In Depression, Music Therapy Can Have Charms . . .

It’s not entirely a new idea – that music can improve depressive symptoms.  But ‘music therapy’, which is more than just listening to music, can produce clinically relevant results.  This has been shown in a study from Finland that’s published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.  

Finland may be a good place for studies of therapy for depression.  Depression has become a common reason for inability to work in that country, affecting 5%-6% of the population.  The standard treatment is medication plus psychiatric counseling. 

Seventy-nine patients diagnosed with depression took part in a study of music therapy.  They were randomly assigned to receive individual music therapy (20 twice-weekly sessions) plus standard care (antidepressants, 5-6 individual psychotherapy sessions, and psychiatric counseling) or standard care only.  They were followed up at baseline, at 3 months after the intervention, and after 6 months.  Recognized scales were used to assess depression, anxiety, general functioning, quality-of-life and alexithymia (the inability to express feelings with words).

The music therapy consisted of one-on-one sessions with a music therapist.  It comprised music making with drums and xylophone, with plenty of discussion.  Patients were encouraged to create free music based on their inner feelings in a safe, trustworthy context, and then to elaborate verbally on these experiences. (From experience, music therapists report that this kind of activity can be highly emotional.  Music stimulates the mind, triggering images and emotions, and encourages their communication.)

The 46 participants receiving standard care alone improved their depression, anxiety, and general functioning scores after 3 months, as expected, but the subjects receiving additional music therapy had statistically significant and clinically relevant greater improvement for all these of three outcome measures.    

An accompanying editorial in the same journal emphasizes the importance of playing musical instruments in this form of therapy – it represents a social, pleasurable and meaningful activity for depressed patients.  Maybe this will offer an opening for out-of-wrk musicians – after appropriate training, of course.