14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish researchers at the University of Jyväskylä (UJ) say that mixing music therapy with all the standard approaches to treating depression – including drugs, counseling and psychotherapy – contributes to improving the final outcomes for most patients.
For many years, numerous researchers have said that the potential benefits that music therapy has to offer have remained largely unexplored. This study appears to confirm this point of view, authors write in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
When music is added to the mix, people become capable of expressing their emotions far better and easier than before. Patients also appear to find the perfect conduit for reflecting their inner feelings a lot better, which is one of the main targets of depression treatment.
For the new study, experts selected a test group featuring participants aged 18 to 50. All of them had previously been diagnosed with depression. Of the test subjects, 33 were put in a group that received music therapy in addition to standard treatment, while the other 46 were organized in a control group.
The authors say that the standard approach to treating depression in Finland is prescribing patients with antidepressants, instructing them to attend 5 or 6 individual psychotherapy sessions and provding them with psychiatric counseling.
People in the test group also participated in 60-minute, one-on-one music therapy sessions twice a week for 6 weeks. On average, all members of the group attended 18 sessions, whereas 88 percent of the group attended at least 15 sessions.
After the study concluded, all test subjects were tracked for between three and six months. Experts checked for relapses in depression and anxiety symptoms, PsychCentral reports.
Even three months after the original therapies were administered, people in the control group exhibited far fewer depression and anxiety symptoms than those in the control group. Researchers say those individuals tended to score better on general functioning as well.
After six months, the differences between the groups had subsided, and were no longer relevant.
“Our trial has shown that music therapy, when added to standard care including medication, psychotherapy and counseling, helps people to improve their levels of depression and anxiety,” says Christian Gold, PhD, a researcher in the UJ team.
“Music therapy has specific qualities that allow people to express themselves and interact in a non-verbal way – even in situations when they cannot find the words to describe their inner experiences,” the expert adds.
“We found that people often expressed their inner pressure and feelings by drumming or with the tones produced with a mallet instrument. Some people described their playing experience as cathartic,” UJ research scientist Jaakko Erkkilä, PhD, concludes.