Individual music therapy for depression: randomised controlled trial
Erkkilä J, Punkanen M, Fachner J, Ala-Ruona E, Pöntiö I, Tervaniemi M, Vanhala M, Gold C
The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 154 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- European Commission
- Grants
- European Commission (FP6-2004-NEST-PATH)
Based on 1 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2011-04-07 · Br J Psychiatry · vol. 199 · issue 2 · pp. 132–139
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Cited
- 450 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 27.0× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 44 works
- Access
- Free to read
- Research areas
- Music Therapy and Health · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- Music therapy, Medicine, Depression (economics), Anxiety, Randomized controlled trial, Alexithymia, Physical therapy, Quality of life (healthcare), Psychiatry, Internal medicine, Nursing
- MeSH
- humans, music therapy, severity of illness index, program evaluation, affective symptoms, anxiety, depressive disorder, psychiatric status rating scales, psychotherapy, brief, time factors, quality of life, adolescent, adult, middle aged, finland, female, male, young adult, intention to treat analysis, outcome and process assessment, health care
8 authors
From FI, NO
- Jaakko ErkkiläUniversity of Jyväskylä
- Marko PunkanenUniversity of Jyväskylä
- Jörg FachnerUniversity of Jyväskylä
- Esa Ala-RuonaUniversity of Jyväskylä
- Inga PöntiöCentral Finland Health Care District
- Mari H. TervaniemiUniversity of Helsinki; University of Jyväskylä
Abstract
Background
Music therapy has previously been found to be effective in the treatment of depression but the studies have been methodologically insufficient and lacking in clarity about the clinical model employed. Aims To determine the efficacy of music therapy added to standard care compared with standard care only in the treatment of depression among working-age people.
Method
Participants (n = 79) with an ICD-10 diagnosis of depression were randomised to receive individual music therapy plus standard care (20 bi-weekly sessions) or standard care only, and followed up at baseline, at 3 months (after intervention) and at 6 months. Clinical measures included depression, anxiety, general functioning, quality of life and alexithymia.
Trial registration
ISRCTN84185937.
Results
Participants receiving music therapy plus standard care showed greater improvement than those receiving standard care only in depression symptoms (mean difference 4.65, 95% CI 0.59 to 8.70), anxiety symptoms (1.82, 95% CI 0.09 to 3.55) and general functioning (-4.58, 95% CI -8.93 to -0.24) at 3-month follow-up. The response rate was significantly higher for the music therapy plus standard care group than for the standard care only group (odds ratio 2.96, 95% CI 1.01 to 9.02).
Conclusions
Individual music therapy combined with standard care is effective for depression among working-age people with depression. The results of this study along with the previous research indicate that music therapy with its specific qualities is a valuable enhancement to established treatment practices.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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