14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study led by UK researchers has investigated how music therapy works on the brain of acute schizophrenia patients and found that the complementary therapy may actually be very effective in easing symptoms of the disease. The first study of the type was carried out by a team of scientists at the Imperial College London and compared how schizophrenia sufferers reacted to music therapy as compared to their peers in a control, non-treatment group.
The study was conducted on 81 subjects with acute schizophrenia who were divided into two groups: a drug-free treatment group which participated to 8-12 sessions of music therapy, 45 minutes each, weekly, and a group of patients who did not receive such complementary treatment technique, only standard care. Overall results showed that some schizophrenia symptoms such as anxiety, depression and other emotional and affective disorders in music-group subjects considerably reduced as compared to their counterparts in the standard-care group.
Lead researcher of the study Dr. Mike Crawford from the Department of Psychological Medicine at Imperial College London stated: "In-patient treatment is the form of care that people with schizophrenia are least satisfied with. Music therapy may provide a means of enhancing the effectiveness of in-patient treatment by reducing some of the symptoms of schizophrenia that respond least well to drug treatment."
Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry, Imperial College London researchers stressed that individuals included in the complementary therapy group did not have to listen to a favorite genre of music for 45 minutes in a session. Instead, all subjects in the group were offered the possibility to exercise to any musical instrument they wanted to play.
Volunteers in the study have been encouraged by the therapists to play musical instrument put at their disposal in order to express themselves, their feelings and thoughts. Results showed that playing a musical instrument and music in general has a positive impact on schizophrenia patients' symptoms by reducing and easing them.
Dr. Mike Crawford concluded: "We have known for some time that psychological treatments can help people with schizophrenia, but these have only been used when people are fairly stable. This study shows that music therapy provides a way of working with people when they are acutely unwell. At such times patients may find it difficult to express themselves using words, but through the skill of the therapist it may be possible to help people interact through music in a way that is constructive, creative and enjoyable."