lives and believed that it is the only way to restore the peace of mind and body.

Musings of Plato and Pythagoras have several indications of how the Greeks tried to support each other through music and encouraged music education and awareness in their communities (Pavlicevic and Ansdell, 2004; Stige, 2002; 2003; Stige, Ansdell, and Pavlicevic, 2010; Stige and Aaroe, 2012).

Another prominent example of a real-life application of music therapy is in autism treatment. Autistic children, who have impaired social and cognitive abilities, respond prominently better to musical stimuli than other modes of communication. It captures their attention and sustains it for a longer duration.

Studies have also shown that teaching differently-abled children daily duties through musical actions helps in imprinting the information permanently and internalizing the information sooner.

Why I want to change the world with music therapy – Erin Seibert

Jeff Peterson, President of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, said that most clients and caregivers, before participating in music therapy sessions come with several queries about the usefulness of music therapy.

Some common questions that people ask include:

• What is music therapy?
• How does it help in improving health?
• How often do we need to practice it?
• How does it impact on mood and emotions?
• Where can we practice it?
• Who can give us more information about music therapy?
• Are music therapy and music relaxation the same thing?

Many online resources and blogs give us an idea of what we should know before signing up for music therapy and who we should talk to. You can have a look at these articles by our writers that beautifully explain music therapy, its background, and implications in real life.

• What is Music Therapy and How Does it Work?
• What Are the Benefits of Music Therapy?

Music therapy research is at its peak, and many effective musical interventions and strategies are uniquely designed to suit our purposes. Below is a list of popular music therapy group activities and other interventions that you might want to know about.

1. Music Bingo

Music Bingo is a cognitive music activity that improves memory and reality orientation. It is a preferred method for adult interventions and is often used in association with other forms of therapy to improve mental health.

The activity involves making cards where each participant draws a song, and others sing it after guessing the name right. It can be played in pairs or as a group, and works great for people with poor memory skills.

2. Music Relaxation

Music relaxation is a well-known music therapy for mindfulness and meditation. The primary purpose of music relaxation is to induce a calm state where the mind can relax, and the muscles can loosen up to shed the pent-up stress.

Music relaxation is a vital component in many yoga retreats, where instructors moderate the room lights and minimize any external distraction before playing the tune. It is also a great way to unwind ourselves every day and helps improve emotional resilience over time.

3. Music Selection

Music selection is used for adolescents or clients with disturbances in emotional and self-regulation. The process involves letting clients choose a piece of music that they are familiar with. Self-selected pieces of music evoke emotions and bring back memories that might be associated with it.

Music selection often accompanies guided visual imagery where the therapist urges the client to imagine himself in a pleasant environment while the music continues to play in the background. It is a meditative practice that induces ultimate self-awareness and acceptance.

Music therapy motivates kids of all ages and is an excellent intervention for managing childhood depression, impulse control problems, and attention-related disorders (Gold, Voracek, and Wigram, 2004).

Musical interventions for children are used in schools, private counseling practices, medical facilities, and foster homes. The common goal is to uplift their mood and help them manage their distress effectively.

Most researchers agree that music therapy for children works best in a group setting. Performing as part of a team helps them form connections to peers and overcome any loneliness they have been facing.

Whether the interventions are conducted in schools or other facilities, group activities help in:

• Knowing others having similar problems and developing empathy.
• Communicating and motivating each other in the group.
• Expressing and reacting spontaneously to the stimuli.
• Building connections and helping each other overcome their loneliness.
• Improving listening skills, readiness, and reaction times.
• Building secure coping mechanisms and self-confidence.

Involving family and teachers in music therapy for kids is also an excellent option for rebuilding the relationships they share with their elders. Musical exercises help them come closer to each other and explore happiness by spending undistracted time with each other.

There are a few interesting music therapy worksheets in our toolkit, and we briefly describe them below.

Using Music to Express Feelings

As mentioned earlier, music therapy calls for emotional catharsis and self-expression. The ‘ Using Music to Express Feelings ‘ worksheet helps clients open up about their innermost feelings through some musical expressions.

