music therapy research topic

REVIEW article

The state of music therapy studies in the past 20 years: a bibliometric analysis.

• 1 School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
• 2 Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
• 3 Department of Sport Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Shangti Orthopedic Hospital, Shanghai, China

Purpose: Music therapy is increasingly being used to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. However, publications on the global trends of music therapy using bibliometric analysis are rare. The study aimed to use the CiteSpace software to provide global scientific research about music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Methods: Publications between 2000 and 2019 related to music therapy were searched from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The CiteSpace V software was used to perform co-citation analysis about authors, and visualize the collaborations between countries or regions into a network map. Linear regression was applied to analyze the overall publication trend.

Results: In this study, a total of 1,004 studies met the inclusion criteria. These works were written by 2,531 authors from 1,219 institutions. The results revealed that music therapy publications had significant growth over time because the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). The three keywords “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

Conclusions: The overall trend in music therapy is positive. The findings provide useful information for music therapy researchers to identify new directions related to collaborators, popular issues, and research frontiers. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to improve the quality of life of people.

Introduction

Music therapy is defined as the evidence-based use of music interventions to achieve the goals of clients with the help of music therapists who have completed a music therapy program ( Association, 2018 ). In the United States, music therapists must complete 1,200 h of clinical training and pass the certification exam by the Certification Board for Music Therapists ( Devlin et al., 2019 ). Music therapists use evidence-based music interventions to address the mental, physical, or emotional needs of an individual ( Gooding and Langston, 2019 ). Also, music therapy is used as a solo standard treatment, as well as co-treatment with other disciplines, to address the needs in cognition, language, social integration, and psychological health and family support of an individual ( Bronson et al., 2018 ). Additionally, music therapy has been used to improve various diseases in different research areas, such as rehabilitation, public health, clinical care, and psychology ( Devlin et al., 2019 ). With neurorehabilitation, music therapy has been applied to increase motor activities in people with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders ( Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Devlin et al., 2019 ). However, limited reviews about music therapy have utilized universal data and conducted massive retrospective studies using bibliometric techniques. Thus, this study demonstrates music therapy with a broad view and an in-depth analysis of the knowledge structure using bibliometric analysis of articles and publications.

Bibliometrics turns the major quantitative analytical tool that is used in conducting in-depth analyses of publications ( Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). There are three types of bibliometric indices: (a) the quantity index is used to determine the number of relevant publications, (b) the quality index is employed to explore the characteristics of a scientific topic in terms of citations, and (c) the structural index is used to show the relationships among publications ( Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). In this study, the three types of bibliometric indices will be applied to conduct an in-depth analysis of publications in this frontier.

While research about music therapy is extensively available worldwide, relatively limited studies use bibliometric methods to analyze the global research about this topic. The aim of this study is to use the CiteSpace software to perform a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from 2000 to 2019. CiteSpace V is visual analytic software, which is often utilized to perform bibliometric analyses ( Falagas et al., 2008 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ). It is also a tool applied to detect trends in global scientific research. In this study, the global music therapy research includes publication outputs, distribution and collaborations between authors/countries or regions/institutions, intense issues, hot articles, common keywords, productive authors, and connections among such authors in the field. This study also provides helpful information for researchers in their endeavor to identify gaps in the existing literature.

Materials and Methods

Search strategy.

The data used in this study were obtained from WoS, the most trusted international citation database in the world. This database, which is run by Thomson & Reuters Corporation ( Falagas et al., 2008 ; Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Chen C. et al., 2012 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ; Miao et al., 2017 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ), provides high-quality journals and detailed information about publications worldwide. In this study, publications were searched from the WoS Core Collection database, which included eight indices ( Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). This study searched the publications from two indices, namely, the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Sciences Citation Index. As the most updated publications about music therapy were published in the 21st century, publications from 2000 to 2019 were chosen for this study. We performed data acquisition on July 26, 2020 using the following search terms: title = (“music therapy”) and time span = 2000–2019.

Inclusion Criteria

Figure 1 presents the inclusion criteria. The title field was music therapy (TI = music therapy), and only reviews and articles were chosen as document types in the advanced search. Other document types, such as letters, editorial materials, and book reviews, were excluded. Furthermore, there were no species limitations set. This advanced search process returned 718 articles. In the end, a total of 1,004 publications were obtained and were analyzed to obtain comprehensive perspectives on the data.

Figure 1 . Flow chart of music therapy articles and reviews inclusion.

Data Extraction

Author Lin-Man Weng extracted the publications and applied the EndNote software and Microsoft Excel 2016 to conduct analysis on the downloaded publications from the WoS database. Additionally, we extracted and recorded some information of the publications, such as citation frequency, institutions, authors' countries or regions, and journals as bibliometric indicators. The H-index is utilized as a measurement of the citation frequency of the studies for academic journals or researchers ( Wang et al., 2019 ).

Analysis Methods

The objective of bibliometrics can be described as the performance of studies that contributes to advancing the knowledge domain through inferences and explanations of relevant analyses ( Castanha and Grácio, 2014 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ; Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). CiteSpace V is a bibliometric software that generates information for better visualization of data. In this study, the CiteSpace V software was used to visualize six science maps about music therapy research from 2000 to 2019: the network of author co-citation, collaboration network among countries and regions, relationship of institutions interested in the field, network map of co-citation journals, network map of co-cited references, and the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. As noted, a co-citation is produced when two publications receive a citation from the same third study ( Small, 1973 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ).

In addition, a science map typically features a set of points and lines to present collaborations among publications ( Chen, 2006 ). A point is used to represent a country or region, author, institution, journal, reference, or keyword, whereas a line represents connections among them ( Zheng and Wang, 2019 ), with stronger connections indicated by wider lines. Furthermore, the science map includes nodes, which represent the citation frequencies of certain themes. A burst node in the form of a red circle in the center indicates the number of co-occurrence or citation that increases over time. A purple node represents centrality, which indicates the significant knowledge presented by the data ( Chen, 2006 ; Chen H. et al., 2012 ; Zheng and Wang, 2019 ). The science map represents the keywords and references with citation bursts. Occurrence bursts represent the frequency of a theme ( Chen, 2006 ), whereas citation bursts represent the frequency of the reference. The citation bursts of keywords and references explore the trends and indicate whether the relevant authors have gained considerable attention in the field ( Chen, 2006 ). Through this kind of map, scholars can better understand emerging trends and grasp the hot topics by burst detection analysis ( Liang et al., 2017 ; Miao et al., 2017 ).

Publication Outputs and Time Trends

A total of 1,004 articles and reviews related to music therapy research met the criteria. The details of annual publications are presented in Figure 2 . As can be seen, there were <30 annual publications between 2000 and 2006. The number of publications increased steadily between 2007 and 2015. It was 2015, which marked the first time over 80 articles or reviews were published. The significant increase in publications between 2018 and 2019 indicated that a growing number of researchers became interested in this field. Linear regression can be used to analyze the trends in publication outputs. In this study, the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). Moreover, the P < 0.05, indicating statistical significance. Overall, the publication outputs increased from 2000 to 2019.

Figure 2 . Annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Distribution by Country or Region and Institution

The 1,004 articles and reviews collected were published in 49 countries and regions. Table 1 presents the top 10 countries or regions. Figure 3 shows an intuitive comparison of the citations on WoS, citations per study, Hirsch index (H-index), and major essential science indicator (ESI) studies of the top five countries or regions. The H-index is a kind of index that is applied in measuring the wide impact of the scientific achievements of authors. The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). Norway has the largest number of citations per study (27.18 citations). Figure 4 presents the collaboration networks among countries or regions. The collaboration network map contained 32 nodes and 38 links. The largest node can be found in the United States, which meant that the United States had the largest number of publications in the field. Meanwhile, the deepest purple circle was located in Austria, which meant that Austria is the country with the most number of collaborations with other countries or regions in this research field. A total of 1,219 institutions contributed various music therapy-related publications. Figure 5 presents the collaborations among institutions. As can be seen, the University of Melbourne is the most productive institution in terms of the number of publications (45), followed by the University of Minnesota (43), and the University of Bergen (39). The top 10 institutions featured in Table 2 contributed 28.884% of the total articles and reviews published. Among these, Aalborg University had the largest centrality (0.13). The top 10 productive institutions with details are shown in Table 2 .

Table 1 . Top 10 countries or regions of origin of study in the music therapy research field.

Figure 3 . Publications, citations on WoS (×0.01), citations per study, H-index, and ESL top study among top five countries or regions.

Figure 4 . The collaborations of countries or regions interested in the field. In this map, the node represents a country, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two countries. A larger node represents more publications in the country. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Figure 5 . The relationship of institutions interested in the field. University of Melbourne, Florida State University, University of Minnesota, Aalborg University, Temple University, University of Queensland, and University of Bergen. In this map, the node represents an institution, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two institutions. A larger node represents more publications in the institution. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Table 2 . Top 10 institutions that contributed to publications in the music therapy field.

Distribution by Journals

Table 3 presents the top 10 journals that published articles or reviews in the music therapy field. The publications are mostly published in these journal fields, such as Therapy, Medical, Psychology, Neuroscience, Health and Clinical Care. The impact factors (IF) of these journals ranged between 0.913 and 7.89 (average IF: 2.568). Four journals had an impact factor >2, of which Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews had the highest IF, 2019 = 7.89. In addition, the Journal of Music Therapy (IF: 2019 = 1.206) published 177 articles or reviews (17.629%) about music therapy in the past two decades, followed by the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (121 publications, 12.052%, IF: 2019 = 0.913), and Arts in Psychotherapy (104 publications, 10.359%, IF: 2019 = 1.322). Furthermore, the map of the co-citation journal contained 393 nodes and 759 links ( Figure 6 ). The high co-citation count identifies the journals with the greatest academic influence and key positions in the field. The Journal of Music Therapy had the maximum co-citation counts (658), followed by Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (281), and Arts in Psychotherapy (279). Therefore, according to the analysis of the publications and co-citation counts, the Journal of Music Therapy and Arts in Psychotherapy occupied key positions in this research field.

Table 3 . Top 10 journals that published articles in the music therapy field.

Figure 6 . Network map of co-citation journals engaged in music therapy from 2000 to 2019. Journal of Music Therapy, Arts in Psychotherapy, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. In this map, the node represents a journal, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two journals. A larger node represents more publications in the journal. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Distribution by Authors

A total of 2,531 authors contributed to the research outputs related to music therapy. Author Silverman MJ published most of the studies (46) in terms of number of publications, followed by Gold C (41), Magee WL (19), O'Callaghan C (15), and Raglio A (15). According to co-citation counts, Bruscia KE (171 citations) was the most co-cited author, followed by Gold C (147 citations), Wigram T (121 citations), and Bradt J (117 citations), as presented in Table 4 . In Figure 7 , these nodes highlight the co-citation networks of the authors. The large-sized node represented author Bruscia KE, indicating that this author owned the most co-citations. Furthermore, the linear regression results revealed a remarkable increase in the percentages of multiple articles of authors ( t = 13.089, P < 0.001). These also indicated that cooperation among authors had increased remarkably, which can be considered an important development in music therapy research.

Table 4 . Top five authors of publications and top five authors of co-citation counts.

Figure 7 . The network of author co-citaion. In this map, the node represents an author, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two authors. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Analysis of Keywords

The results of keywords analysis indicated research hotspots and help scholars identify future research topics. Table 5 highlights 20 keywords with the most frequencies, such as “music therapy,” “anxiety,” “intervention,” “children,” and “depression.” The keyword “autism” has the highest centrality (0.42). Figure 8 shows the top 17 keywords with the strongest citation bursts. By the end of 2019, keyword bursts were led by “hospice,” which had the strongest burst (3.5071), followed by “efficacy” (3.1161), “health” (6.2109), and “older adult” (4.476).

Table 5 . Top 20 keywords with the most frequency and centrality in music therapy study.

Figure 8 . The strongest citation bursts of the top 17 keywords. The red measures indicate frequent citation of keywords, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of keywords.

Analysis of Co-cited References

The analysis of co-cited references is a significant indicator in the bibliometric method ( Chen, 2006 ). The top five co-cited references and their main findings are listed in Table 6 . These are regarded as fundamental studies for the music therapy knowledge base. In terms of co-citation counts, “individual music therapy for depression: randomized controlled trial” was the key reference because it had the most co-citation counts. This study concludes that music therapy mixed with standard care is an effective way to treat working-age people with depression. The authors also explained that music therapy is a valuable enhancement to established treatment practices ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Meanwhile, the strongest citation burst of reference is regarded as the main knowledge of the trend ( Fitzpatrick, 2005 ). Figure 9 highlights the top 71 strongest citation bursts of references from 2000 to 2019. As can be seen, by the end of 2019, the reference burst was led by author Stige B, and the strongest burst was 4.3462.

Table 6 . Top five co-cited references with co-citation counts in the study of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Figure 9 . The strongest citation bursts among the top 71 references. The red measures indicate frequent citation of studies, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of studies.

Figure 10A presents the co-cited reference map containing 577 nodes and 1,331 links. The figure explains the empirical relevance of a considerable number of articles and reviews. Figure 10B presents the co-citation map (timeline view) of reference from publications on top music therapy research. The timeline view of clusters shows the research progress of music therapy in a particular period of time and the thematic concentration of each cluster. “Psychosis” was labeled as the largest cluster (#0), followed by “improvisational music therapy” (#1) and “paranesthesia anxiety” (#2). These clusters have also remained hot topics in recent years. Furthermore, the result of the modularity Q score was 0.8258. That this value exceeded 0.5 indicated that the definitions of the subdomain and characters of clusters were distinct. In addition, the mean silhouette was 0.5802, which also exceeded 0.5. The high homogeneity of individual clusters indicated high concentration in different research areas.

Figure 10. (A) The network map of co-cited references and (B) the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. In these maps, the node represents a study, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two studies. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field. (A) The nodes in the same color belong to the same cluster. (B) The nodes on the same line belong to the same cluster.

Global Trends in Music Therapy Research

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from the past two decades. The results, which reveal that music therapy studies have been conducted throughout the world, among others, can provide further research suggestions to scholars. In terms of the general analysis of the publications, the features of published articles and reviews, prolific countries or regions, and productive institutions are summarized below.

I. The distribution of publication year has been increasing in the past two decades. The annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019 were divided into three stages: beginning, second, and third. In the beginning stage, there were <30 annual publications from 2000 to 2006. The second stage was between 2007 and 2014. The number of publications increased steadily. It was 2007, which marked the first time 40 articles or reviews were published. The third stage was between 2015 and 2019. The year 2015 was the key turning point because it was the first time 80 articles or reviews were published. The number of publications showed a downward trend in 2016 (72), but it was still higher than the average number of the previous years. Overall, music therapy-related research has received increasing attention among scholars from 2000 to 2020.

II. The articles and reviews covered about 49 countries or regions, and the prolific countries or regions were mainly located in the North American and European continents. According to citations on WoS, citations per study, and the H-index, music therapy publications from developed countries, such as United States and Norway, have greater influence than those from other countries. In addition, China, as a model of a developing country, had published 53 studies and ranked top six among productive countries.

III. In terms of the collaboration map of institutions, the most productive universities engaged in music therapy were located in the United States, namely, University of Minnesota (43 publications), Florida State University (33 publications), Temple University (27 publications), and University of Kansas (20 publications). It indicated that institutions in the US have significant impacts in this area.

IV. According to author co-citation counts, scholars can focus on the publications of such authors as Bruscia KE, Gold C, and Wigram T. These three authors come from the United States, Norway, and Denmark, and it also reflected that these three countries are leading the research trend. Author Bruscia KE has the largest co-citation counts and is based at Temple University. He published many music therapy studies about assessment and clinical evaluation in music therapy, music therapy theories, and therapist experiences. These publications laid a foundation and facilitate the development of music therapy. In addition, in Figure 11 , the multi-authored articles between 2000 and 2003 comprised 47.56% of the sample, whereas the publications of multi-authored articles increased significantly from 2016 to 2019 (85.51%). These indicated that cooperation is an effective factor in improving the quality of publications.

Figure 11 . The percentage of single- vs. multiple-authored articles. Blue bars mean multiple-author percentage; orange bars mean single-author percentage.

Research Focus on the Research Frontier and Hot Topics

According to the science map analysis, hot music therapy topics among publications are discussed.

I. The cluster “#1 improvisational music therapy” (IMT) is the current research frontier in the music therapy research field. In general, music therapy has a long research tradition within autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and there have been more rigorous studies about it in recent years. IMT for children with autism is described as a child-centered method. Improvisational music-making may enhance social interaction and expression of emotions among children with autism, such as responding to communication acts ( Geretsegger et al., 2012 , 2015 ). In addition, IMT is an evidence-based treatment approach that may be helpful for people who abuse drugs or have cancer. A study applied improving as a primary music therapeutic practice, and the result indicated that IMT will be effective in treating depression accompanied by drug abuse among adults ( Albornoz, 2011 ). By applying the interpretative phenomenological analysis and psychological perspectives, a study explained the significant role of music therapy as an innovative psychological intervention in cancer care settings ( Pothoulaki et al., 2012 ). IMT may serve as an effective additional method for treating psychiatric disorders in the short and medium term, but it may need more studies to identify the long-term effects in clinical practice.

II. Based on the analysis of co-citation counts, the top three references all applied music therapy to improve the quality of life of clients. They highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective method that can cover a range of clinical skills, thus helping people with psychological disorders, chronic illnesses, and pain management issues. Furthermore, music therapy mixed with standard care can help individuals with schizophrenia improve their global state, mental state (including negative and general symptoms), social functioning, and quality of life ( Gold et al., 2009 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Geretsegger et al., 2017 ).

