Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Qishou Tang; Zhaohui Huang; Huan Zhou; Peijie Ye

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240862

Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

PLoS One. 2020 Nov 18;15(11):e0240862. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240862. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Qishou Tang¹, Zhaohui Huang², Huan Zhou^{1

3}, Peijie Ye¹

Affiliations

¹ Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, Anhui, China.
² Anhui Provincial Center for Women and Child Health, Hefei, Anhui, China.
³ National Drug Clinical Trial Institution, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, Anhui, China.

Abstract

Background: We aimed to determine and compare the effects of music therapy and music medicine on depression, and explore the potential factors associated with the effect.

Methods: PubMed (MEDLINE), Ovid-Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Clinical Evidence were searched to identify studies evaluating the effectiveness of music-based intervention on depression from inception to May 2020. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were estimated with random-effect model and fixed-effect model.

Results: A total of 55 RCTs were included in our meta-analysis. Music therapy exhibited a significant reduction in depressive symptom (SMD = -0.66; 95% CI = -0.86 to -0.46; P<0.001) compared with the control group; while, music medicine exhibited a stronger effect in reducing depressive symptom (SMD = -1.33; 95% CI = -1.96 to -0.70; P<0.001). Among the specific music therapy methods, recreative music therapy (SMD = -1.41; 95% CI = -2.63 to -0.20; P<0.001), guided imagery and music (SMD = -1.08; 95% CI = -1.72 to -0.43; P<0.001), music-assisted relaxation (SMD = -0.81; 95% CI = -1.24 to -0.38; P<0.001), music and imagery (SMD = -0.38; 95% CI = -0.81 to 0.06; P = 0.312), improvisational music therapy (SMD = -0.27; 95% CI = -0.49 to -0.05; P = 0.001), music and discuss (SMD = -0.26; 95% CI = -1.12 to 0.60; P = 0.225) exhibited a different effect respectively. Music therapy and music medicine both exhibited a stronger effects of short and medium length compared with long intervention periods.

Conclusions: A different effect of music therapy and music medicine on depression was observed in our present meta-analysis, and the effect might be affected by the therapy process.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Depression / psychology
Depression / therapy*
Female
Humans
Male
Music Therapy* / methods
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / statistics & numerical data
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome

Grants and funding

The Key Project of University Humanities and Social Science Research in Anhui Province (SK2017A0191) was granted by Education Department of Anhui Province; the Research Project of Anhui Province Social Science Innovation Development (2018XF155) was granted by Anhui Provincial Federation of Social Sciences; the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Research Youth fund Project (17YJC840033) was granted by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. These funders had a role in study design, text editing, interpretation of results, decision to publish and preparation of the manuscript.