The exercise is simple and contains the following steps. It is subjective and self-storable, so there are no right or wrong answers in this. Below is a brief description of the worksheet, and you can learn more about it from the Positive Psychology Toolkit© .

Instructions – Choose three songs that you think describe your situation and feelings right now. For each of the songs you chose, answer the following questions, and be true to yourself. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers here.

1. What are the titles of the songs? ____________________________________________________________ 2. What comes to your mind when you hear the songs? ____________________________________________________________ 3. How do they make you feel? ____________________________________________________________ 4. What part of each song is the most important to you, and why? ____________________________________________________________

Draw What You Hear Worksheet

This worksheet is used in several settings for both individual and group purposes. The task is simple and uses the following steps:

• Clients rate their listening skills at the beginning of the session.
• The therapist then exposes them to a few musical pieces and asks them to attend to each carefully.
• At the next step, each participant gets a worksheet (shown below), where they either write, draw, or journal what they felt after listening to the pieces of music.

Use the following surveys to assess your clients.

1. Music Therapy Questionnaire Survey

The Music Therapy Questionnaire Survey is an assessment that is usually used at the beginning or the end of each session. The questionnaire is objective; a brief overview of it is here below.

2. Children’s Music Therapy Questionnaire

The Children’s Music Therapy Questionnaire is an adaptation of the adult version. The worksheet is represented with bright images and pictorial representations that children should find easy and fun to do. The questionnaire is briefly illustrated below, and you can download the full version as well.

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These Music Therapy books are great tools to improve your knowledge and skills.

1. The Handbook of Music Therapy – Leslie Bunt, Leslie Hoskyns, and Sangeeta Swami

The book is divided into four segments, each exploring a crucial aspect of music therapy such as its evolution, historical implications, clinical contributions, practical applications, and professional uses.

It comes with real-life examples and case studies and is suitable for professionals, therapists, or anyone interested to learn more about the fundamentals of musical interventions in psychotherapy.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. Rhythm to Recovery: A Practical Guide to Using Rhythmic Music, Voice and Movement for Social and Emotional Development – Simon Faulkner and James Oshinsky

The book contains over 100 drills that are suitable for different age groups and is undoubtedly an excellent reference for professional use. It offers meaningful insight on childhood and adolescent problems and uncovers unique ways of using music to address those issues.

Music reduces pain and brings us closer to ourselves. It is one of the best remedies for beating stress and loneliness, and also gives us the strength to face and express the strong emotions that guide most of our actions.

Using music as a relaxation technique, individual, or group intervention can bring desired changes in terms of cardiac functioning, blood pressure levels, and overall body functions. Whether you are an active listener or an active performer, music, in any form, will change your life for the better.

As Jean Richter said, and we all at some levels would agree to it:

Music is moonlight in the gloomy nights of our lives.

Continue Reading: 17 Best Drama Therapy Techniques, Activities & Exercises

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• Blood, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2001). Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion .
• Forsblom, Lantinen, Särkämö, and Tervaniemi, (2009). Therapeutic role of music listening in stroke rehabilitation .
• Guetin, Picot, Pommie, and Djabelkir, (2009). Effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in patients with Alzheimer’s type dementia .
• Klassen, Liang, and Hartling, (2008). Music for pain and anxiety in children undergoing medical procedures .
• Koelsch, S. (2009). A Neuroscientific perspective on music therapy .
• Levy, Jillian (2017). Music therapy: Benefits and uses for anxiety, depression and more .
• Scott, Elizabeth (2018). Music relaxation: A healthy stress management tool.
• Smith, Yolanda (2018). Types of Music Therapy .

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I facilitate an 8 hr restorative justice workshop in a youth detention facility with some of the most violent young people in our state. I’ve recently started implementing music in the middle of our workshop and it has already had a positive effect. To the point that we are starting a music writing and recording class at the facility. If this goes well we will offer the class at other facilities in the state. The info given here is VERY helpful for what we are doing. I’d love to stay tapped in here.

Thank you for the article! I would love to try the music bingo. But it is not totally clear to me how it works? Thank you in advance!

I’m glad you found the article about Music Bingo interesting and that you’re keen to try it!