III. By understanding the keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the research frontier can be predicted. Three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

a. Efficacy: This refers to measuring the effectiveness of music therapy in terms of clinical skills. Studies have found that a wide variety of psychological disorders can be effectively treated with music. In the study of Fukui, patients with Alzheimer's disease listened to music and verbally communicated with their music therapist. The results showed that problematic behaviors of the patients with Alzheimer's disease decreased ( Fukui et al., 2012 ). The aim of the study of Erkkila was to determine the efficacy of music therapy when added to standard care. The result of this study also indicated that music therapy had specific qualities for non-verbal expression and communication when patients cannot verbally describe their inner experiences ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Additionally, as summarized by Ueda, music therapy reduced anxiety and depression in patients with dementia. However, his study cannot clarify what kinds of music therapy or patients have effectiveness. Thus, future studies should investigate music therapy with good methodology and evaluation methods ( Ueda et al., 2013 ).

b. Health: Music therapy is a methodical intervention in clinical practice because it uses music experiences and relationships to promote health for adults and children ( Bruscia, 1998 ). Also, music therapy is an effective means of achieving the optimal health and well-being of individuals and communities, because it can be individualized or done as a group activity. The stimulation from music therapy can lead to conversations, recollection of memories, and expression. The study of Gold indicated that solo music therapy in routine practice is an effective addition to usual care for mental health care patients with low motivation ( Gold et al., 2013 ). Porter summarized that music therapy contributes to improvement for both kids and teenagers with mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, and increases self-esteem in the short term ( Porter et al., 2017 ).

c. Older adults: This refers to the use of music therapy as a treatment to maintain and slow down the symptoms observed in older adults ( Mammarella et al., 2007 ; Deason et al., 2012 ). In terms of keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the most popular subjects of music therapy-related articles and reviews focused on children from 2005 to 2007. However, various researchers concentrated on older adults from 2017 to 2019. Music therapy was the treatment of choice for older adults with depression, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disorders ( Brotons and Koger, 2000 ; Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Johnson et al., 2011 ; Deason et al., 2012 ; McDermott et al., 2013 ; Sakamoto et al., 2013 ; Benoit et al., 2014 ; Pohl et al., 2020 ). In the study of Zhao, music therapy had positive effects on the reduction of depressive symptoms for older adults when added to standard therapies. These standard therapies could be standard care, standard drug treatment, standard rehabilitation, and health education ( Zhao et al., 2016 ). The study of Shimizu demonstrated that multitask movement music therapy was an effective intervention to enhance neural activation in older adults with mild cognitive impairment ( Shimizu et al., 2018 ). However, the findings of the study of Li explained that short-term music therapy intervention cannot improve the cognitive function of older adults. He also recommended that future researchers can apply a quality methodology with a long-term research design for the care needs of older adults ( Li et al., 2015 ).

Strengths and Limitations

To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first one to analyze large-scale data of music therapy publications from the past two decades through CiteSpace V. CiteSpace could detect more comprehensive results than simply reviewing articles and studies. In addition, the bibliometric method helped us to identify the emerging trend and collaboration among authors, institutions, and countries or regions.

This study is not without limitations. First, only articles and reviews published in the WoS Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index were analyzed. Future reviews could consider other databases, such as PubMed and Scopus. The document type labeled by publishers is not always accurate. For example, some publications labeled by WoS were not actually reviews ( Harzing, 2013 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Second, the limitation may induce bias in frequency of reference. For example, some potential articles were published recently, and these studies could be not cited with frequent times. Also, in terms of obliteration by incorporation, some common knowledge or opinions become accepted that their contributors or authors are no longer cited ( Merton, 1965 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Third, this review applied the quantitative analysis approach, and only limited qualitative analysis was performed in this study. In addition, we applied the CitesSpace software to conduct this bibliometric study, but the CiteSpace software did not allow us to complicate information under both full counting and fractional counting systems. Thus, future scholars can analyze the development of music therapy in some specific journals using both quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Conclusions

This bibliometric study provides information regarding emerging trends in music therapy publications from 2000 to 2019. First, this study presents several theoretical implications related to publications that may assist future researchers to advance their research field. The results reveal that annual publications in music therapy research have significantly increased in the last two decades, and the overall trend in publications increased from 28 publications in 2000 to 111 publications in 2019. This analysis also furthers the comprehensive understanding of the global research structure in the field. Also, we have stated a high level of collaboration between different countries or regions and authors in the music therapy research. This collaboration has extremely expanded the knowledge of music therapy. Thus, future music therapy professionals can benefit from the most specialized research.

Second, this research represents several practical implications. IMT is the current research frontier in the field. IMT usually serves as an effective music therapy method for the health of people in clinical practice. Identifying the emerging trends in this field will help researchers prepare their studies on recent research issues ( Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). Likewise, it also indicates future studies to address these issues and update the existing literature. In terms of the strongest citation bursts, the three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective invention, and it can benefit the health of people. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to the health of people.

Finally, multiple researchers have indicated several health benefits of music therapy, and the music therapy mechanism perspective is necessary for future research to advance the field. Also, music therapy can benefit a wide range of individuals, such as those with autism spectrum, traumatic brain injury, or some physical disorders. Future researchers can develop music therapy standards to measure clinical practice.

Author Contributions

KL and LW: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing—review, and editing. LW: software and data curation. KL: validation and writing—original draft preparation. XW: visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This study was supported by the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation of China (161092), the scientific and technological research program of the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (19080503100), and the Shanghai Key Lab of Human Performance (Shanghai University of Sport) (11DZ2261100).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Abbreviations

WoS, Web of Science; ESI, essential science indicators; IF, impact factor; IMT, improvisational music therapy; ASD, autism spectrum disorder.

Albornoz, Y. (2011). The effects of group improvisational music therapy on depression in adolescents and adults with substance abuse: a randomized controlled trial. Nord. J. Music Ther. 20, 208–224. doi: 10.1080/08098131.2010.522717

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Association, A. M. T. (2018). History of Music Therapy . Available online at: https://www.musictherapy.org/about/history/ (accessed November 10, 2020).

Google Scholar

Benoit, C. E., Dalla Bella, S., Farrugia, N., Obrig, H., Mainka, S., and Kotz, S. A. (2014). Musically cued gait-training improves both perceptual and motor timing in Parkinson's disease. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:494. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00494

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Bernatzky, G., Bernatzky, P., Hesse, H. P., Staffen, W., and Ladurner, G. (2004). Stimulating music increases motor coordination in patients afflicted with Morbus Parkinson. Neurosci. Lett. 361, 4–8. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2003.12.022

Bronson, H., Vaudreuil, R., and Bradt, J. (2018). Music therapy treatment of active duty military: an overview of intensive outpatient and longitudinal care programs. Music Ther. Perspect. 36, 195–206. doi: 10.1093/mtp/miy006

Brotons, M., and Koger, S. M. (2000). The impact of music therapy on language functioning in dementia. J. Music Ther. 37, 183–195. doi: 10.1093/jmt/37.3.183

Bruscia, K. (1998). Defining Music Therapy 2nd Edition . Gilsum: Barcelona publications.

Castanha, R. C. G., and Grácio, M. C. C. (2014). Bibliometrics contribution to the metatheoretical and domain analysis studies. Knowl. Organiz. 41, 171–174. doi: 10.5771/0943-7444-2014-2-171

Chen, C. (2006). CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 57, 359–377. doi: 10.1002/asi.20317

Chen, C., Hu, Z., Liu, S., and Tseng, H. (2012). Emerging trends in regenerative medicine: a scientometric analysis in CiteSpace. Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 12, 593–608. doi: 10.1517/14712598.2012.674507

Chen, H., Zhao, G., and Xu, N. (2012). “The analysis of research hotspots and fronts of knowledge visualization based on CiteSpace II,” in International Conference on Hybrid Learning , Vol. 7411, eds S. K. S. Cheung, J. Fong, L. F. Kwok, K. Li, and R. Kwan (Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer), 57–68. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-32018-_6

Deason, R., Simmons-Stern, N., Frustace, B., Ally, B., and Budson, A. (2012). Music as a memory enhancer: Differences between healthy older adults and patients with Alzheimer's disease. Psychomusicol. Music Mind Brain 22:175. doi: 10.1037/a0031118

Devlin, K., Alshaikh, J. T., and Pantelyat, A. (2019). Music therapy and music-based interventions for movement disorders. Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 19:83. doi: 10.1007/s11910-019-1005-0

Durieux, V., and Gevenois, P. A. (2010). Bibliometric indicators: quality measurements of scientific publication. Radiology 255, 342–351. doi: 10.1148/radiol.09090626

Ellegaard, O., and Wallin, J. A. (2015). The bibliometric analysis of scholarly production: How great is the impact? Scientometrics 105, 1809–1831. doi: 10.1007/s11192-015-1645-z

Erkkilä, J., Punkanen, M., Fachner, J., Ala-Ruona, E., Pöntiö, I., Tervaniemi, M., et al. (2011). Individual music therapy for depression: randomised controlled trial. Br. J. Psychiatry 199, 132–139. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.085431

Falagas, M. E., Pitsouni, E. I., Malietzis, G. A., and Pappas, G. (2008). Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses. Faseb J. 22, 338–342. doi: 10.1096/FJ.07-9492LSF

Fitzpatrick, R. B. (2005). Essential Science IndicatorsSM. Med. Ref. Serv. Q. 24, 67–78. doi: 10.1300/J115v24n04_05

Fukui, H., Arai, A., and Toyoshima, K. (2012). Efficacy of music therapy in treatment for the patients with Alzheimer's disease. Int. J. Alzheimer's Dis. 2012, 531646–531646. doi: 10.1155/2012/531646

Geretsegger, M., Holck, U., Carpente, J. A., Elefant, C., Kim, J., and Gold, C. (2015). Common characteristics of improvisational approaches in music therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder: developing treatment guidelines. J. Music Ther. 52, 258–281. doi: 10.1093/jmt/thv005

Geretsegger, M., Holck, U., and Gold, C. (2012). Randomised controlled trial of improvisational music therapy's effectiveness for children with autism spectrum disorders (TIME-A): study protocol. BMC Pediatr. 12:2. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-12-2

Geretsegger, M., Mossler, K. A., Bieleninik, L., Chen, X. J., Heldal, T. O., and Gold, C. (2017). Music therapy for people with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 5:CD004025. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004025.pub4

Gold, C., Mössler, K., Grocke, D., Heldal, T. O., Tjemsland, L., Aarre, T., et al. (2013). Individual music therapy for mental health care clients with low therapy motivation: multicentre randomised controlled trial. Psychother. Psychosom. 82, 319–331. doi: 10.1159/000348452

Gold, C., Solli, H. P., Krüger, V., and Lie, S. A. (2009). Dose-response relationship in music therapy for people with serious mental disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 29, 193–207. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.01.001

Gonzalez-Serrano, M. H., Jones, P., and Llanos-Contrera, O. (2020). An overview of sport entrepreneurship field: a bibliometric analysis of the articles published in the Web of Science. Sport Soc. 23, 296–314. doi: 10.1080/17430437.2019.1607307

Gooding, L. F., and Langston, D. G. (2019). Music therapy with military populations: a scoping review. J. Music Ther. 56, 315–347. doi: 10.1093/jmt/thz010

Harzing, A.-W. (2013). Document categories in the ISI web of knowledge: misunderstanding the social sciences? Scientometrics 94, 23–34. doi: 10.1007/s11192-012-0738-1

Johnson, J. K., Chang, C. C., Brambati, S. M., Migliaccio, R., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., Miller, B. L., et al. (2011). Music recognition in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer disease. Cogn. Behav. Neurol. 24, 74–84. doi: 10.1097/WNN.0b013e31821de326

Li, H. C., Wang, H. H., Chou, F. H., and Chen, K. M. (2015). The effect of music therapy on cognitive functioning among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J. Am. Med. Dir. Assoc. 16, 71–77. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2014.10.004

Liang, Y. D., Li, Y., Zhao, J., Wang, X. Y., Zhu, H. Z., and Chen, X. H. (2017). Study of acupuncture for low back pain in recent 20 years: a bibliometric analysis via CiteSpace. J. Pain Res. 10, 951–964. doi: 10.2147/jpr.S132808

Mammarella, N., Fairfield, B., and Cornoldi, C. (2007). Does music enhance cognitive performance in healthy older adults? The Vivaldi effect. Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 19, 394–399. doi: 10.1007/bf03324720

McDermott, O., Crellin, N., Ridder, H. M., and Orrell, M. (2013). Music therapy in dementia: a narrative synthesis systematic review. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 28, 781–794. doi: 10.1002/gps.3895

Merigó, J. M., Mulet-Forteza, C., Valencia, C., and Lew, A. A. (2019). Twenty years of tourism Geographies: a bibliometric overview. Tour. Geograph. 21, 881–910. doi: 10.1080/14616688.2019.1666913

Merton, R. K. (1965). On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript . New York, NY: Free Press.

Miao, Y., Xu, S. Y., Chen, L. S., Liang, G. Y., Pu, Y. P., and Yin, L. H. (2017). Trends of long noncoding RNA research from 2007 to 2016: a bibliometric analysis. Oncotarget 8, 83114–83127. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.20851

Mulet-Forteza, C., Lunn, E., Merigó, J. M., and Horrach, P. (2021). Research progress in tourism, leisure and hospitality in Europe (1969–2018). Int. J. Contemp. Hospit. Manage. 33, 48–74. doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-06-2020-0521

Pohl, P., Wressle, E., Lundin, F., Enthoven, P., and Dizdar, N. (2020). Group-based music intervention in Parkinson's disease - findings from a mixed-methods study. Clin. Rehabil. 34, 533–544. doi: 10.1177/0269215520907669

Porter, S., McConnell, T., McLaughlin, K., Lynn, F., Cardwell, C., Braiden, H. J., et al. (2017). Music therapy for children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems: a randomised controlled trial. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 58, 586–594. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12656

Pothoulaki, M., MacDonald, R., and Flowers, P. (2012). An interpretative phenomenological analysis of an improvisational music therapy program for cancer patients. J. Music Ther. 49, 45–67. doi: 10.1093/jmt/49.1.45

Sakamoto, M., Ando, H., and Tsutou, A. (2013). Comparing the effects of different individualized music interventions for elderly individuals with severe dementia. Int. Psychogeriatr. 25, 775–784. doi: 10.1017/s1041610212002256

Shimizu, N., Umemura, T., Matsunaga, M., and Hirai, T. (2018). Effects of movement music therapy with a percussion instrument on physical and frontal lobe function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial. Aging Ment. Health 22, 1614–1626. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1379048

Small, H. (1973). Co-citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents. J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. 24, 265–269. doi: 10.1002/asi.4630240406

Ueda, T., Suzukamo, Y., Sato, M., and Izumi, S. (2013). Effects of music therapy on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res. Rev. 12, 628–641. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2013.02.003

Wang, X. Q., Peng, M. S., Weng, L. M., Zheng, Y. L., Zhang, Z. J., and Chen, P. J. (2019). Bibliometric study of the comorbidity of pain and depression research. Neural. Plast 2019:1657498. doi: 10.1155/2019/1657498

Yeung, A. W. K. (2021). Is the influence of freud declining in psychology and psychiatry? A bibliometric analysis. Front. Psychol. 12:631516. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631516

Zhao, K., Bai, Z. G., Bo, A., and Chi, I. (2016). A systematic review and meta-analysis of music therapy for the older adults with depression. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 31, 1188–1198. doi: 10.1002/gps.4494

Zheng, K., and Wang, X. (2019). Publications on the association between cognitive function and pain from 2000 to 2018: a bibliometric analysis using citespace. Med. Sci. Monit. 25, 8940–8951. doi: 10.12659/msm.917742

Keywords: music therapy, aged, bibliometrics, health, web of science

Citation: Li K, Weng L and Wang X (2021) The State of Music Therapy Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis. Front. Psychol. 12:697726. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697726

Received: 20 April 2021; Accepted: 12 May 2021; Published: 10 June 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Li, Weng and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Xueqiang Wang, wangxueqiang@sus.edu.cn

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Accessibility Options:
• Skip to Content
• Skip to Search
• Skip to footer
• Office of Disability Services
• Request Assistance
• 305-284-2374
• High Contrast
• School of Architecture
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Miami Herbert Business School
• School of Communication
• School of Education and Human Development
• College of Engineering
• School of Law
• Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science
• Miller School of Medicine

Frost School of Music

• School of Nursing and Health Studies
• The Graduate School
• Division of Continuing and International Education
• People Search
• Class Search
• IT Help and Support
• Privacy Statement
• Student Life

• Search Site
• FROST Admissions
• FROST Events
• Alumni Achievements
• Ress Project
• Clinical Training
• Undergraduate
• Bachelor of Music
• Master with Undergraduate Equivalency
• Master of Music
• Non-Credit Certificate
• Faculty Research
• Student Research

Student Research Projects

• Music Therapy Research

Research activity is critical to the advancement of the music therapy profession as it enhances the understanding of music as unique human behavior and provides best practice guidelines for clinicians. 

