Anna Maratos|Christian Gold|Xu Wang|Mike Crawford
Music therapy for depression
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust|University of Bergen|Imperial College London|Imperial College London
depression highly prevalent disorder associated reduced social functioning impaired quality life increased mortality music therapy used treatment variety mental disorders impact depression unclearto examine efficacy music therapy standard care compared standard care alone among people depression compare effects music therapy people depression psychological pharmacological therapiesccdanctrstudies ccdanctrreferences searched 7112007 medline psycinfo embase psyclit psyindex relevant sites searched november 2006 reference lists retrieved articles hand searched well specialist music arts therapies journalsall randomised controlled trials comparing music therapy standard care interventions depressiondata participants interventions outcomes extracted entered onto database independently two review authors methodological quality study also assessed independently two review authors primary outcome reduction symptoms depression based continuous scalefive studies met inclusion criteria review marked variations interventions offered populations studied meant metaanalysis appropriate four five studies individually reported greater reduction symptoms depression among randomised music therapy standard care conditions fifth study music therapy used active control treatment reported significant change mental state music therapy compared standard care dropout rates music therapy conditions appeared low studiesfindings individual randomised trials suggest music therapy accepted people depression associated improvements mood however small number low methodological quality studies mean possible confident effectiveness high quality trials evaluating effects music therapy depression required