Here’s how it works: Each participant receives a card with different songs listed. Then a song is played or a hint is given about a song. Participants try to identify the song and if they have it on their card, they mark it. Eventually, the first person to complete a row or pattern (as decided before the game starts) and shout “Bingo!” is the winner.

Hope this helps!

Warm regards, Julia | Community Manager

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Preventative cancer therapies can cause the disease to 'hibernate' and return later, research suggests

Preventative therapy, often carried out for years after initial treatment, triggers changes in cancer cells, which allow them to avoid being killed off, but focusing on a particular enzyme may be the solution, the study suggests.

Tuesday 26 March 2024 01:30, UK

Preventative treatment designed to stop the recurrence of breast cancer can actually cause the cancer cells to mutate and 'hibernate', only to grow again years later, according to new findings.

Researchers who set out to explain why breast cancer can return years after initial treatment have found that hormone therapies, used to prevent breast cancer from recurring, can trigger changes in some cells.

These changes cause the cells to lie dormant instead of dying off, and the cells then "wake up" years later, causing a relapse that is harder to treat.

But the study found there may be a way to target these "sleeping" breast cancer cells before they "wake up", offering new hope for patients with oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer - which makes up 80% of all breast cancers.

Luca Magnani, professor of epigenetic plasticity at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "After surgery to remove primary oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer, patients are given five to 10 years of hormone therapy which aims to kill any remaining cancer cells.

"We know that this doesn't work for all patients though, as their breast cancer can return years, or even decades later.

"We wanted to better understand why breast cancer does return so we can hopefully find ways to stop it - so people don't have to live in fear or face the devastating news of a relapse.

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"Our research identified a key mechanism used by cancer cells to evade therapy by remaining in a dormant state, hibernating before they 'wake up' years later and begin to rapidly divide again."

The study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery, found that inhibiting an enzyme known as G9a prevented cancer cells from becoming dormant and killed the cells that were already hibernating.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Read more from Sky News: What is preventative chemotherapy? Kate and William 'moved' by public's 'warmth' King 'frustrated' by speed of cancer recovery

Dr Tayyaba Jiwani, science engagement manager at Cancer Research UK - which funded the research, said: "Breast cancer survival has doubled in the UK over the last 50 years thanks to better detection and screening, but there are still more than 11,000 deaths from this type of cancer every year.

"Although at an early stage, the findings reveal potential new targets for the development of innovative treatments that prevent breast cancer from coming back."

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death among UK women, behind lung cancer, with around 11,400 deaths every year (2017-2019), Cancer Research UK said.

In 2022-23, almost 19,000 women across England were diagnosed with the disease thanks to the NHS screening programme.

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Paralyzed man who can walk again shows potential benefit of stem cell therapy

A man who was paralyzed from the neck down after a surfing accident seven years ago is now able to stand and walk on his own, thanks in part to a potentially groundbreaking stem cell treatment.

Chris Barr was the very first patient in a Mayo Clinic study that collected stem cells from his own stomach fat, expanded them in a laboratory to 100 million cells and then injected the cells into Barr's lumbar spine.

Over five years after undergoing the therapy, Barr said he is continuing to gain more independence and get faster at walking.

"I never dreamed I would have a recovery like this," Barr told ABC News' Will Reeve. "I can feed myself. I can walk around. I can do day-to-day independent activities."

Barr shared an update with Reeve on his own progress as Mayo Clinic published new data showing the success of the stem cell treatment in a clinical trial involving 10 patients, including Barr.

According to the trial's results, published Monday in the journal Nature Communications , seven of the 10 patients experienced increased strength in muscle motor groups and increased sensation to pinpricks and light touch.

Three patients in the study had no response to the stem cell therapy, meaning they did not get better or worse, according to the Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minnesota.

"These findings give us hope for the future," Dr. Mohamad Bydon, a spinal cord researcher at the Mayo Clinic and the study's lead author, told Reeve, who is also the director of The Christopher Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit "dedicated to curing spinal cord injury," according to its website. The foundation, named in honor of Will Reeve's late father, was not involved in the funding of Bydon's research.

Bydon's research at the Mayo Clinic is a Phase 1 study that began in 2018.