Masters Theses and Clinical Projects

Alison Belinsky (clinical project), Development of a Musical Executive Function Training protocol for adults with schizophrenia

John Britton (clinical project), The Development of a M usic-mindfulness Intervention for Patients with Cancer

Ruthanne Cain (clinical project), The Role of Musical Triggers in Substance Use Disorder

Carolyn Dachinger (thesis), Impulsivity and Performance on a Music-based C ognitive R ehabilitation P rotocol in Persons with Alcohol Dependence

Angela Davis (thesis), The Effect of Film S core on Emotion and Self-talk

Jenny Denk (thesis), An Exploratory Study Examining the Impact of a Music Therapy Support Group on Perceived Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Long-term Caregivers

Esther Hood (clinical project), Developing the Music Assessment of Pediatric Voice (MA-PV)

Anqi Jiang (thesis), The Effect of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) on Gait in Young Children with Cerebral Palsy

Amy Kalas (thesis), Joint Attention Responses to Simple versus C omplex Music of Children with Autism Spectrum D isorder

Stephanie Kawzenuk (thesis), Music Therapy Undergraduate Education and S tudent Clinical Training Learning

Erin Keenan (thesis), The Immediate Effects of Rhythm on the Timing of U pper Extremity Movements in Patients with Parkinson ’ s Disease

Emily Lambert (thesis), Rhythmic Motor Tempo in Elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Katherine Lantigua (clinical project), Development of a Music Attention Control Training (MACT) program to improve selective attention in toddlers with developmental delay

Allison Lockhart (thesis), The Effect of Rhythmic Proprioceptive Input on Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): An Exploratory Study

Jessica MacLean (thesis), An Exploratory Study to Examine a Drumming-to-Speech Intervention for Prosody Perception in Preschoolers with Cochlear Implants

Brianna McCulloch (thesis), The Effect of Music on Alternating Attention in a M atch/mismatch Task in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Alecia Meila (thesis), Exploring the Use of Music Interventions on Emotion Competence in Individuals with Special Needs: A Systematic Review

Brea Murakami (thesis), Music as a Mnemonic Device for Verbal Recall in Healthy Older Adults

Andy Panavides (thesis), The Role of Personality and M ood in Music-use in a High C ognitive Task

Allison Pindale (thesis), The Effect of Musical Mnemonics and Music Training on Word Recall

Evan Privoznik (thesis), Perception of Music-Emotion in Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Marlén Rodrigeuz-Wolfe (thesis), The Effect of Preferred Music Listening on Pain Tolerance in a C old-pressor Task

Hilary Yip (thesis), A Rhythmic Cueing in Martial Arts Protocol For the Motor Skills of Children with Autism: An Exploratory Pilot Study 

Doctoral Dissertations

Carolyn Dachinger, The Effect of a Music-movement Intervention on Arousal and C ognitive Flexibility in O lder Adults with and without Mild N eurocognitive Disorder

Eunju Jeong, Music Therapy Assessment of Attention for Traumatic Brain Injury

Linda Lathroum, The Relationship between Pitch Processing and Phonological A wareness in Five- to Six-year-old Children

Hayoung Lim, Developmental Speech and Language Training through Music for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Julie Stordahl, The Influence of Music on Depression, Affect, and B enefit finding Among Women at the Completion of Treatment for Breast Cancer

• Messinger Music Executive Building 5501 San Amaro Drive Coral Gables , FL 33146
• 305-284-2241 305-284-2241
• Academic Calendar
• Alumni & Friends
• Medical Center
• Hurricane Sports
• UM Campus Map
• Frost Campus Map
• Parking & Transportation
• social-facebook
• social-twitter
• social-youtube
• social-instagram

Copyright: 2024 University of Miami. All Rights Reserved. Emergency Information Privacy Statement & Legal Notices

Individuals with disabilities who experience any technology-based barriers accessing the University’s websites or services can visit the Office of Workplace Equity and Inclusion .

• Help & FAQ

The study of music therapy: Current issues and concepts

• Music and Performing Arts Professions

Research output : Book/Report › Book

This book addresses the issues in music therapy that are central to understanding it in its scholarly dimensions, how it is evolving, and how it connects to related academic disciplines. It draws on a multi-disciplinary approach to look at the defining issues of music therapy as a scholarly discipline, rather than as an area of clinical practice. It is the single best resource for scholars interested in music therapy because it focuses on the areas that tend to be of greatest interest to them, such as issues of definition, theory, and the function of social context, but also does not assume detailed prior knowledge of the subject.

Some of the topics discussed include defining the nature of music therapy, its relation to current and historical uses of music in human well-being, and considerations on what makes music therapy work. Contemporary thinking on the role of neurological theory, early interaction theory, and evolutionary considerations in music therapy theory are also reviewed. Within each of these areas, the author presents an overview of the development of thinking, discusses contrasting positions, and offers a personalized synthesis of the issue. The Study of Music Therapy is the only book in music therapy that gathers all the major issues currently debated in the field, providing a critical overview of the predominance of opinions on these issues.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

• General Arts and Humanities

Access to Document

• 10.4324/9781315882703

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus
• Link to the citations in Scopus

Fingerprint

• Music Therapy Psychology 100%
• Early Interaction Keyphrases 11%
• Historical Use Keyphrases 11%
• Thinking Development Keyphrases 11%
• Definition Theory Keyphrases 11%

T1 - The study of music therapy

T2 - Current issues and concepts

AU - Aigen, Kenneth S.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2014 Taylor and Francis.

PY - 2013/1/1

Y1 - 2013/1/1

N2 - This book addresses the issues in music therapy that are central to understanding it in its scholarly dimensions, how it is evolving, and how it connects to related academic disciplines. It draws on a multi-disciplinary approach to look at the defining issues of music therapy as a scholarly discipline, rather than as an area of clinical practice. It is the single best resource for scholars interested in music therapy because it focuses on the areas that tend to be of greatest interest to them, such as issues of definition, theory, and the function of social context, but also does not assume detailed prior knowledge of the subject.Some of the topics discussed include defining the nature of music therapy, its relation to current and historical uses of music in human well-being, and considerations on what makes music therapy work. Contemporary thinking on the role of neurological theory, early interaction theory, and evolutionary considerations in music therapy theory are also reviewed. Within each of these areas, the author presents an overview of the development of thinking, discusses contrasting positions, and offers a personalized synthesis of the issue. The Study of Music Therapy is the only book in music therapy that gathers all the major issues currently debated in the field, providing a critical overview of the predominance of opinions on these issues.

AB - This book addresses the issues in music therapy that are central to understanding it in its scholarly dimensions, how it is evolving, and how it connects to related academic disciplines. It draws on a multi-disciplinary approach to look at the defining issues of music therapy as a scholarly discipline, rather than as an area of clinical practice. It is the single best resource for scholars interested in music therapy because it focuses on the areas that tend to be of greatest interest to them, such as issues of definition, theory, and the function of social context, but also does not assume detailed prior knowledge of the subject.Some of the topics discussed include defining the nature of music therapy, its relation to current and historical uses of music in human well-being, and considerations on what makes music therapy work. Contemporary thinking on the role of neurological theory, early interaction theory, and evolutionary considerations in music therapy theory are also reviewed. Within each of these areas, the author presents an overview of the development of thinking, discusses contrasting positions, and offers a personalized synthesis of the issue. The Study of Music Therapy is the only book in music therapy that gathers all the major issues currently debated in the field, providing a critical overview of the predominance of opinions on these issues.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84909351276&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84909351276&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781315882703

DO - 10.4324/9781315882703

AN - SCOPUS:84909351276

BT - The study of music therapy

PB - Taylor and Francis

CY - New York

Articles on Music therapy

Displaying 1 - 20 of 26 articles.

Music therapy could help manage the pain of bereavement

Lisa Graham-Wisener , Queen's University Belfast and Tracey McConnell , Queen's University Belfast

How music heals us, even when it’s sad – by a neuroscientist leading a new study of musical therapy

Leigh Riby , Northumbria University, Newcastle

How music therapy can help rebuild the lives of refugees

Elizabeth Coombes , University of South Wales

Drawing, making music and writing poetry can support healing and bring more humanity to health care in US hospitals

Marlaine Figueroa Gray , University of Washington

How an African church choir made a difference to care home life in Greater Manchester

Kayonda Hubert Ngamaba , University of York and Cheyann Heap , University of York

What’s your school closures playlist? Why music should be part of parents’ pandemic survival strategy

Ala Krivov , Western University

Anxiety: a playlist to calm the mind from a music therapist

High-tech concert hall measures brain waves and heart rates during performances

Laurel Trainor , McMaster University and Dan J. Bosnyak , McMaster University

Curious Kids: is it OK to listen to music while studying?

Timothy Byron , University of Wollongong

How music therapy can help anxious children

Music therapy improves the health of premature babies and boosts parental bonding

Creative arts therapies can help people with dementia socialise and express their grief

Joanna Jaaniste , Western Sydney University

Groovy findings: Researching how and why music moves you

Tomas Matthews , Concordia University

Singing death: why music and grief go hand in hand

Helen Maree Hickey , The University of Melbourne and Helen Dell , The University of Melbourne

The healing power of hip hop

Alexander Crooke , The University of Melbourne and Raphael Travis Jr. , Texas State University

Understanding the NDIS: how does the scheme view music therapy?

Katrina McFerran , The University of Melbourne

Ageing in harmony: why the third act of life should be musical

Jennifer MacRitchie , Western Sydney University

Songwriting as solace: ‘I live in the same body but it can’t talk to me any more’

Felicity Anne Baker , The University of Melbourne

Questions to ask your teenager about music and mental health

How music can help relieve chronic pain

Don Knox , Glasgow Caledonian University

Related Topics

• Art therapy
• Music education

Top contributors

Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy, University of South Wales

Professor and Head of Music Therapy, The University of Melbourne

Senior Research Fellow, Music Therapy, The University of Melbourne

PhD Candidate, Music and Public Health, Griffith University

Professor of Music Therapy, Berklee College of Music

Senior research fellow in health and wellbeing, University of Sheffield

Reader in health technology assessment, Brunel University London

Senior audio lecturer, Glasgow Caledonian University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Music Therapy, The University of Melbourne

Researcher in the Australian Research Council for the History of Emotions, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Social Work, Texas State University

Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne

Research Fellow, Social Policy & Social Work, School for Business and Society, University of York

PhD Candidate, Concordia University

Career Development Fellow, Western Sydney University

• X (Twitter)
• Unfollow topic Follow topic

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Front Psychol

The State of Music Therapy Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis

1 School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

Linman Weng

2 Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

Xueqiang Wang

3 Department of Sport Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Shangti Orthopedic Hospital, Shanghai, China

Purpose: Music therapy is increasingly being used to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. However, publications on the global trends of music therapy using bibliometric analysis are rare. The study aimed to use the CiteSpace software to provide global scientific research about music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Methods: Publications between 2000 and 2019 related to music therapy were searched from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The CiteSpace V software was used to perform co-citation analysis about authors, and visualize the collaborations between countries or regions into a network map. Linear regression was applied to analyze the overall publication trend.

Results: In this study, a total of 1,004 studies met the inclusion criteria. These works were written by 2,531 authors from 1,219 institutions. The results revealed that music therapy publications had significant growth over time because the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). The three keywords “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

Conclusions: The overall trend in music therapy is positive. The findings provide useful information for music therapy researchers to identify new directions related to collaborators, popular issues, and research frontiers. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to improve the quality of life of people.

Introduction

Music therapy is defined as the evidence-based use of music interventions to achieve the goals of clients with the help of music therapists who have completed a music therapy program (Association, 2018 ). In the United States, music therapists must complete 1,200 h of clinical training and pass the certification exam by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (Devlin et al., 2019 ). Music therapists use evidence-based music interventions to address the mental, physical, or emotional needs of an individual (Gooding and Langston, 2019 ). Also, music therapy is used as a solo standard treatment, as well as co-treatment with other disciplines, to address the needs in cognition, language, social integration, and psychological health and family support of an individual (Bronson et al., 2018 ). Additionally, music therapy has been used to improve various diseases in different research areas, such as rehabilitation, public health, clinical care, and psychology (Devlin et al., 2019 ). With neurorehabilitation, music therapy has been applied to increase motor activities in people with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders (Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Devlin et al., 2019 ). However, limited reviews about music therapy have utilized universal data and conducted massive retrospective studies using bibliometric techniques. Thus, this study demonstrates music therapy with a broad view and an in-depth analysis of the knowledge structure using bibliometric analysis of articles and publications.

Bibliometrics turns the major quantitative analytical tool that is used in conducting in-depth analyses of publications (Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). There are three types of bibliometric indices: (a) the quantity index is used to determine the number of relevant publications, (b) the quality index is employed to explore the characteristics of a scientific topic in terms of citations, and (c) the structural index is used to show the relationships among publications (Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). In this study, the three types of bibliometric indices will be applied to conduct an in-depth analysis of publications in this frontier.

While research about music therapy is extensively available worldwide, relatively limited studies use bibliometric methods to analyze the global research about this topic. The aim of this study is to use the CiteSpace software to perform a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from 2000 to 2019. CiteSpace V is visual analytic software, which is often utilized to perform bibliometric analyses (Falagas et al., 2008 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ). It is also a tool applied to detect trends in global scientific research. In this study, the global music therapy research includes publication outputs, distribution and collaborations between authors/countries or regions/institutions, intense issues, hot articles, common keywords, productive authors, and connections among such authors in the field. This study also provides helpful information for researchers in their endeavor to identify gaps in the existing literature.

Materials and Methods

Search strategy.

The data used in this study were obtained from WoS, the most trusted international citation database in the world. This database, which is run by Thomson & Reuters Corporation (Falagas et al., 2008 ; Durieux and Gevenois, 2010 ; Chen C. et al., 2012 ; Ellegaard and Wallin, 2015 ; Miao et al., 2017 ; Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ), provides high-quality journals and detailed information about publications worldwide. In this study, publications were searched from the WoS Core Collection database, which included eight indices (Gonzalez-Serrano et al., 2020 ). This study searched the publications from two indices, namely, the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Sciences Citation Index. As the most updated publications about music therapy were published in the 21st century, publications from 2000 to 2019 were chosen for this study. We performed data acquisition on July 26, 2020 using the following search terms: title = (“music therapy”) and time span = 2000–2019.

Inclusion Criteria

Figure 1 presents the inclusion criteria. The title field was music therapy (TI = music therapy), and only reviews and articles were chosen as document types in the advanced search. Other document types, such as letters, editorial materials, and book reviews, were excluded. Furthermore, there were no species limitations set. This advanced search process returned 718 articles. In the end, a total of 1,004 publications were obtained and were analyzed to obtain comprehensive perspectives on the data.

Flow chart of music therapy articles and reviews inclusion.

Data Extraction

Author Lin-Man Weng extracted the publications and applied the EndNote software and Microsoft Excel 2016 to conduct analysis on the downloaded publications from the WoS database. Additionally, we extracted and recorded some information of the publications, such as citation frequency, institutions, authors' countries or regions, and journals as bibliometric indicators. The H-index is utilized as a measurement of the citation frequency of the studies for academic journals or researchers (Wang et al., 2019 ).

Analysis Methods

The objective of bibliometrics can be described as the performance of studies that contributes to advancing the knowledge domain through inferences and explanations of relevant analyses (Castanha and Grácio, 2014 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ; Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). CiteSpace V is a bibliometric software that generates information for better visualization of data. In this study, the CiteSpace V software was used to visualize six science maps about music therapy research from 2000 to 2019: the network of author co-citation, collaboration network among countries and regions, relationship of institutions interested in the field, network map of co-citation journals, network map of co-cited references, and the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. As noted, a co-citation is produced when two publications receive a citation from the same third study (Small, 1973 ; Merigó et al., 2019 ).

In addition, a science map typically features a set of points and lines to present collaborations among publications (Chen, 2006 ). A point is used to represent a country or region, author, institution, journal, reference, or keyword, whereas a line represents connections among them (Zheng and Wang, 2019 ), with stronger connections indicated by wider lines. Furthermore, the science map includes nodes, which represent the citation frequencies of certain themes. A burst node in the form of a red circle in the center indicates the number of co-occurrence or citation that increases over time. A purple node represents centrality, which indicates the significant knowledge presented by the data (Chen, 2006 ; Chen H. et al., 2012 ; Zheng and Wang, 2019 ). The science map represents the keywords and references with citation bursts. Occurrence bursts represent the frequency of a theme (Chen, 2006 ), whereas citation bursts represent the frequency of the reference. The citation bursts of keywords and references explore the trends and indicate whether the relevant authors have gained considerable attention in the field (Chen, 2006 ). Through this kind of map, scholars can better understand emerging trends and grasp the hot topics by burst detection analysis (Liang et al., 2017 ; Miao et al., 2017 ).

Publication Outputs and Time Trends

A total of 1,004 articles and reviews related to music therapy research met the criteria. The details of annual publications are presented in Figure 2 . As can be seen, there were <30 annual publications between 2000 and 2006. The number of publications increased steadily between 2007 and 2015. It was 2015, which marked the first time over 80 articles or reviews were published. The significant increase in publications between 2018 and 2019 indicated that a growing number of researchers became interested in this field. Linear regression can be used to analyze the trends in publication outputs. In this study, the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 ( t = 14.621, P < 0.001). Moreover, the P < 0.05, indicating statistical significance. Overall, the publication outputs increased from 2000 to 2019.

Annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

Distribution by Country or Region and Institution

The 1,004 articles and reviews collected were published in 49 countries and regions. Table 1 presents the top 10 countries or regions. Figure 3 shows an intuitive comparison of the citations on WoS, citations per study, Hirsch index (H-index), and major essential science indicator (ESI) studies of the top five countries or regions. The H-index is a kind of index that is applied in measuring the wide impact of the scientific achievements of authors. The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). Norway has the largest number of citations per study (27.18 citations). Figure 4 presents the collaboration networks among countries or regions. The collaboration network map contained 32 nodes and 38 links. The largest node can be found in the United States, which meant that the United States had the largest number of publications in the field. Meanwhile, the deepest purple circle was located in Austria, which meant that Austria is the country with the most number of collaborations with other countries or regions in this research field. A total of 1,219 institutions contributed various music therapy-related publications. Figure 5 presents the collaborations among institutions. As can be seen, the University of Melbourne is the most productive institution in terms of the number of publications (45), followed by the University of Minnesota (43), and the University of Bergen (39). The top 10 institutions featured in Table 2 contributed 28.884% of the total articles and reviews published. Among these, Aalborg University had the largest centrality (0.13). The top 10 productive institutions with details are shown in Table 2 .

Top 10 countries or regions of origin of study in the music therapy research field.

Publications, citations on WoS (×0.01), citations per study, H-index, and ESL top study among top five countries or regions.

The collaborations of countries or regions interested in the field. In this map, the node represents a country, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two countries. A larger node represents more publications in the country. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

The relationship of institutions interested in the field. University of Melbourne, Florida State University, University of Minnesota, Aalborg University, Temple University, University of Queensland, and University of Bergen. In this map, the node represents an institution, and the link represents the cooperation relationship between two institutions. A larger node represents more publications in the institution. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Top 10 institutions that contributed to publications in the music therapy field.

Distribution by Journals

Table 3 presents the top 10 journals that published articles or reviews in the music therapy field. The publications are mostly published in these journal fields, such as Therapy, Medical, Psychology, Neuroscience, Health and Clinical Care. The impact factors (IF) of these journals ranged between 0.913 and 7.89 (average IF: 2.568). Four journals had an impact factor >2, of which Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews had the highest IF, 2019 = 7.89. In addition, the Journal of Music Therapy (IF: 2019 = 1.206) published 177 articles or reviews (17.629%) about music therapy in the past two decades, followed by the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (121 publications, 12.052%, IF: 2019 = 0.913), and Arts in Psychotherapy (104 publications, 10.359%, IF: 2019 = 1.322). Furthermore, the map of the co-citation journal contained 393 nodes and 759 links ( Figure 6 ). The high co-citation count identifies the journals with the greatest academic influence and key positions in the field. The Journal of Music Therapy had the maximum co-citation counts (658), followed by Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (281), and Arts in Psychotherapy (279). Therefore, according to the analysis of the publications and co-citation counts, the Journal of Music Therapy and Arts in Psychotherapy occupied key positions in this research field.

Top 10 journals that published articles in the music therapy field.

IF, impact factor .

Network map of co-citation journals engaged in music therapy from 2000 to 2019. Journal of Music Therapy, Arts in Psychotherapy, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. In this map, the node represents a journal, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two journals. A larger node represents more publications in the journal. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Distribution by Authors

A total of 2,531 authors contributed to the research outputs related to music therapy. Author Silverman MJ published most of the studies (46) in terms of number of publications, followed by Gold C (41), Magee WL (19), O'Callaghan C (15), and Raglio A (15). According to co-citation counts, Bruscia KE (171 citations) was the most co-cited author, followed by Gold C (147 citations), Wigram T (121 citations), and Bradt J (117 citations), as presented in Table 4 . In Figure 7 , these nodes highlight the co-citation networks of the authors. The large-sized node represented author Bruscia KE, indicating that this author owned the most co-citations. Furthermore, the linear regression results revealed a remarkable increase in the percentages of multiple articles of authors ( t = 13.089, P < 0.001). These also indicated that cooperation among authors had increased remarkably, which can be considered an important development in music therapy research.

Top five authors of publications and top five authors of co-citation counts.

The network of author co-citaion. In this map, the node represents an author, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two authors. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field.

Analysis of Keywords

The results of keywords analysis indicated research hotspots and help scholars identify future research topics. Table 5 highlights 20 keywords with the most frequencies, such as “music therapy,” “anxiety,” “intervention,” “children,” and “depression.” The keyword “autism” has the highest centrality (0.42). Figure 8 shows the top 17 keywords with the strongest citation bursts. By the end of 2019, keyword bursts were led by “hospice,” which had the strongest burst (3.5071), followed by “efficacy” (3.1161), “health” (6.2109), and “older adult” (4.476).

Top 20 keywords with the most frequency and centrality in music therapy study.

The strongest citation bursts of the top 17 keywords. The red measures indicate frequent citation of keywords, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of keywords.

Analysis of Co-cited References

The analysis of co-cited references is a significant indicator in the bibliometric method (Chen, 2006 ). The top five co-cited references and their main findings are listed in Table 6 . These are regarded as fundamental studies for the music therapy knowledge base. In terms of co-citation counts, “individual music therapy for depression: randomized controlled trial” was the key reference because it had the most co-citation counts. This study concludes that music therapy mixed with standard care is an effective way to treat working-age people with depression. The authors also explained that music therapy is a valuable enhancement to established treatment practices (Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Meanwhile, the strongest citation burst of reference is regarded as the main knowledge of the trend (Fitzpatrick, 2005 ). Figure 9 highlights the top 71 strongest citation bursts of references from 2000 to 2019. As can be seen, by the end of 2019, the reference burst was led by author Stige B, and the strongest burst was 4.3462.

Top five co-cited references with co-citation counts in the study of music therapy from 2000 to 2019.

The strongest citation bursts among the top 71 references. The red measures indicate frequent citation of studies, and the green measures indicate infrequent citation of studies.

Figure 10A presents the co-cited reference map containing 577 nodes and 1,331 links. The figure explains the empirical relevance of a considerable number of articles and reviews. Figure 10B presents the co-citation map (timeline view) of reference from publications on top music therapy research. The timeline view of clusters shows the research progress of music therapy in a particular period of time and the thematic concentration of each cluster. “Psychosis” was labeled as the largest cluster (#0), followed by “improvisational music therapy” (#1) and “paranesthesia anxiety” (#2). These clusters have also remained hot topics in recent years. Furthermore, the result of the modularity Q score was 0.8258. That this value exceeded 0.5 indicated that the definitions of the subdomain and characters of clusters were distinct. In addition, the mean silhouette was 0.5802, which also exceeded 0.5. The high homogeneity of individual clusters indicated high concentration in different research areas.

(A) The network map of co-cited references and (B) the map (timeline view) of references with co-citation on top music therapy research. In these maps, the node represents a study, and the link represents the co-citation frequency between two studies. A larger node represents more publications of the author. A thicker purple circle represents greater influence in this field. (A) The nodes in the same color belong to the same cluster. (B) The nodes on the same line belong to the same cluster.

Global Trends in Music Therapy Research

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of music therapy research from the past two decades. The results, which reveal that music therapy studies have been conducted throughout the world, among others, can provide further research suggestions to scholars. In terms of the general analysis of the publications, the features of published articles and reviews, prolific countries or regions, and productive institutions are summarized below.

I. The distribution of publication year has been increasing in the past two decades. The annual publication outputs of music therapy from 2000 to 2019 were divided into three stages: beginning, second, and third. In the beginning stage, there were <30 annual publications from 2000 to 2006. The second stage was between 2007 and 2014. The number of publications increased steadily. It was 2007, which marked the first time 40 articles or reviews were published. The third stage was between 2015 and 2019. The year 2015 was the key turning point because it was the first time 80 articles or reviews were published. The number of publications showed a downward trend in 2016 (72), but it was still higher than the average number of the previous years. Overall, music therapy-related research has received increasing attention among scholars from 2000 to 2020.

II. The articles and reviews covered about 49 countries or regions, and the prolific countries or regions were mainly located in the North American and European continents. According to citations on WoS, citations per study, and the H-index, music therapy publications from developed countries, such as United States and Norway, have greater influence than those from other countries. In addition, China, as a model of a developing country, had published 53 studies and ranked top six among productive countries.

III. In terms of the collaboration map of institutions, the most productive universities engaged in music therapy were located in the United States, namely, University of Minnesota (43 publications), Florida State University (33 publications), Temple University (27 publications), and University of Kansas (20 publications). It indicated that institutions in the US have significant impacts in this area.

IV. According to author co-citation counts, scholars can focus on the publications of such authors as Bruscia KE, Gold C, and Wigram T. These three authors come from the United States, Norway, and Denmark, and it also reflected that these three countries are leading the research trend. Author Bruscia KE has the largest co-citation counts and is based at Temple University. He published many music therapy studies about assessment and clinical evaluation in music therapy, music therapy theories, and therapist experiences. These publications laid a foundation and facilitate the development of music therapy. In addition, in Figure 11 , the multi-authored articles between 2000 and 2003 comprised 47.56% of the sample, whereas the publications of multi-authored articles increased significantly from 2016 to 2019 (85.51%). These indicated that cooperation is an effective factor in improving the quality of publications.

The percentage of single- vs. multiple-authored articles. Blue bars mean multiple-author percentage; orange bars mean single-author percentage.

Research Focus on the Research Frontier and Hot Topics

According to the science map analysis, hot music therapy topics among publications are discussed.

I. The cluster “#1 improvisational music therapy” (IMT) is the current research frontier in the music therapy research field. In general, music therapy has a long research tradition within autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and there have been more rigorous studies about it in recent years. IMT for children with autism is described as a child-centered method. Improvisational music-making may enhance social interaction and expression of emotions among children with autism, such as responding to communication acts (Geretsegger et al., 2012 , 2015 ). In addition, IMT is an evidence-based treatment approach that may be helpful for people who abuse drugs or have cancer. A study applied improving as a primary music therapeutic practice, and the result indicated that IMT will be effective in treating depression accompanied by drug abuse among adults (Albornoz, 2011 ). By applying the interpretative phenomenological analysis and psychological perspectives, a study explained the significant role of music therapy as an innovative psychological intervention in cancer care settings (Pothoulaki et al., 2012 ). IMT may serve as an effective additional method for treating psychiatric disorders in the short and medium term, but it may need more studies to identify the long-term effects in clinical practice.

II. Based on the analysis of co-citation counts, the top three references all applied music therapy to improve the quality of life of clients. They highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective method that can cover a range of clinical skills, thus helping people with psychological disorders, chronic illnesses, and pain management issues. Furthermore, music therapy mixed with standard care can help individuals with schizophrenia improve their global state, mental state (including negative and general symptoms), social functioning, and quality of life (Gold et al., 2009 ; Erkkilä et al., 2011 ; Geretsegger et al., 2017 ).

III. By understanding the keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the research frontier can be predicted. Three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts.

• Efficacy: This refers to measuring the effectiveness of music therapy in terms of clinical skills. Studies have found that a wide variety of psychological disorders can be effectively treated with music. In the study of Fukui, patients with Alzheimer's disease listened to music and verbally communicated with their music therapist. The results showed that problematic behaviors of the patients with Alzheimer's disease decreased (Fukui et al., 2012 ). The aim of the study of Erkkila was to determine the efficacy of music therapy when added to standard care. The result of this study also indicated that music therapy had specific qualities for non-verbal expression and communication when patients cannot verbally describe their inner experiences (Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). Additionally, as summarized by Ueda, music therapy reduced anxiety and depression in patients with dementia. However, his study cannot clarify what kinds of music therapy or patients have effectiveness. Thus, future studies should investigate music therapy with good methodology and evaluation methods (Ueda et al., 2013 ).
• Health: Music therapy is a methodical intervention in clinical practice because it uses music experiences and relationships to promote health for adults and children (Bruscia, 1998 ). Also, music therapy is an effective means of achieving the optimal health and well-being of individuals and communities, because it can be individualized or done as a group activity. The stimulation from music therapy can lead to conversations, recollection of memories, and expression. The study of Gold indicated that solo music therapy in routine practice is an effective addition to usual care for mental health care patients with low motivation (Gold et al., 2013 ). Porter summarized that music therapy contributes to improvement for both kids and teenagers with mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, and increases self-esteem in the short term (Porter et al., 2017 ).
• Older adults: This refers to the use of music therapy as a treatment to maintain and slow down the symptoms observed in older adults (Mammarella et al., 2007 ; Deason et al., 2012 ). In terms of keywords with the strongest citation bursts, the most popular subjects of music therapy-related articles and reviews focused on children from 2005 to 2007. However, various researchers concentrated on older adults from 2017 to 2019. Music therapy was the treatment of choice for older adults with depression, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disorders (Brotons and Koger, 2000 ; Bernatzky et al., 2004 ; Johnson et al., 2011 ; Deason et al., 2012 ; McDermott et al., 2013 ; Sakamoto et al., 2013 ; Benoit et al., 2014 ; Pohl et al., 2020 ). In the study of Zhao, music therapy had positive effects on the reduction of depressive symptoms for older adults when added to standard therapies. These standard therapies could be standard care, standard drug treatment, standard rehabilitation, and health education (Zhao et al., 2016 ). The study of Shimizu demonstrated that multitask movement music therapy was an effective intervention to enhance neural activation in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (Shimizu et al., 2018 ). However, the findings of the study of Li explained that short-term music therapy intervention cannot improve the cognitive function of older adults. He also recommended that future researchers can apply a quality methodology with a long-term research design for the care needs of older adults (Li et al., 2015 ).

Strengths and Limitations

To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first one to analyze large-scale data of music therapy publications from the past two decades through CiteSpace V. CiteSpace could detect more comprehensive results than simply reviewing articles and studies. In addition, the bibliometric method helped us to identify the emerging trend and collaboration among authors, institutions, and countries or regions.

This study is not without limitations. First, only articles and reviews published in the WoS Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index were analyzed. Future reviews could consider other databases, such as PubMed and Scopus. The document type labeled by publishers is not always accurate. For example, some publications labeled by WoS were not actually reviews (Harzing, 2013 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Second, the limitation may induce bias in frequency of reference. For example, some potential articles were published recently, and these studies could be not cited with frequent times. Also, in terms of obliteration by incorporation, some common knowledge or opinions become accepted that their contributors or authors are no longer cited (Merton, 1965 ; Yeung, 2021 ). Third, this review applied the quantitative analysis approach, and only limited qualitative analysis was performed in this study. In addition, we applied the CitesSpace software to conduct this bibliometric study, but the CiteSpace software did not allow us to complicate information under both full counting and fractional counting systems. Thus, future scholars can analyze the development of music therapy in some specific journals using both quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Conclusions

This bibliometric study provides information regarding emerging trends in music therapy publications from 2000 to 2019. First, this study presents several theoretical implications related to publications that may assist future researchers to advance their research field. The results reveal that annual publications in music therapy research have significantly increased in the last two decades, and the overall trend in publications increased from 28 publications in 2000 to 111 publications in 2019. This analysis also furthers the comprehensive understanding of the global research structure in the field. Also, we have stated a high level of collaboration between different countries or regions and authors in the music therapy research. This collaboration has extremely expanded the knowledge of music therapy. Thus, future music therapy professionals can benefit from the most specialized research.

Second, this research represents several practical implications. IMT is the current research frontier in the field. IMT usually serves as an effective music therapy method for the health of people in clinical practice. Identifying the emerging trends in this field will help researchers prepare their studies on recent research issues (Mulet-Forteza et al., 2021 ). Likewise, it also indicates future studies to address these issues and update the existing literature. In terms of the strongest citation bursts, the three keywords, “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” highlight the fact that music therapy is an effective invention, and it can benefit the health of people. The development prospects of music therapy could be expected, and future scholars could pay attention to the clinical significance of music therapy to the health of people.

Finally, multiple researchers have indicated several health benefits of music therapy, and the music therapy mechanism perspective is necessary for future research to advance the field. Also, music therapy can benefit a wide range of individuals, such as those with autism spectrum, traumatic brain injury, or some physical disorders. Future researchers can develop music therapy standards to measure clinical practice.

Author Contributions

KL and LW: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing—review, and editing. LW: software and data curation. KL: validation and writing—original draft preparation. XW: visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Abbreviations

Funding. This study was supported by the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation of China (161092), the scientific and technological research program of the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (19080503100), and the Shanghai Key Lab of Human Performance (Shanghai University of Sport) (11DZ2261100).