The newly published results of the study show that of the seven patients who saw improvement after the stem cell therapy, each moved up at least one level on the American Spinal Injury Association -- or ASIA -- Impairment Scale, which has five levels documenting patients' function.

"This trial shows us that stem cells are safe and potentially beneficial in the treatment of spinal cord injury," Bydon said. "This can be a milestone in our field of neurosurgery, neuroscience and of treating patients with spinal cord injury."

There is currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for spinal cord injury.

Bydon and other researchers are still trying to understand how and why the stem cells interact with the spinal cord to result in progress for some patients, and additional research is underway among a larger group of people to further assess risks and benefits.

In Barr's case, he told Reeve in 2019 he began to quickly see improvements, like getting feeling back in his legs, after undergoing the stem cell treatment.

Now five years later, he described making further long-term improvements, like being able to walk for consistent intervals.

"I'm just thrilled that there are people taking bold steps to try and do research to cure this," Barr said. "It's been a wild ride and it's not over yet."

Dr. Priscilla Koirala, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.

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How gene therapy changed everything for child born with AADC deficiency

Ohio state researchers deliver life-changing treatment for genetic disorder.

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Soon after Rian was born , her parents noticed she wasn’t developing at the same pace that her older sibling had. She didn’t move or bat at toys. Her hands remained in tiny fists long after babies typically become more dexterous.

After countless tests — MRIs, blood samples, biopsies and more — and screening for well over a thousand diseases, she was diagnosed at 11 months old with aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency.

Meanwhile, Krystof Bankiewicz, MD, PhD , and Russell Lonser, MD , had been helping developing a gene therapy for AADC . Drs. Bankiewicz and Lonser invented a surgical technique to deliver the gene therapy to the right spot in the brain, so that the body could begin properly producing dopamine and serotonin.

At 5, Rian was able to receive this surgery, and her mother says she was reborn. She was soon able to hold up her head. Reach for toys. Sit. Roll. Walk.

Dr. Bankiewicz, director of the Brain Health and Performance Center at The Ohio State Unviersity Wexner Medical Center and a professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine , and Dr. Lonser, a neurosurgeon at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Ohio State College of Medicine, continue to treat children with AADC through their work at the Neurological Institute at Ohio State.

Their clinical trials underway in gene therapy  research aim to develop similar treatments for people with muscle movement and brain disorders such as Parkinson’s , Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.

See Rian's progress in the video above .

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LED light therapy for skin is trendy—but does it work?

Dermatologists explain the science behind the wildly popular treatment, which is now available at home—for a steep price.

In the mid-1960s, a Hungarian physician named Endre Mester shined a low-power laser on the shaved skin of a mouse. Though he was testing for impacts on tumor growth, he observed an unexpected side effect —the red light seemed to stimulate hair regrowth and, in later studies, wound healing.

Sixty years later, this accidental discovery has found its way into a booming market for clinical procedures and at-home devices using light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Also possible with cold lasers, "low level" or "low power" light therapy requires a certain power level (measured in milliwatts per centimeter) to be effective, without the damaging heat of high-powered lights. From face and full-body masks to portable wands, low-level light therapy products promise all sorts of anti-aging, rejuvenating, and wound-healing benefits.  

“There’s a lot of hype in the industry,” says Daniel Barolet, a dermatological laser therapy researcher and clinician, and an adjunct professor at McGill University.

But are these devices—which can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars—worth the price? Experts discuss the benefits and limitations of light therapy, and what consumers should know before making the investment.  

The science of light therapy

In the decades since Mester’s groundbreaking mice trials, research and development of phototherapy has taken off—with promising results.

Today, LED light therapy, or “photobiomodulation” (PBM) as it’s more accurately known, uses gentle, low-level light within the visible spectrum—typically blue, red, or near-infrared—to stimulate natural physiological processes. Or, as Barolet says, PBM just means “using light to give our cells a little nudge in the right direction.”

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For much of human history, we would have gotten these benefits directly from the sun —but now we’re spending more time inside, with often cool-toned indoor lighting.

“When we're using photobiomodulation, we just cut the bad UV rays. We're just using the healing stuff,” Barolet says. “It’s biomimicking, but you harness what’s good for your skin, and you delete what’s not good for your skin.”