• Albornoz Y. (2011). The effects of group improvisational music therapy on depression in adolescents and adults with substance abuse: a randomized controlled trial . Nord. J. Music Ther. 20 , 208–224. 10.1080/08098131.2010.522717 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Association A. M. T. (2018). History of Music Therapy . Available online at: https://www.musictherapy.org/about/history/ (accessed November 10, 2020).
• Benoit C. E., Dalla Bella S., Farrugia N., Obrig H., Mainka S., Kotz S. A. (2014). Musically cued gait-training improves both perceptual and motor timing in Parkinson's disease . Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8 :494. 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00494 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bernatzky G., Bernatzky P., Hesse H. P., Staffen W., Ladurner G. (2004). Stimulating music increases motor coordination in patients afflicted with Morbus Parkinson . Neurosci. Lett. 361 , 4–8. 10.1016/j.neulet.2003.12.022 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bronson H., Vaudreuil R., Bradt J. (2018). Music therapy treatment of active duty military: an overview of intensive outpatient and longitudinal care programs . Music Ther. Perspect. 36 , 195–206. 10.1093/mtp/miy006 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brotons M., Koger S. M. (2000). The impact of music therapy on language functioning in dementia . J. Music Ther. 37 , 183–195. 10.1093/jmt/37.3.183 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bruscia K. (1998). Defining Music Therapy 2nd Edition . Gilsum: Barcelona publications. [ Google Scholar ]
• Castanha R. C. G., Grácio M. C. C. (2014). Bibliometrics contribution to the metatheoretical and domain analysis studies . Knowl. Organiz. 41 , 171–174. 10.5771/0943-7444-2014-2-171 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen C. (2006). CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature . J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 57 , 359–377. 10.1002/asi.20317 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen C., Hu Z., Liu S., Tseng H. (2012). Emerging trends in regenerative medicine: a scientometric analysis in CiteSpace . Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 12 , 593–608. 10.1517/14712598.2012.674507 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen H., Zhao G., Xu N. (2012). “The analysis of research hotspots and fronts of knowledge visualization based on CiteSpace II,” in International Conference on Hybrid Learning , Vol. 7411 , eds S. K. S. Cheung, J. Fong, L. F. Kwok, K. Li, and R. Kwan (Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer; ), 57–68. 10.1007/978-3-642-32018-_6 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Deason R., Simmons-Stern N., Frustace B., Ally B., Budson A. (2012). Music as a memory enhancer: Differences between healthy older adults and patients with Alzheimer's disease . Psychomusicol. Music Mind Brain 22 :175. 10.1037/a0031118 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Devlin K., Alshaikh J. T., Pantelyat A. (2019). Music therapy and music-based interventions for movement disorders . Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 19 :83. 10.1007/s11910-019-1005-0 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Durieux V., Gevenois P. A. (2010). Bibliometric indicators: quality measurements of scientific publication . Radiology 255 , 342–351. 10.1148/radiol.09090626 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ellegaard O., Wallin J. A. (2015). The bibliometric analysis of scholarly production: How great is the impact? Scientometrics 105 , 1809–1831. 10.1007/s11192-015-1645-z [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Erkkilä J., Punkanen M., Fachner J., Ala-Ruona E., Pöntiö I., Tervaniemi M., et al.. (2011). Individual music therapy for depression: randomised controlled trial . Br. J. Psychiatry 199 , 132–139. 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.085431 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Falagas M. E., Pitsouni E. I., Malietzis G. A., Pappas G. (2008). Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses . Faseb J. 22 , 338–342. 10.1096/FJ.07-9492LSF [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fitzpatrick R. B. (2005). Essential Science IndicatorsSM . Med. Ref. Serv. Q. 24 , 67–78. 10.1300/J115v24n04_05 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fukui H., Arai A., Toyoshima K. (2012). Efficacy of music therapy in treatment for the patients with Alzheimer's disease . Int. J. Alzheimer's Dis. 2012 , 531646–531646. 10.1155/2012/531646 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Geretsegger M., Holck U., Carpente J. A., Elefant C., Kim J., Gold C. (2015). Common characteristics of improvisational approaches in music therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder: developing treatment guidelines . J. Music Ther. 52 , 258–281. 10.1093/jmt/thv005 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Geretsegger M., Holck U., Gold C. (2012). Randomised controlled trial of improvisational music therapy's effectiveness for children with autism spectrum disorders (TIME-A): study protocol . BMC Pediatr. 12 :2. 10.1186/1471-2431-12-2 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Geretsegger M., Mossler K. A., Bieleninik L., Chen X. J., Heldal T. O., Gold C. (2017). Music therapy for people with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders . Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 5 :CD004025. 10.1002/14651858.CD004025.pub4 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gold C., Mössler K., Grocke D., Heldal T. O., Tjemsland L., Aarre T., et al.. (2013). Individual music therapy for mental health care clients with low therapy motivation: multicentre randomised controlled trial . Psychother. Psychosom. 82 , 319–331. 10.1159/000348452 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gold C., Solli H. P., Krüger V., Lie S. A. (2009). Dose-response relationship in music therapy for people with serious mental disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis . Clin. Psychol. Rev. 29 , 193–207. 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.01.001 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzalez-Serrano M. H., Jones P., Llanos-Contrera O. (2020). An overview of sport entrepreneurship field: a bibliometric analysis of the articles published in the Web of Science . Sport Soc. 23 , 296–314. 10.1080/17430437.2019.1607307 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gooding L. F., Langston D. G. (2019). Music therapy with military populations: a scoping review . J. Music Ther. 56 , 315–347. 10.1093/jmt/thz010 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Harzing A.-W. (2013). Document categories in the ISI web of knowledge: misunderstanding the social sciences? Scientometrics 94 , 23–34. 10.1007/s11192-012-0738-1 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnson J. K., Chang C. C., Brambati S. M., Migliaccio R., Gorno-Tempini M. L., Miller B. L., et al.. (2011). Music recognition in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer disease . Cogn. Behav. Neurol. 24 , 74–84. 10.1097/WNN.0b013e31821de326 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Li H. C., Wang H. H., Chou F. H., Chen K. M. (2015). The effect of music therapy on cognitive functioning among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis . J. Am. Med. Dir. Assoc. 16 , 71–77. 10.1016/j.jamda.2014.10.004 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Liang Y. D., Li Y., Zhao J., Wang X. Y., Zhu H. Z., Chen X. H. (2017). Study of acupuncture for low back pain in recent 20 years: a bibliometric analysis via CiteSpace . J. Pain Res. 10 , 951–964. 10.2147/jpr.S132808 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mammarella N., Fairfield B., Cornoldi C. (2007). Does music enhance cognitive performance in healthy older adults? The Vivaldi effect . Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 19 , 394–399. 10.1007/bf03324720 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McDermott O., Crellin N., Ridder H. M., Orrell M. (2013). Music therapy in dementia: a narrative synthesis systematic review . Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 28 , 781–794. 10.1002/gps.3895 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merigó J. M., Mulet-Forteza C., Valencia C., Lew A. A. (2019). Twenty years of tourism Geographies: a bibliometric overview . Tour. Geograph. 21 , 881–910. 10.1080/14616688.2019.1666913 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merton R. K. (1965). On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript . New York, NY: Free Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Miao Y., Xu S. Y., Chen L. S., Liang G. Y., Pu Y. P., Yin L. H. (2017). Trends of long noncoding RNA research from 2007 to 2016: a bibliometric analysis . Oncotarget 8 , 83114–83127. 10.18632/oncotarget.20851 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mulet-Forteza C., Lunn E., Merigó J. M., Horrach P. (2021). Research progress in tourism, leisure and hospitality in Europe (1969–2018) . Int. J. Contemp. Hospit. Manage. 33 , 48–74. 10.1108/IJCHM-06-2020-0521 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pohl P., Wressle E., Lundin F., Enthoven P., Dizdar N. (2020). Group-based music intervention in Parkinson's disease - findings from a mixed-methods study . Clin. Rehabil. 34 , 533–544. 10.1177/0269215520907669 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Porter S., McConnell T., McLaughlin K., Lynn F., Cardwell C., Braiden H. J., et al.. (2017). Music therapy for children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems: a randomised controlled trial . J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 58 , 586–594. 10.1111/jcpp.12656 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pothoulaki M., MacDonald R., Flowers P. (2012). An interpretative phenomenological analysis of an improvisational music therapy program for cancer patients . J. Music Ther. 49 , 45–67. 10.1093/jmt/49.1.45 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sakamoto M., Ando H., Tsutou A. (2013). Comparing the effects of different individualized music interventions for elderly individuals with severe dementia . Int. Psychogeriatr. 25 , 775–784. 10.1017/s1041610212002256 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shimizu N., Umemura T., Matsunaga M., Hirai T. (2018). Effects of movement music therapy with a percussion instrument on physical and frontal lobe function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial . Aging Ment. Health 22 , 1614–1626. 10.1080/13607863.2017.1379048 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Small H. (1973). Co-citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents . J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. 24 , 265–269. 10.1002/asi.4630240406 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ueda T., Suzukamo Y., Sato M., Izumi S. (2013). Effects of music therapy on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Ageing Res. Rev. 12 , 628–641. 10.1016/j.arr.2013.02.003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wang X. Q., Peng M. S., Weng L. M., Zheng Y. L., Zhang Z. J., Chen P. J. (2019). Bibliometric study of the comorbidity of pain and depression research . Neural. Plast 2019 :1657498. 10.1155/2019/1657498 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yeung A. W. K. (2021). Is the influence of freud declining in psychology and psychiatry? A bibliometric analysis . Front. Psychol. 12 :631516. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631516 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zhao K., Bai Z. G., Bo A., Chi I. (2016). A systematic review and meta-analysis of music therapy for the older adults with depression . Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 31 , 1188–1198. 10.1002/gps.4494 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zheng K., Wang X. (2019). Publications on the association between cognitive function and pain from 2000 to 2018: a bibliometric analysis using citespace . Med. Sci. Monit. 25 , 8940–8951. 10.12659/msm.917742 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

The Edvocate

• Lynch Educational Consulting
• Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
• Write For Us
• The Tech Edvocate Product Guide
• The Edvocate Podcast
• Terms and Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Assistive Technology
• Best PreK-12 Schools in America
• Child Development
• Classroom Management
• Early Childhood
• EdTech & Innovation
• Education Leadership
• First Year Teachers
• Gifted and Talented Education
• Special Education
• Parental Involvement
• Policy & Reform
• Best Colleges and Universities
• Best College and University Programs
• HBCU’s
• Higher Education EdTech
• Higher Education
• International Education
• The Awards Process
• Finalists and Winners of The 2023 Tech Edvocate Awards
• Award Seals
• GPA Calculator for College
• GPA Calculator for High School
• Cumulative GPA Calculator
• Grade Calculator
• Weighted Grade Calculator
• Final Grade Calculator
• The Tech Edvocate
• AI Powered Personal Tutor

Teaching Students About the Effect of Jim Crow Laws

Teaching students about the altitude of kathmandu, teaching students about joseph stalin’s biography, teaching students about sexual dimorphism: a comprehensive guide, teaching students about mcnamara’s role in the vietnam war, teaching students about gary sandy: a look into the life and career of the talented actor, teaching students about ozzy osbourne’s biography, teaching students about the evolution of ape to man, teaching students about the standard oil company and john d. rockefeller, teaching students about lassi: a refreshing cultural experience.

Good Research Topics about Music Therapy

• Active Music Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy for Survivors of Abuse
• Music Therapy Effectiveness for Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
• The Link between Ancestral Hormones and Music Therapy
• Analysis of the Effectiveness of Art and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Usefulness for Cancer Patients
• Music Therapy Impact on Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
• Healing Chronic Pain with Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Effect on the Wellness and Mood of Adolescents
• Comparing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Music Therapy
• Constructing Optimal Experience for the Hospitalized Newborn Through Neuro-Based Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: Considerations for the Clinical Environment
• Music Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Discussing Music Therapy: Reducing Stress, Health, and Social Care
• Music Therapy for Delinquency Involved Juveniles through Tripartite Collaboration
• Heidelberg Neuro Music Therapy Enhances Task-Negative Activity in Tinnitus Patients
• Music Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Interesting Topics to Write about Music Therapy

• How Does Music Therapy Promote Positive Mental Health?
• The Relationships between Learning and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy for Sexually Abused Children
• Managing Sickle Cell Pain with Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: How Does Music Impact Our Emotions?
• Dealing with Depression with the Help of Music Therapy
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy and Drug Therapy for Children with Autism
• The Link between Music Therapy and Personality Theory Psychology
• How Music Therapy Improves Depression Among Older Adults
• Music Therapy: The Best Way to Help Children with Mental Illness
• Interventions of Music Therapy for Stress Reduction
• Neurologic Music Therapy Training for Mobility and Stability Rehabilitation
• Nursing Theory for Music Therapy Quality Improvement Program
• The Help of Music Therapy in Pain Management
• Relationship between Hypertension and Music Therapy
• Yoga and Music Therapy as Effective Methods of Stress Management

17 Ways to Support Students Whose Behavior ...

Research topics about ebola.

Matthew Lynch

Related articles more from author, most interesting life of pi essay topics, research topics about dress code, credit essay topics, safety essay topics, dystopia essay topics, sixth amendment essay topics.

Hayes School of Music Graduate Studies

• Music Therapy Theses

Reising, M. M. (2022). Music therapy for patients who are mechanically ventilated: A phenomenological study.

Smith, W. L. (2022). What about black music? Exploring a gap in music therapy training .

Santiago, K. (2022). The music in me: The impact of music therapy on identity development in college students. A phenomenological inquiry.

McAfee, A. L. (2021). Promoting self-determination in music therapy with individuals with I/DD who communicate extraverbally: Reflections and implications for practice.

Kiefer, E. K. (2021). Heartbeat recordings in music therapy: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Cooke, C. J. (2020). Maximizing referrals and acceptance of medical music therapy: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Beebe, K. J. (2020). Perceptions of self-determination in music therapy for individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities: A survey of music therapists.

Tart, M. F. (2019). Music therapy for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome in the NICU: A qualitative content analysis .

Solberg, S. (2019). Neurologic music therapy to improve speaking voice in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Berry, A. (2019). A collaborative coalition: Action research response to a music therapy group for gender and sexual minority college students.

Esposito, K. (2019).   Creating new music therapy programs in medical settings: A phenomenological inquiry.

Mercier, A. E. (2019).  The use of creative arts in music therapy supervision: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study.

Bodry, K. L. (2018). Clinical applications of feminist theory in music therapy: A phenomenological study.

Waller-Wicks, C. (2018). Music therapy and expressive arts to promote self-awareness and self-care in direct care staff: A phenomenological inquiry .

Donley, J. M. (2017). Understanding how Western-trained music therapists incorporate Chinese culture in their practice In China: An ethnographic study .

Lingafelt, H. H. (2017). Psychological factors in the use of music therapy with individuals experiencing pain: A survey of current practice.

Neel, K. M. (2017). Self-care for students: A pilot study on self-care education on the pre-internship music therapy students.

Barmore, E. A. (2017). The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and eating disorders: Learning from therapist, trainer, and client experiences.

King, K. W. (2016). The practice of teaching therapeutic songwriting: A survey of educators and internship supervisors.

Grimmer, M. S. (2016). Cross-cultural music therapy: Reflections of music therapists working internationally .

Dorris, A. D. (2015). Music therapy when death is imminent: A phenomenological inquiry .

Renshaw, S. (2015). The use of rap music in music therapy treatment with adolescents and young adults: A survey.

Stith, C. C. (2015). The effects of musical tempo and dynamic range on heart rate variability in healthy adults.

Honig, T. J. (2014). Wilderness imagery in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music: A phenomenological inquiry .

Tate, C. E. (2014). Breaking the silence: A qualitative study on the use of Guided Imagery and Music, expressive arts, and a body-centered perspective to address women's issues .

Barwick, C. A. (2014). Describing the subtle factors that influence moments of interactive responses during music therapy sessions for people with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and other related major neurocognitive disorders: A multiple case study.

Johnson, A. E. (2014). Benefits and challenges of therapeutic songwriting with deaf adolescent girls: A qualitative feasibility study .

Rosenblum, S. O. (2014). Group music therapy versus individual verbal therapy for mandated college students.

Wilson, S. H. (2014). Music therapy support groups for family caregivers of individuals residing in long- term care facilities: A survey of music therapists and interviews with current family caregivers.

Chwalek, C. M. (2013). The use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in music therapy: A survey of current practice.

Rayburn, A. D. (2013). A phenomenological inquiry into systemic music therapy to accompany the grief journey of a boy with high functioning autism.

Deans, C. M. (2012). The use of dreamwork with the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music: A survey of current practice .

Roberts, S. M. (2012). Current use of augmentative and alternative communication in music therapy: A survey and case study .

Dempsey, D. (2011). Grief rock band: The use of music therapy interventions to decrease depressive symptoms and facilitate expression of grief in bereaved adolescents.

Biron, R. N. (2010). Supporting pregnancy and childbirth using techniques from music therapy, counseling, and doula training .

Cloud, J. P. (2010). The use of music therapy and motivational interviewing with college student drinkers to invite “change talk.”

Hoyle, J. L. P. (2010). The role of music therapy in the bereavement process of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Leonard, K. R. (2010). A search for wholeness: Songs of healing for adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Brown, L. R. (2009). The effect of music therapy social skills interventions on children with behavioral and emotional disabilities or autism .

Schwantes, M. B. (2007). Music therapy with Mexican migrant farm workers in rural NC: A pilot study .

80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best music therapy topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 good research topics about music therapy, 🔍 interesting topics to write about music therapy, ❓ music therapy research questions.

• Music Therapy for Children With Learning Disabilities This review includes the evidence supporting music therapy as an effective strategy for promoting auditory, communication, and socio-emotional progression in children with ASD.
• Music Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients’ Quality of Life Consequently, the purpose of the project will be to review the existing literature and prepare a document with recommendations regarding MT in the discussed population, including psychiatric nurses’ acceptable role in delivering such interventions.
• Art and Music Therapy Coverage by Health Insurance However, I do believe that creative sessions should be available for all patients, and I am going to prove to you that music and art are highly beneficial for human health.
• Music Therapy in Healthcare Therefore, the article suggests that music can be used for relaxation, as well as managing the health issues that may arise due to the lack of relaxation.
• Music Therapy as a Related Service for Students With Disabilities From a neuroscientific perspective, how would music intervention improve classroom behaviors and academic outcomes of students with ADHD as a way to inform policy-makers of the importance of music therapy as a related service?
• Music Therapy: The Impact on Older Adults There is therefore the need to focus more energy to aid more understating on the role of music therapy on older residents.”The recent qualitative review of literature in the area of music and music therapy […]
• Music Therapy: Alternative to Traditional Pain Medicine The sources underline that therapists should pay attention to the subjects of music and their impact on the health of clients.
• Music Therapy as a Social Work Intervention One of such interventions is music therapy which is aimed at helping people in a sensitive way accurately adjusting the possibilities this therapy may offer to the requirements of a particular client of a group […]
• The Role of Music Therapy as Alternative Treatment Music therapy is the use of music interventions to achieve individualized goals of healing the body, mind, and spirit. Thereafter, several developments occurred in the field of music therapy, and the ringleaders founded the American […]
• Music Therapy Effectiveness In addition to this, research has shown that stroke patients become more involved in therapy sessions once music is incorporated in the treatment program; this is the motivational aspect of music.
• Sound as an Element of Music Therapy This is one of the reasons why in the Abrams study the participants explained that they preferred the sound of rain, ocean waves and the soft strumming of a guitar as compared to the work […]
• Music Therapy Throughout the Soloist Globally, classical music in its sense has always been known to adjoin the listener to some transcendent understanding of the world order, the feeling of integrity with the Universe and enormous delight rising up from […]
• Music Therapy: Where Words Cease In spite of the fact that, as a rule, one indulges into art to find the shelter from the reality, the author of the book called The Soloist explores quite a different issue of the […]
• Active Music Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy for Survivors of Abuse
• Music Therapy Effectiveness of Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
• The Link Between Ancestral Hormones and Music Therapy
• Analysis of the Effectiveness of Art and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Usefulness for Cancer Patients
• Music Therapy Impact on Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
• How Music Therapy Can Be Used to Reduce Pre-Operative Anxiety
• Healing Chronic Pain With Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Effect on the Wellness and Mood of Adolescents
• Comparing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Music Therapy
• Constructing Optimal Experience for the Hospitalized Newborn Through Neuro-Based Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: Considerations for the Clinical Environment
• “Dementia and the Power of Music Therapy” by Steve Matthews Analysis
• Music Therapy for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Discussing Music Therapy Reducing Stress Health and Social Care
• Does Music Therapy Help Children With Special Needs?
• Music Therapy for Delinquency Involved Juveniles Through Tripartite Collaboration
• Heidelberg Neuro-Music Therapy Enhances Task-Negative Activity in Tinnitus Patients
• Music Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• How Does Music Therapy Promote Positive Mental Health?
• Music Therapy and Its Positive Effects on the Brain
• The Relationships Between Learning and Music Therapy
• Music Therapy for Sexually Abused Children
• Managing Sickle Cell Pain With Music Therapy
• Music Therapy: How Does Music Impact Our Emotions
• Dealing With Depression With the Help of Music Therapy
• Effectiveness of Music Therapy and Drug Therapy for Children With Autism
• Music Therapy and Its Effect on the Levels of Anxiety
• The Link Between Music Therapy and Personality Theory Psychology
• How Music Therapy Improves Depression Among Older Adults
• Music Therapy: The Best Way to Help Children With Mental Illness
• Interventions of Music Therapy for Stress Reduction
• The Real Science Behind the Theory of Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Should Not Be Considered a Therapy
• Neurologic Music Therapy Training for Mobility and Stability Rehabilitation
• Nursing Theory for Music Therapy Quality Improvement Program
• The Help of Music Therapy in Pain Management
• Relationship Between Hypertension and Music Therapy
• Yoga and Music Therapy as Effective Methods of Stress Management
• What Is Music Therapy Used For?
• What Are Some Examples of Music Therapy?
• What Kind of Music Is Used in Music Therapy?
• What Are the Side Effects of Music Therapy?
• What Mental Illnesses Does Music Therapy Help?
• Can Music Therapy Help With Anxiety?
• What Type of Music Therapy Helps Depression?
• Does Music Therapy Actually Work?
• Do Psychiatrists Use Music Therapy?
• Do Doctors Recommend Music Therapy?
• How Long Does Music Therapy Last?
• Why Is Music Therapy Not Used?
• What Is a Typical Music Therapy Session Like?
• What Are the Two Main Benefits of Music Therapy?
• How Can Music Therapy Be Done at Home?
• What Does Music Therapy Do to the Brain?
• Is Music Therapy Good for Stress?
• Can Music Therapy Help With Trauma?
• What Ages Benefit From Music Therapy?
• What Is the First Step of Music Therapy?
• Does Music Therapy Include Talking?
• What Instruments Are Used for Music Therapy?
• What Is the Difference Between Sound Therapy and Music Therapy?
• Can You Do Music Therapy Without a Degree?
• Why Is Music Therapy Better Than Medicine?
• Nursing Home Questions
• Mozart Essay Ideas
• Nursing Theory Questions
• Psychotherapy Paper Topics
• Music Topics
• Stress Titles
• Yoga Questions
• Therapy Paper Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 2). 80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/

"80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 2 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 2 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "80 Music Therapy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/music-therapy-essay-topics/.

American Music Therapy Association

Please enter email.              Please enter password.

Follow AMTA on Social Media

• What is Music Therapy?
• Who are Music Therapists?
• AMTA Board of Directors
• What is AMTA?
• Membership in AMTA
• Support Music Therapy
• A Career in Music Therapy
• Schools Offering Music Therapy
• Education and Clinical Training Information
• National Roster Internship Sites
• Find a Job in Music Therapy
• Advertise a Job in Music Therapy
• Scholarship Opportunities for AMTA Members
• Continuing Music Therapy Education
• Music Therapy Journals & Publications
• Selected Bibliographies
• Researching Music Therapy
• Strategic Priority on Research
• Arthur Flagler Fultz Research Award from AMTA
• Advocacy Basics
• Federal Advocacy - for members
• State Advocacy - for members
• AMTA Government Relations Team
• Coalitions & Partnerships - for members
• Advocacy Events - for members
• Find My Legislators
• AMTA Annual Conference
• Special Events & Media
• Sponsor AMTA Events
• Advertising in AMTA Publications
• Publish with AMTA
• Join AMTA/Renew Membership
• Donate to AMTA
• Visit the Bookstore
• Scholarships for AMTA Members
• Official Documents
• AMTA Officials
• News from AMTA Committees & Boards
• Member Toolkit
• Reimbursement Resources
• Online Publications & Podcasts
• AMTA Member Recognition Awards

Current Research Initiatives

Improving access and quality: music therapy research 2025, november 13, 2015.

The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) releases proceedings from the historic and innovative research symposium, “IMPROVING ACCESS AND QUALITY: MUSIC THERAPY RESEARCH 2025” (MTR2025). This visionary special event was designed to recommend guidance for future research in music therapy and was made possible by a generous donation from David’s Fund and Tom and Lucy Ott.

The symposium proceedings, unveiled as part of the AMTA annual conference State of the Association address, are available as a pdf file free of charge online at the AMTA website ( www.musictherapy.org ). 

Click here to download

25 individuals contributed to written content contained in the proceedings and the document contains some 42 recommendations representing the collective input of all symposium attendees. The proceedings are of high interest to all music therapy professionals, interns, and students - both graduate and undergraduate -  since the document's intent is to help guide future research in music therapy and, ultimately, improve access and quality of music therapy services. All attendees of the 2015 AMTA annual conference received a copy of the Executive Summary as part of their meeting packet materials.

Individuals may locate the Executive Summary and full document under the Research/Strategic Priority on Research/ website page [insert URL link]. Printed copies of the proceedings may be purchased during the AMTA 2015 conference taking place Nov. 12-15, 2015 in Kansas City, MO and through the AMTA online store beginning the week of November 15.

For more information, contact Barbara Else, MTR Coordinator and Senior Research Consultant [email protected] ; 520-245-7717, cell

Improving Access and Quality: Music Therapy Research 2025 Executive Summary and Conclusions

- october 7, 2015.

The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) convened an historic and innovative research symposium, “Improving Access and Quality: Music Therapy Research 2025” (MTR2025), July 16-18, 2015. This visionary symposium was designed to recommend guidance for future research in music therapy and was made possible by a generous donation from David’s Fund and Tom and Lucy Ott. MTR2025 is tied to AMTA’s long-standing Strategic Priority on Research. The symposium represents an important event and is part of a larger and ongoing initiative to grow access to and quality of research in music therapy.

MTR2025 was structured to foster dialogue and to embrace diversity in thinking, approaches to practice, and methodologies. See Appendix A for the Symposium Agenda. AMTA was proud to sponsor this unique opportunity to bring the myriad members of the music therapy community together to collaboratively explore our research future. At the opening keynote panel, the Editors of AMTA’s peer-reviewed journals, Drs. Meadows and Robb aptly noted:

When viewed as a whole, music therapy research has moved through several important stages of development, characterized by differentiation and integration of philosophies and perspectives that parallel changes occurring in the broader national health research community, including an emphasis on diverse methodologies.  Central to advancing the science and practice of music therapy is finding ways to develop and integrate this knowledge across these research cultures, while meeting both internal and external demands for research that demonstrates improvements in quality and access to care.

The Keynote topics and speakers included:

• “Importance of Research for Improving Access and Quality,” Pamela Hinds, RN, PhD, FAAN, Associate Center Director, Center for Translational Science, Children’s Research Institute; Director, Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes, Children’s National™
• “Cultures of Inquiry in Music Therapy and Research and the Changing Landscape of Knowledge Generation and Implementation,” Sheri Robb, PhD, MT-BC and Tony Meadows, PhD, MT-BC.

The Symposium agenda benefitted from input garnered through a broad and diverse group of dedicated and enthusiastic individuals including clinicians, educators, students, and researchers. Four panel presentations helped set the tone and provided background context for the participant and small group discussions, and working groups.

• Panel One. Music Therapy Research Needs: In advance of the symposium informal surveys/interviews were conducted with clinicians and educators. A summary of findings was followed by exploration of how the research process grows and evolves in music therapy practice. Panelists highlighted the important questions, potential impact, and interplay of theories, methods, and approaches.
• Panel Two. Policy Imperatives: This panel discussed the impact of research on Music Therapy recognition, access, and funding. AMTA’s government relations perspective was represented regarding future music therapy research as it informs policy imperatives. The presentation summarized input from a variety of colleagues outside of music therapy regarding the role and use of research in policy-making and advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Panel Three. Considerations for Future Research in Selected Clinical Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) were selected to highlight opportunities for future research. These topics involve large segments of practicing music therapists and have been identified by policy-makers and funders as areas where research findings impact policy and funding. Each topic leader outlined considerations for future research in music therapy, drawing from the literature and knowledge of trends in current music therapy practice. Respondents added commentary and supplemental remarks.
• Panel Four. Research Capacity Building: Infrastructure, Education, and Training: Panelists offered conceptual ideas and factors for consideration regarding research capacity building for two major topics: a) research infrastructure and b) music therapy education and training. In addition to the perspectives of educators, the perspectives of clinicians and intern supervisors were presented because of their importance to the dialogue and to the unique set of challenges and needs of practicing clinician-scholars.

Recommendations by Topic

Six breakout groups convened in which participants discussed topics related to Panels Two, Three, and Four, responded to a set of questions, and generated 42 recommendations.

Policy Imperatives [11 recommendations]

• Define and describe the intervention using accepted standards of specification in published research and as part of research planning. When planning a research study, the music therapy intervention needs to be identified and specified by intervention and not just by the term “music therapy.”
• Conduct music therapy studies that focus on specific interventions for specific diagnoses/conditions. Numerous past published studies have commingled populations and conditions, especially in group music therapy settings. In order to prepare to ask for Medicare coverage of specific interventions/procedures, future research needs to examine (isolate) the research for one particular intervention for one particular diagnosis.
• List the ICD-10 diagnosis of the research participants to help link the benefit of a particular intervention to a particular diagnosis.
• Present a research briefing on Capitol Hill and include a famous spokesperson to headline to attract key legislators and staff to attend.
• Partner with the health sciences field to conduct research, encourage team science, and secure lines of funding.
• Recommend the creation and addition of a policy section to Music Therapy Perspectives .
• Commission white papers on all populations for which there is a substantial body of research evidence. White papers could be written by population work groups with teams of clinicians and researchers.
• Recommend research prioritizing the following clinical areas: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dementia, TBI and ABI
• Create a research document for each population for the purpose of advocacy. This is envisioned as a fairly simple document that is specifically geared toward legislators and policy makers.
• A study in dementia to examine the potential effect (reduction/change) on use of psychotropic drugs associated with the use of music therapy interventions. 
• A study exploring the potential impact (reduction/change) in institutionalization (e.g., admissions, readmissions, and LOS) related to MT-BCs training caregivers in music-based techniques. 
• Approach private insurers for coverage of NICU interventions.

Clinical Population—Autism Spectrum Disorder [9 recommendations]

• Focus research in music therapy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on the following target domains/areas: Motor/sensory, Cognition, Mental health, Comorbidity, Pain perception, Musical development
• What is the role of music in the intervention?
• What is the role of the clinician?
• How do music therapists (MTs) set goals?
• How do MTs determine the rate, frequency, dose, and length of treatment?
• What brings consumers to music therapy (MT)?
• What are the consumers’ desired outcomes?
• What does MT mean for consumers?
• Conduct comparison studies in music therapy and ASD. This recommendation includes consideration of comparison research studies between outcome domains (inter-domain), among approaches (within MT practice), cost-effectiveness analyses, and between disciplines (outside MT profession). 
• Incorporate family/peer-supported services in MT with persons with ASD. This recommendation includes research regarding the role and impact of MT services mediated by parents, peers, or siblings.
• Conduct research regarding MT services across the lifespan among persons with ASD. This recommendation includes research in the following areas: Effectiveness of MT for adults, Community music-making, Accommodations for success in the community.
• Ensure research includes cultural considerations including investigation of MT as vehicle for social change, acknowledging the culture of clients, and neurodiversity.
• Move toward standardization of music therapy assessments in MT practice with persons with ASD.
• Focus research on the following settings: Medical, School, Home, Clinic, Community

Clinical Population—Alzheimer’s & Dementias/Older Adults & Aging* [5 recommendations]

• Expand research applications with new publications.
• Create partnerships and collaborations with Centers on Aging, community agencies, researchers, etc., in order to improve quality of research, evaluation, training, access, etc.
• Improve research methodology to design decision tree analysis for MT interventions and include data that would contribute to cost effectiveness studies in research, when possible.
• Disseminate research to improve clinician access to MT and research on related disciplines to a) ensure high quality clinical care and b) establish AMTA as the centralized source of information on state-of-the-art music therapy for persons who are aging.
• Increase visibility of music therapy research nationally and internationally in established advocacy and policymaking bodies (e.g., Alzheimer’s Association NAPA, AARP, Trial Match).

*This workgroup recommended that the scope of the workgroup topic should expand to include older adults and aging populations in addition to persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Clinical Population—Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) & Comorbidities [6 recommendations]

• Identify and disseminate evidence that MT is effective in treating ABI and co-morbidities.
• Demonstrate the relative cost-effectiveness of MT interventions in this clinical population.
• Utilize expert clinical opinion as a form of evidence and to help drive research agendas.
• Include the voices of patients with ABI in MT research (service-user led research).
• Generate clinical data sets that can be shared to support lines of MT research in this clinical topic.
• Incorporate research frameworks to develop lines of research that speak to colleagues in other disciplines.

Building Research Capacity: Research Infrastructure [5 recommendations]

• Create a portrait of the current music therapy research infrastructure with case studies of best practices, including examples from universities, clinical research faculty positions, and research fellowships.
• Increase meaningful engagement of clinicians in research, including as Principal Investigators.
• Increase research-active scholars among persons with doctoral level training to support their regular and active involvement in research programs and to support development of lines of research.
• Increase postdoctoral opportunities through raising awareness of research career paths and through PhD faculty mentors.
• Include the voice of the consumers (as partners and collaborators) in music therapy research.

Building Research Capacity: Research Infrastructure – Education, Continuing Education, and Training [6 recommendations]

• Explore best practices in the education of evidence-based and evidence-informed MT practice.
• Expand methodologies to include clients’ and clinicians’ voices in the MT body of research.
• Develop opportunities for post-doctoral training and education in MT practice and research scholarship.
• Develop and conduct focus groups to identify continuing education needs unique to each of the following roles: educators, clinicians, internship directors, and researchers (online, regional, state, national).
• Explore ways to make research relevant to clinical practice, e.g., engage clinicians and researchers in responding to publications.
• Create mechanisms to disseminate information on available grants, mentorships, fellowships, and post-doctoral opportunities.

Conclusions

MTR2025 is an initiative of AMTA geared towards stimulating conversation about building research capacity and growing the production and usage of high quality research in music therapy.

Multiple cross-cutting themes emerged at MTR2025 symposium. Here is a selection:

• Consumer Impact. The critical importance of the consumers’ voices in music therapy research, planning, and implementation
• Clinician Involvement. The essential role of the practicing music therapist in accessing and using published research and in participating in research as clinician-scholars and as part of team science
• Diverse Methodologies. The value of embracing diverse, complex, and integrated research methodologies
• Theory. The need to further develop, integrate, describe, and link theory and theoretical models in music therapy research with well articulated and defined music therapy interventions
• Research Capacity Building. The need to grow research capacity among music therapists with attention to both research infrastructure as well as education, training, and continuing education
• Economic Analyses. The importance of including, where appropriate, cost and economic analyses as part of music therapy research including building research partnerships with individuals skilled in cost analyses and economic research
• Expanding Partnerships. The value of expanding and growing collaborations, partnerships, and networks (including interdisciplinary team science) for efficient and productive work in important lines of research

The recommendations developed by symposium participants represent only a fraction of the important dialogue and exchange occurring before, during, and continuing after the symposium. As we rocket towards the year 2025, it is important that each individual consider one’s role and contribution in growing and sustaining a legacy of research to inform practice and, ultimately, benefit our clients and their families.

This symposium was just the beginning. Following the July, 2015, symposium, AMTA continues MTR2025 by way of an array of discussions, activities, and processes to infuse, embed, and integrate research as a cross-cutting and essential feature of clinical and association functions designed to increase access to and quality of music therapy services.

MTR2025 Progress Report

Progress report of historic music therapy research symposium - mtr2025: a productive and engaging meeting.

The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) convened an historic and innovative research symposium, “IMPROVING ACCESS AND QUALITY: MUSIC THERAPY RESEARCH 2025” (MTR2025), July 16-18, 2015. This visionary special event was designed to recommend guidance for future research in music therapy and was made possible by a generous donation from David’s Fund and Tom and Lucy Ott.

The Editors of AMTA’s peer reviewed journals, Drs. Meadows and Robb noted that,

“when viewed as a whole, music therapy research has moved through several important stages of development, characterized by differentiation and integration of philosophies and perspectives that parallel changes occurring in the broader national health research community, including an emphasis on diverse methodologies.  Central to advancing the science and practice of music therapy is finding ways to develop and integrate this knowledge across these research cultures, while meeting both internal and external demands for research that demonstrates improvements in quality and access to care.” 

The opening night keynotes addressed these points and others.

Keynotes included:

• Importance of Research for Improving Access and Quality by Pamela Hinds, RN, PhD, FAAN, Associate Center Director, Center for Translational Science, Children’s Research Institute; Director, Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes, Children’s National™
• Cultures of Inquiry in Music Therapy and Research and the Changing Landscape of Knowledge Generation and Implementation by Sheri Robb, PhD, MT-BC and Tony Meadows, PhD, MT-BC. 

The Symposium agenda facilitated input from a broad and diverse group of professional music therapists including clinicians, educators, students, and researchers. 

• Panel One: Music Therapy Research Needs: a summary of surveys/interviews with clinicians and educators was followed by exploration of how the research process grows and evolves in music therapy practice and highlights the important questions, potential impact, and interplay of theories, methods, and approaches.
• Panel Two: Policy Imperatives: discussed the impact of research on Music Therapy recognition, access, and funding.   AMTA Government Relations Director, Judy Simpson, shared her thoughts regarding future music therapy research as it informs policy imperatives. Judy summarized input from a variety of colleagues regarding the role and use of research in policy-making and advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Panel Three: Considerations for Future Research in Selected Clinical Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) were selected to highlight opportunities for future research. These topics involve large segments of practicing music therapists and have been identified by policy-makers and funders as areas where research findings impact policy and funding. Each topic leader outlined considerations for future research in music therapy, drawing from the literature and knowledge of trends in current music therapy practice. Respondents added commentary and supplemental remarks.
• Panel Four: Research Capacity Building: Infrastructure, Education, and Training: panelists offered conceptual ideas and factors for consideration regarding research capacity building for two major topics: a) research infrastructure and b) music therapy education and training. In addition to the perspectives of educators, the perspectives of practicing clinicians and intern supervisors were presented because of their importance to the dialogue, and the unique set of challenges and needs of practicing clinician/scholars.