While the exact mechanisms are not yet fully understood , PBM therapy has been shown to produce a range of positive effects. Blue light, for instance, can be used to treat acne and may mitigate other skin disorders by reducing inflammation . When blue light is absorbed by the skin, it activates the production of toxic free radicals which, over the course of several days, kill off the acne-causing P. acnes bacteria.

Glynis Ablon, a dermatologist and associate clinical professor at UCLA, says she’s seen dramatic effects in her patients undergoing blue light therapy. “What they'll notice, just from these LEDs alone, is that their acne gets better, that the level of inflammatory lesions reduces, that their overall skin just starts to look better.”

Red and near-infrared light, on the other hand, have longer wavelengths that can target the skin cells or travel deeper into the body . When light in this range penetrates the cells, Barolet says, it “kicks off a chain reaction” in the mitochondria. This metabolic process produces several important molecules, including ATP and nitric oxide , that are critical for basic bodily functions like energy production and healthy blood flow.  

The application of red and near-infrared light has a domino effect, stimulating collagen production and blood circulation . On a surface level, this can speed healing of wounds , such as burns or ulcers, and even reduce signs of aging , like wrinkles and brown spots.

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While the skin is the largest and most visible organ in the body, all cells theoretically can enjoy a boost from red or near-infrared light therapy.

Generally speaking, the tissues that will improve the most are those in a state of depletion or disorder—such as sunburnt skin—according to Alexander Wunsch, a physician and photobiology expert. Of course, light therapy isn’t a panacea for treating skin or any other conditions.  

“There is real science to it and it does work clinically,” says Zakia Rahman, a clinical professor of dermatology at the Stanford School of Medicine, “but it’s not going to have the level of dramatic effect that more aggressive treatments in a medical setting would have.”  

Still, LEDs have distinct benefits—they’re non-invasive, pain-free, and essentially harmless . Prolonged exposure to blue light, which is near the UV spectrum, may cause skin damage, aging or irritation , but long-term research is still limited. With red and near-infrared, the only potential concerns are for those with sun allergies or highly sensitive eyes, according to Barolet.

“Think of photobiomodulation like your morning cup of coffee…but with light,” Barolet says. “It's like a wake-up call that gets all those tiny cellular processes up and running, helping the body to repair, rejuvenate, and energize itself.”

How should you pick your LED device?

Clinics around the world offer PBM therapy for all sorts of cosmetic and medical purposes. Office devices are generally more powerful, producing better and faster results. But for those who want to do their treatment at home, there’s a market full of options.  

When it comes to choosing an LED device, experts agree that the most meaningful factor to consider is the output intensity.

“There’s a lot of scams out there…most of the time, energies are very, very low,” Ablon says. For red light, she looks for devices that emit 105 milliwatts per centimeter, but for blue light, the intensity can be lower. “If it’s somewhere in that 40 range, I’m ok, but if it ends up being 10, it’s probably not doing anything.”

Barolet also warns consumers to avoid devices that promote “a rainbow” of lights, such as green, yellow, and purple. When it comes to health, he says, the only wavelengths proven to be effective are red, near-infrared, and blue.

It’s important to note that not all LED products on the market have been greenlit by the FDA. Wunsch advises consumers to look for 510(k) Clearance , “which gives you at least the information that this device has been evaluated”—though not tested—by the FDA for safety and effectiveness.

Barolet notes that, while the research supporting light therapy is robust, scientists are still perfecting their “recipe”—the ideal wavelengths, dosage, intensity, and proximity—for different health goals. In some cases, LED therapy works best in concert with other interventions, like pairing red light treatment with anti-aging cream, he says. While not a replacement for products like sunscreen or prescription retinoids, Rahman says that LEDs “can work well in your entire skin regimen.”

Ultimately, whether undergoing a clinical procedure or using at-home masks, experts advise people to stay the course of the treatment and not expect immediate results. While wound healing can happen faster, Wunsch says, the effects on healthy, normally aging skin can be slow and cumulative.   “You have to invest in the compliance in the first phase, and you will get your rewards in five or ten years.”

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