Six breakout groups convened in which participants discussed topics related to Panels Two, Three and Four, responded to a set of questions, and prioritized 42 recommendations.  The results will be summarized, consolidated, and shared in the fall through the AMTA website and at the annual conference.  AMTA is proud to sponsor this unique opportunity to bring the many myriad members of the music therapy community together to collaboratively explore our research future.

For more information contact: AMTA Communications; 301-589-3300.

Music therapy highlights: nih-sponsored third national summit on military & arts, - march 4, 2015.

AMTA proudly headed a delegation of more than 25 music therapy professionals, representing AMTA’s two scholarly journals; NIH-funded music therapy researchers; music therapists’ research and practice at Veterans Health Administration facilities; and music therapists in private practice, in hospitals, in the community, at military health facilities, and at academic centers nationwide. AMTA provided outreach information at the meeting and distributed copies of the AMTA white paper on military and music therapy ( http://www.musictherapy.org/amta_releases_white_paper_on_music_therapy__military/ )

AMTA staff and members successfully advocated for the unique value of board certified music therapists to numerous NIH, NEA, NEH, and VA officials as well as to other administrators and gatekeepers.

A report and recommendations based on the Summit is expected to follow in the coming months.

Information online regarding the Americans for the Arts and the “National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military” can be found at http://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/the-national-initiative-for-arts-health-in-the-military

Improving Quality and Access: Music Therapy Research 2025 (MTR2025)

Embarking on a Journey Improving Quality and Access: Music Therapy Research 2025 (MTR2025)

- Originally published in Music Therapy Matters , September 2014

Thanks to funding by Tom and Lucy Ott and David’s Fund, AMTA has the extraordinary opportunity to focus over the next year on guidance for future generations of scholarship in music therapy.  Once funding was awarded, an Advisory Team was appointed by the Board of AMTA.  Serving on the team are Annette Whitehead-Pleaux (Speaker of Assembly), Judy Simpson (Director, Government Relations), with Drs. Debra Burns (Chair, Research Committee), Sheri Robb (Editor in Chief, JMT), Tony Meadows (Editor in Chief, MTP), Alicia Clair (AMTA Board Representative), Andi Farbman (Executive Director), and Linda Demlo (Retired, USPHS/CDC and AHRQ). Dr. Joke Bradt, was unable to attend the meeting due to previous international travel plans, but she offered input in advance. Barbara Else serves as Project Coordinator in her role as a consultant and Senior Advisor/Special Projects Coordinator.

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that he believed intuition, inspiration, and imagination are key factors in pursuing scientific research. Our pre-planning meeting was productive and very inspiring, due to the imagination and dedication of team.  

Improving Quality and Access: Music Therapy Research 2025 MTR2025 Launches at the AMTA Annual Conference

- originally published in music therapy matters , december 2014.

Improving Quality and Access: Music Therapy Research 2025, or simply “MTR2025,” is an AMTA initiative, which is part of the Strategic Priority on Research. MTR2025 is visionary in nature with the ultimate goal being to advance the state of music therapy research. MTR2025 aims to take a forward looking perspective to offer guidance on the many important areas of music therapy research and to prepare documents and products for a variety of audiences, both internal and external to the profession.  External audiences include policy makers and funders. Offering stakeholders a concise document with recommendations on future research in music therapy based on the input and review of highly qualified music therapy professionals and researchers will be an historic and significant contribution.  

As reported in the September 2014 newsletter, the advisory team met in the summer of 2014 to outline the initiative.  During the November Annual Conference, AMTA Senior consultant, Barbara Else, invited conference attendees to be involved: “You are a part of this initiative and you need to offer your ideas and input regarding future research and questions important to music therapy practice and the profession. Music therapy professionals are encouraged to consider what we know—based upon the best available research evidence; and, consider what we don’t know—based upon your important open questions, gaps in knowledge, and unmet research needs. In thinking about your practice area and these needs, what would you recommend to guide the next several generations of researchers? In 2025, and beyond, what burning questions and research areas need to be addressed? What research infrastructure is needed to support these important questions?”

Over the next year, AMTA will be gathering input from music therapy professionals, researchers, and interested stakeholders regarding opportunities and needs for future research in music therapy. On the evening of July 16 through the morning of July 18, a face-to-face meeting to discuss future research opportunities and needs is planned and will take place near the Baltimore-Washington International airport. This research meeting is funded through a grant from Tom and Lucy Ott and “David’s Fund.” AMTA is extremely grateful for this grant and the opportunity to move the discussion forward. We are exploring efficient and convenient ways to disseminate the July 2015 meeting discussions to the members knowing that the face-to-face meeting will be limited in space and capacity.

What happened during the Louisville Conference?

MTR2025 was announced through a series of briefings at the AMTA Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. During the annual meeting, briefings on MTR2025 were provided to the following groups:

• AMTA Board of Directors: General update and briefing provided. 
• Regional Presidents and Presidents-Elect meeting: Each region will be nominating one key participant and two alternates for the July 2015 face-to-face research meeting. The alternates will be back-up in the event the nominee is unavailable. 
• AMTA Assembly of Delegates: Assembly delegates were updated on the initiative. There was a focus on participation, noting input into MTR2025 is encouraged via multiple channels, including a dedicated email address and the July, 2015 face-to-face meeting. 
• General conference session: This was a well-attended general session held on Friday evening of the conference. The session, facilitated by Barb Else, provided an introduction to the initiative with audience discussion and comments. Following the general session, AMTA President Amy Furman noted, “if this group is indicative of the enthusiasm and appetite for guidance and resources for future research in music therapy, then the future is bright!”

Any take-aways from these briefings? 

Music therapists were clear in stating a desire to embrace research that considers all music therapy approaches and practice perspectives. Research questions should also consider and embrace all appropriate methods. During the general session, practicing clinicians expressed a strong desire to grow their skills in reviewing published research in order to translate findings/evidence into practice.  Clinicians also expressed a desire to contribute to research projects and collaborate with investigators.

What is the timeline and what's next?

• Regional Presidents will be receiving a memo in January to solicit nominations for qualified participants at the July 2015 meeting.
• A small number of issue briefs summarizing a series of key research subtopics will be commissioned in advance of the July 2015 meeting to help stimulate discussion.  
• AMTA’s website pages on research will be updated on the initiative.

How can I share my thoughts and ideas on future research in music therapy? 

We welcome dialogue and discussions. In order to track your input and ideas, AMTA has set up an email address.  We want to hear your thoughts and we will be soliciting input across a couple of phases. We begin with an open-ended call for comment and input from music therapists regarding your thoughts on future research guidance in music therapy.  This comment period begins now and ends February 1, 2015. When sending your input, please let us know:

• Your name 
• Indicate your preferred contact method and contact information (in case we need to seek clarification of your input)
• Identify your professional practice area(s) and/or practice setting(s) 
• Indicate your primary professional role(s) – e.g., intern supervisor, private practice, educator, staff music therapist, etc. 
• Provide your comment, suggestion for future research, and/or input. Concise comments are appreciated and not to exceed a couple of paragraphs.
• Send via email to: [email protected]   Emails go to AMTA and are logged on an input tracking spreadsheet. All input will be shared with the Advisory Team and summarized as a whole in advance of the July 2015 meeting.

Copyright © 1998-2024. American Music Therapy Association® and its logo are registered trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Information, files, graphics, and other content on this site are the property of the American Music Therapy Association® and may not be used, reprinted or copied without the express written permission of the American Music Therapy Association.

The American Music Therapy Association® is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and accepts contributions which support its mission. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law.

8705 Colesville Road, Suite B, #290 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301.589.3300 Fax: 301.589.5175

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Open access
• Published: 17 July 2024

Effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients: systematic review and meta-analysis

• Zhihui Xu 1 ,
• Cong Liu 1 ,
• Wenjun Fan 2 ,
• Shufan Li 1 &
• Yuzhang Li 1  

Scientific Reports volume  14 , Article number:  16532 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

213 Accesses

2 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Breast cancer
• Gynaecological cancer

To systematically evaluate the intervention effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients. Randomised controlled trial (RCT) on music therapy for anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients was searched from 7 major databases, PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, WOS, CNIC, Wanfang, and Wipro, spanning the period of library construction to 23 October 2023, and the literature screening of music therapy for anxiety or depression in breast cancer patients was carried out by 2 experimentalists, each of whom conducted a literature screening RCT independently of the other anxiety or depression in a RCT. Methodological quality was evaluated using the PEDro scale; GRADE profiler software for quality of evidence; and RevMan 5.4 was used for effect size merging and forest plots; publication bias tests and sensitivity analyses were performed using Stata 17.0; and standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% CI were used as the effect statistics. A total of 13 RCTs with 1326 subjects (aged 18–70 years) were included in the literature, with a mean PEDro score of 6.8, and the literature was overall of good methodological quality. Meta-analysis showed that music therapy improved anxiety in breast cancer patients (841 cases), with a combined effect size (SMD = − 0.82, 95% CI [− 1.03, − 0.61] and P  < 0.001); and improved depression in breast cancer patients (387 cases) with a combined effect size (SMD = − 0.76, 95% CI [− 1.15, − 0.38], P  < 0.001). Subgroup analyses showed that music intervention with off-site music (757 cases) and music choice of non-self-selected music (537 cases) had the best effect on anxiety improvement, with corresponding combined effect sizes (SMD = − 0.88, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 0.83, P  < 0.001), respectively; followed by an intervention length of < 30 min (589 cases), a frequency of 2 times/day (382 cases), and intervention period of 2–3 weeks (101 cases) had the best effect on anxiety improvement, and the corresponding combined effect sizes were (SMD = − 0.80, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 0.91, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 1.02, P  < 0.001), respectively; and the music selection was the choice of one's own favourite music among the expert recommendations (219 cases) (270 cases) had the best effect on the improvement of depressed mood, with combined effect sizes of (SMD = − 1.15, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 0.71, P  < 0.001) and music with an intervention duration of 30 min (287 cases), an intervention frequency of 1 time/day (348 cases), and an intervention period of 2–4 weeks (120 cases), respectively, with corresponding combined effect sizes of (SMD = − 0.75, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 0.86, P  < 0.001; SMD = − 1.06, P  < 0.001), respectively. Music therapy can improve anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, and the level of evidence is moderate. Although the heterogeneity between studies is high, which may lead to bias in the results, we explored the source of heterogeneity through subgroup and sensitivity analyses, providing a good evidence-based basis for clinical practice. The heterogeneity of anxiety and depression was explored by subgroup analysis, with anxiety due to music duration and music cycle; and depression due to intervention cycles and music duration. Sensitivity analyses also identified music duration and music cycle as contributing to the heterogeneity. Also, this study has some limitations since the included literature did not take into account the duration of the disease, education, and family economic status and did not categorize the age stages. This study found that music therapy improves anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients and the results can be used as a basis for clinical practice and researcher enquiry. This research has been registered on the INPLASY platform ( https://inplasy.com/contact/ ) under the number: INPLASY2023100057.

Similar content being viewed by others

A systematic review and meta-analysis of acceptance- and mindfulness-based interventions for DSM-5 anxiety disorders

Effect of single session receptive music therapy on anxiety and vital parameters in hospitalized Covid-19 patients: a randomized controlled trial

Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and depression in cancer survivors: a meta-analysis

Introduction.

The incidence of female breast cancer often ranks first among female malignant tumours 1 , accounting for 7–10% of all malignant tumors in the body. In the past 20 years, the incidence of breast cancer in China has increased by 37.6%, with an average annual growth rate of 2.3% 2 . Breast cancer patients are the phenomenon of uncontrolled proliferation of breast epithelial cells under the action of multiple carcinogenic factors; physiologically, the early stage often manifests symptoms such as breast lumps and enlarged axillary lymph nodes, and in the late stage, due to distant metastasis of the cancer cells, multi-organ lesions may occur, and even threaten the patients' lives 3 . Patients need to endure the pain and side effects of chemotherapy during treatment, and psychologically they often show emotional instability, anxiety depression, etc., and most of them have psychological problems such as moderate and severe anxiety levels.

Music therapy is an emerging psychotherapeutic modality in which the unique physiological and psychological effects of music enable patients to regulate their psychological disorders through musical experience and distraction. Music therapy is considered to be one of the most effective psychotherapeutic methods for clinical non-pharmacological treatment to eliminate psychosomatic disorders 4 . Music can affect patients' heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and blood cortisol levels through rhythm and tone 5 , thus relieving emotions such as anxiety or depression 6 . A study by Zhi Yanhong et al. found that patients use the sonic vibrations of music to produce beneficial resonance with certain physiological structures of the human body and achieve the elimination of psychological barriers 7 ; a study by LAGATTOLLA F et al. 8 showed that music can promote relaxation in patients with breast cancer, lower anger, heart rate, respiratory rate, reduce pain, reduce the need for anesthesia, analgesia 9 and other recourse, and shorten the recovery time, thus reducing anxiety and depression 10 .

Previous research has shown that music therapy can effectively improve anxiety and depression symptoms in breast cancer patients 11 , 12 , but the specific intervention protocol is unclear, especially the choice of music, intervention duration, intervention period, and intervention frequency need to be further clarified. The results of some of the previous research are controversial, such as studies found that the duration of music intervention is most effective when it is less than 30 min, and some research has also shown that the longer the duration, the better the effect. Based on this, this research intends to further explore the effects of music selection, intervention mode, intervention duration, intervention period, and intervention frequency on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients based on previous studies, to provide precise music intervention programs for clinics and references for researchers.

Literature search strategy

This study was reported in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Analysis) guidelines to ensure transparency of the research 13 . The research protocol was registered on INPLASY No.INPLASY2023100057.

Data sorting and statistical analysis were conducted for the included literature in accordance with the requirements of the International Guidelines for Writing Systematic Reviews 14 . The two researchers independently computer-searched six databases from China Knowledge, Wanfang, PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for RCTs of music therapy for breast cancer patients. The search date of each database was 23 October 2023. The search was conducted by combining subject terms with free words, using the Boolean symbols "AND" and "OR" for combinatorial concatenation, and was determined after repeated pre-testing. In case of disagreement between two researchers, the decision was discussed with the third researcher. This was supplemented by tracking down the relevant systematic reviews and references of the included literature. Table 1 .

Inclusion criteria

This research is based on the ICD and ACJJ classification system to construct a PICO framework for systematically evaluating and analysing the intervention effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, and the research shows that the intervention effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients is significant. Table 2 .

Exclusion Criteria

(1) Literature with repeated publications or PEDro score < 4. (2) No detailed data is provided, and specific data cannot be obtained. (3) The experimental group received a combination intervention, such as music therapy combined with aerobic exercise.

Data extraction

After retrieving the relevant literature, the literature was imported into Endnote for weight removal. Literature screening and data extraction were performed by 2 researchers using an independent double-blind approach respectively. The extracted data from eligible studies were entered into RevMan 5.4 and double-checked for accuracy, and in case of disagreement, the 3rd researcher joined the discussion to decide whether to include them or not. The extraction included basic information about the literature (first author, year of publication), basic information about the experimental subjects (sample size, age, gender), music therapy (classical Chinese folk music, world-famous music, soft, beautiful tracks, etc.), testing methods, specific outcome indicators: anxiety and depression, and extraction of baseline and posttest data.

Quality evaluation

The quality of the literature was evaluated using a modified version of the PEDro scale 15 to assess the methodological quality of the included literature. The scale included 10 criteria: ITT intention-to-treat analysis, random allocation, allocation concealment, baseline similarity, blinding of the research subjects, blinding of the outcome assessment, dropout rate ≤ 15%, intention-to-treat analysis, blinding of the therapists, as well as the point measure and the discrepancy measure. A total of 10 points was assigned to the scale, with a score of less than 4 considered poor quality, 4 to 5 considered moderate quality, 6 to 8 considered good quality, and 9 to 10 considered high quality, and only literature with a score of 5 or higher was included.

Quality of evidence evaluation 16 was done through GRADE profiler software, and the quality of evidence for outcome indicators was evaluated on five downgraded factors including publication bias, inconsistency, imprecision, indirectness, and limitations of the research. Among them, a downgrade of 3 was considered as very low-level evidence, a downgrade of 2 was considered as low-level evidence, a downgrade of 1 was considered intermediate-level evidence, and no downgrade was considered as high-level evidence, and the final grade of evidence was categorized into 4 grades: high level, intermediate level, low level, and very low level. Quality ratings were conducted independently by two researchers, with a third researcher contributing to the discussion if there was disagreement.

Statistical methods

Review Manager 5.4 was used to statistically analyze the data. The outcome indicators of the literature included in this paper are all continuous variables, and the measurement tools are inconsistent across research, so the effect indicators were calculated using the effect size (Standard Mean Difference (SMD)); when the effect size is < 0.2, it is a small effect, 0.20–0.49 is a medium-small effect, 0.50–0.79 is a medium effect, and ≥ 0.8 is a large effect 17 . Heterogeneity was quantified objectively by I 2 , and heterogeneity was quantified by the I 2 statistic. 75%, 50%, and 25% were the boundary values of high, medium, and low heterogeneity, respectively 18 .If there was no statistical heterogeneity among the results, the fixed effect model was used. If heterogeneity exists, the random effects model is used to combine the effect sizes. And the Stata 17.0 Egger test is used to publication bias. If there is publication bias, the scission-supplement method is used to correct it.

Literature search results

As shown in Fig. 1 , a total of 1738 pieces of literature were retrieved through PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases, and 48 pieces of literature were selected after preliminary screening by eliminating duplicates, reading titles, and abstracting. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the full text was re-screened, and finally 13 articles were included in the meta-analysis.

Document retrieval flow chart.

Basic features of the included literature

The 13 articles 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 included were published between 2006 and 2022, with a total of 1326 cancer patients. The intervention content of the experimental group was music therapy combined with conventional intervention, and the control group was conventional chemotherapy intervention (Table 3 ).

Article quality evaluation

All studies described ITT intention-to-treat analyses, statistical analyses were performed between groups, point measures and difference-in-difference scales, random allocation with similar baselines, dropout rates ≤ 15%, five studies described allocation concealment, three studies blinded study participants, three studies blinded outcome assessments, and no studies blinded therapists. Of the 13 studies included, the PEDro scale scores ranged from 6 to 8, with a mean of 6.8, giving good overall research quality (Table 4 ) (Fig.  2 ).

Forest map of anxiety in breast cancer patients with music therapy.

Results of meta -analysis

Meta-analysis of music therapy on anxiety in breast cancer patients.

As shown in Fig.  2 , among the included literature, 12 studies (1278 patients) evaluated the effect of music therapy on anxiety in breast cancer patients. Heterogeneity test I 2  = 75%, P  < 0.01. There was a high degree of statistical heterogeneity among the studies, so the random effects model was used to combine the effect sizes. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size was -0.82, 95%CI[-1.03,-0.61], and the difference between the experimental group and the control group was statistically significant. 0.001, indicating that music therapy was effective in reducing anxiety in breast cancer patients compared to the control group.

As shown in Figs.  3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 and 9 .In order to explore the source of heterogeneity, subgroup analysis was performed for the main outcome indicator, anxiety.The effect of music therapy on the anxiety of breast cancer patients may be influenced by factors such as average age, intervention duration, intervention cycle, intervention frequency, music selection, professional degree, and music style. The results of subgroup analysis showed that intervention cycle, intervention duration, intervention frequency, music selection, professionalism, period, average age and subgroup analysis of music style were statistically significant ( P  < 0.001). From the perspective of heterogeneity sources, intervention duration, average age, intervention period and intervention cycle may be the sources of heterogeneity (Table 5 ).

Subgroup analysis of the influence of different music duration on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of influence of average age of patients on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of different music intervention cycles on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of music intervention frequency on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of different music choices on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Is it a subgroup analysis of the influence of music recommended by experts on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of different music intervention methods on anxiety of breast cancer patients.

Meta-analysis of depression in breast cancer patients with music therapy

As shown in Fig.  10 , six studies in the included literature evaluated the effect of music therapy on depression in breast cancer patients, including 411 patients. Heterogeneity test I2 = 84%, P  < 0.01. There was a high degree of statistical heterogeneity among the studies, so the random effects model was used to combine the effect sizes. The results of meta-analysis showed that the effect size was -0.76, 95%CI[-1.15,-0.38], and the difference was statistically significant. 0.00001, indicating that music therapy was effective in alleviating depression in breast cancer patients compared to controls.

Music therapy for overall depression in breast cancer patients.

As shown in Figs.  11 , 12 , 13 , 14 and 15 .To explore the source of heterogeneity, subgroup analysis was performed for depression, the main outcome indicator. The effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients may be limited by the intervention cycle, music duration, professional degree, music choice and frequency. The results of subgroup analysis in the table showed that intervention cycle, intervention duration, age specialization, music selection and subgroup analysis of group music style were statistically significant. From the source of heterogeneity, intervention cycle and duration may be the main source of heterogeneity(Table 6 ).

Subgroup analysis of the impact of different music intervention cycles on depression in breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of different music intervention duration on depression in breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of whether experts recommend music for depression in breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of music selection on depression in breast cancer patients.

Subgroup analysis of the influence of music intervention frequency on depression in breast cancer patients.

Risk bias analysis

As shown in Fig.  16 , it can be found that the funnel diagram of music therapy on the anxiety of breast cancer patients is basically symmetric. The Egger test result shows that Z = − 0.22, P >|z|= 0.8224, indicating that there is no publication bias in the study.

Music therapy for breast cancer patients funnel diagram.

Sensitivity analyses

As shown in Fig.  17 , to investigate whether the heterogeneity between studies was caused by individual studies, the overall effects were analyzed by screening individual studies one by one. The normal value of the amplitude of the effect of music therapy on anxiety in breast cancer patients included in all studies was in the range (-0.91 to -0.71). The analysis results showed that the data sensitivity of this study was relatively low and did not fundamentally change the results of the meta-analysis, indicating that the research results have a certain stability and reliability.

Sensitivity analysis of music therapy on anxiety in breast cancer patients.

Evaluation of evidence quality level

As shown in Fig.  18 , the GRADEpro evidence rating system was used to assess the quality of evidence for the outcome indicators. It was found that the quality of evidence for music therapy for improving anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients was high, and the actual effect was close to the research findings. However, the heterogeneity of the articles is high, so we downgraded the quality of evidence to moderate.

Quality of evidence for the effect of music therapy on improving anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients.

Adverse events

No adverse events resulting from music therapy were reported in any of the 13 included papers.

Influence of music therapy on the anxiety of breast cancer patients

The results of this study show that music therapy can significantly improve anxiety in breast cancer patients, and the results are consistent with previous studies. Previous meta-analyses found that music therapy eliminated psychological barriers through unique effects. Longitudinal studies 21 , 32 have found that music can reduce pain 33 and shift attention away from negative stimuli to things that are familiar, soothing, and pleasant 10 , 11 . It has also been confirmed that music therapy can reduce the anxiety and depression of patients with other diseases 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 .

A Total of 13 papers were included in this study to systematically evaluate the intervention effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients using the PEDro scale to evaluate the risk of bias of the included papers in 9 aspects, with a mean score of 6.8, which was found to be of good quality, but this study did not carefully classify the condition and type of the breast cancer patients in the included papers, and with an I 2  > 50%, there was a high degree of heterogeneity among the studies and the existence of a considered some inconsistency. In the research, a dose–effect relationship was found for the effects of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, which raised the level of evidence to one. Limitations of the research:1) The types of music selected for the interventions included in the literature were different, with no fixed criteria, whether it was recommended by the experts in English or selected by their favorite music, and the repertoire selected was more often than not classified specifically, which inspired the expectation of more high-quality RCT articles to be further developed. The study was conducted to identify the effects of music therapy on anxiety and depression in patients with breast cancer. RCT articles on music categorization to further complement and demonstrate. In conclusion, music therapy is given high-level quality of evidence for both anxiety and depression intervention effects in breast cancer patients.

This study found that breast cancer patients had the best improvement effect on anxiety when the music was their favorite music recommended by experts, the intervention method was non-live music, the intervention duration was less than or equal to 30 min, the intervention frequency was 2 times per day, and the intervention cycle was 2–3 weeks. Anxiety in breast cancer patients is mostly induced by low estrogen levels, and the decrease in estrogen levels is accompanied by a decline in serotonin transmitters. The possible mechanism by which music can improve anxiety in patients may be as follows: Music can increase the levels of estrogen 40 and oxytocin 41 , and also reduce the concentration of serum cortisol in women, so that the value of serum cortisol in breast cancer patients can return to normal 42 . In terms of the nervous system, music can increase the dopamine activity of nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental cortex (VTA), alter the structural changes of the mesolimbic brain (e.g., nucleus accumbens [NAc], ventral tegmental area [VTA]), and effectively control the influence of emotional stimuli on the autonomic and physiological responses of the hypothalamus and insula 43 . Inhibition of sympathetic nervous system reactivity reduces negative emotional experiences 42 , thereby reducing anxiety. Choosing their favorite music has a better effect on breast cancer patients 44 to perform non-live music, which may be because patients can get into the state more quickly when choosing their favorite music and local music 45 , so that patients can resonate the cranial cavity, chest cavity, or a certain tissue cavity through rhythm, frequency, and regular sound wave vibration 46 . It directly affects people's brain waves, heart rate, and breathing rhythm, thereby reducing anxiety. It may also be because, when listening to recorded music, patients can enter the music environment faster by restricting light, sound, visitors, and phone calls, thus regulating their emotional state 47 . A music intervention with a duration of no more than 30 min, a frequency of 2 times per day, and a cycle of 2–3 weeks is more effective for breast cancer patients. PALMER 23 also found that music therapy can reduce anxiety within only 5 min and can significantly reduce anxiety during 15–30 min of hypnotic intervention. Regarding the frequency of intervention, 2/day are statistically significant, and the reason remains unclearly, more high-quality RCTs need to complement and prove this in the future. The effect of music intervention on patients' anxiety may present an inverted "U" curve, and the intervention effect is the best at the hour, followed by more than 3 weeks, and the effect is not good within 2 weeks 6 .

This study also found that the duration of the intervention was inconsistent with that of Fu Yanzhi et al. 23 , 24 , 27 . The duration of music intervention did not become more effective over time, and the range of change from pre-treatment to post-treatment did not decrease over time. The reason might be that the patients studied by Fu Yanzhi and others were patients with advanced breast cancer, and this might also be related to the timeliness of behavioral habits. At the same time, it also brings inspiration to future generations to further explore the impact of music duration on anxiety in breast cancer patients and look forward to more high-quality RCT articles to further supplement and prove. We also found that different types of music (such as classical music, soothing music, and cheerful music) have different effects on anxiety in breast cancer patients, but the number of previous literature is too small to classify, which also needs more high-quality RCTs to verify.

Influence of music therapy on depression in breast cancer patients

This study found that music selected as expertly recommended music, an intervention duration of 30 min, an intervention frequency of 1 time per day, and an intervention cycle of 2–4 weeks had the best effect on improving depression in breast cancer patients. This is consistent with previous results 11 , 12 . Longitudinal studies 48 have found that music can stimulate the cerebral cortex in many ways, evoking pleasant thought associations and emotions in patients.

Patients with breast cancer are more prone to depression symptoms, subsyndromic depression due to circadian rhythm disturbance and fatigue, and higher intrinsic melatonin secretion than normal people. Musical stimulation can activate or increase specific pathways in several brain regions related to emotional behaviour, such as the insular and cingulate cortex 49 , 50 , hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex 51 . Thus, some biochemical mediators, such as increased endorphins 52 , 53 , endocannabinoids 54 and dopamine 55 , 56 , 57 and decreased nitric oxide 58 regulate positive emotional states 58 . In this study, it was found that, in terms of music selection, the effect of music suggested by experts is better. It may be that experts choose according to the current physiological and psychological state of each patient and the different personality of the patient so as to solve the emotional problems of the patient in a targeted way 59 , 60 . In terms of intervention cycle, 2–4 weeks is the best effect size for the music intervention cycle 61 , The effect size is moderate when the intervention cycle is less than or equal to 2 weeks, and the effect size is second when the intervention cycle is more than 4 weeks. Qishou Tang also said in the study 62 that the effect of short-term and medium-term interventions is higher than that of long-term interventions 20 , 24 , 30 . However, the reason remains uncleraly, and more high quality RCT to further complement and prove this. The intervention duration ≤ 30 min has a better effect on alleviating depression in breast cancer patients, because with the extension of listening time, the response to two types of auditory stimuli in the human body is different 63 , and the effect of music intervention may be weakened by the timeliness of behavioural habits or distraction of human attention after the intervention duration is higher than 30 min.Intervention duration of 30 min and frequency of 1 time per day had a better effect on depression relief in breast cancer patients 60 , 61 , which may be related to the timeliness of behavioural habits. It may also be that the frequency of intervention once a day can regulate the stress response of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis 64 , which has the effect of regulating the spirit, pleasing the heart, and relieving depression in patients. Similarly, we have observed through research that the course of the disease, family economic conditions and educational background of breast cancer patients may affect their depression, and the type, tone and rhythm of music may also have different effects on the improvement of depression in breast cancer patients. This will inspire some researchers today who can further explore the effects of demographic characteristics and musical elements on depression in breast cancer patients, and look forward to more high-quality RCT articles to further complement and prove.

In summary, based on the literature of high quality controlled trials, each intervention element has different effects on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, providing clinical practice and researchers with more precise music intervention programmes. Meanwhile an increasing number of healthcare organisations and government departments are incorporating music therapy into guidelines and policies for breast cancer treatment, and music therapy professionals are being trained and accredited to provide appropriate music interventions for patients. These policy measures help to increase the recognition and acceptance of music therapy interventions by patients and promote the psychological recovery of breast cancer patients. As scientific research continues, we can further understand the specific mechanisms of action and effects of music therapy on patients, and how to better apply music therapy for personalised interventions.

This research has been registered on the INPLASY platform ( https://inplasy.com/contact/ ) under the number INPLASY2023100057.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

He, L. et al. Status quo of self advocacy ability of chemotherapy patients with breast cancer and analysis of influencing factors. Chin. J. Nurs. 58 (07), 788–793 (2023).

Google Scholar  

Our editorial department The 5th National breast cancer Young and Middle aged Expert Forum and the 3rd Tianjin breast cancer Multidisciplinary Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment International Forum were successfully held Clinical oncology in China, 2017, 44 (21): 1107.

Yu, L. et al. Decision aids for breast cancer screening in women approximately 50 years of age: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. J. Clin. Nurs. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16112 (2021).

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

[Expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of young breast cancer in China (2022 Edition)] . Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi, 2023, 103(6): 387–403.

Meerwijk, E. L. Psychological pain in depressive disorder: A concept analysis. J. Clin. Nurs. 32 (23–24), 8154 (2023).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Na, L. et al. Research progress on the application of music therapy in the quality of life of breast cancer patients. Gener. Nurs. 19 (24), 3371–3374 (2021).

Nilsson, U. The anxiety- and pain-reducing effects of music interventions: A systematic review. Aorn J. 87 (4), 780–807 (2008).

Guétin, S. et al. Effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in patients with Alzheimer’s type dementia: randomised, controlled study. Dement Geriatr. Cogn. Disord. 28 (1), 36–46 (2009).

Yanhong, Z. et al. Exploring the impact of music therapy on the quality of life of advanced cancer patients in community hospice wards. Mod. Diagn. Treat. 33 (01), 124–126 (2022).

Lagattolla, F. et al. Receptive music therapy versus group music therapy with breast cancer patients hospitalized for surgery. Support Care Cancer 31 (3), 162 (2023).

Sánchez-Jáuregui, T. et al. Clinical hypnosis and music in breast biopsy: A randomized clinical trial. Am. J. Clin. Hypn. 61 (3), 244–257 (2019).

Lanfear, C. & Harding, S. The effectiveness of nurse-led care in supporting self-management in patients with cancer: A systematic review. J. Clin. Nurs. 32 (23–24), 7996–8006 (2023).

Page, M. J. et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Bmj 372 , n71 (2021).

Liberati, A. et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: Explanation and elaboration. PLoS Med 6 (7), e1000100 (2009).

Ludyga, S. et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis investigating moderators of long-term effects of exercise on cognition in healthy individuals. Nat. Hum. Behav. 4 (6), 603–612 (2020).

Howick, G. G. J. Understanding GRADE: An introduction. J. Evid. Based Med . 2013.

Cohen, J. A power primer. Psychol. Bull. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155 (1992).

Higgins, J. P. et al. Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. Bmj 327 (7414), 557–560 (2003).

Li, X. M. et al. Effects of music therapy on anxiety of patients with breast cancer after radical mastectomy: A randomized clinical trial. J. Adv. Nurs. 68 (5), 1145–1155. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05824.x (2012).

Chirico, A. et al. Virtual reality and music therapy as distraction interventions to alleviate anxiety and improve mood states in breast cancer patients during chemotherapy. J. Cell Physiol. 235 (6), 5353–5362 (2020).

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Lima, T. U. et al. Impact of a music intervention on quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: A randomized clinical trial. Integr. Cancer Ther. 19 , 1534735420938430 (2020).

Hanser, S. B. et al. Effects of a music therapy intervention on quality of life and distress in women with metastatic breast cancer. J. Soc. Integr. Oncol. 4 (3), 116–124 (2006).

Palmer, J. B. et al. Effects of music therapy on anesthesia requirements and anxiety in women undergoing ambulatory breast surgery for cancer diagnosis and treatment: A randomized controlled trial. J. Clin. Oncol. 33 (28), 3162–3168 (2015).

Zhou, K. N. et al. Effects of music therapy on depression and duration of hospital stay of breast cancer patients after radical mastectomy. Chin. Med. J. 124 (15), 2321–2327 (2011).

PubMed   Google Scholar  

Shu-Xian, H. U. & Bo, S. Effect of different types of music to alleviate the chemotherapy anxiety and depression of the patients with breast cancer. Matern. Child Health Care China 28 (02), 359–361 (2013).

Zhen-Qi, L. U. The effect of music relaxation therapy on the adverse reactions induced by chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. Chin. J. Nurs. 45 (05), 405–408 (2010).

Yanzhi, F. et al. Investigation on the application of music therapy to improve anxiety and depression in FEC chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer. Chin. J. Misdiagn. 9 (33), 8312–8313 (2009).

Chang, Y. The influence of music therapy on the postoperative mood of patients with breast cancer. Mod. Pract. Med. 34 (02), 249–250 (2022).

Yuting, L. et al. The effect of music therapy on perioperative breast cancer patients. Chin. Commun. Phys. 12 (02), 46–47 (2010).

Lin, M. F. et al. A randomised controlled trial of the effect of music therapy and verbal relaxation on chemotherapy-induced anxiety. J. Clin. Nurs. 20 (7–8), 988–999 (2011).

Hongmei, L. V. et al. Effect of personalized music intervention on the preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. J. Nurs. Sci. 10 , 4–6 (2008).

Xiao, Y. et al. Effects of aroma therapy and music intervention on pain and anxious for breast cancer patients in the perioperative period. Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban 43 (6), 656–661 (2018).

Aalbers, S. et al. Music therapy for depression. Cochr. Database Syst. Rev. 11 (11), cd004517 (2017).

Sun, C. et al. Effects of music therapy on anxiety in patients with cancer: Study protocol of a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 13 (5), e067360 (2023).

Mazet-Carpentier, A. et al. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and music therapy. Rev. Infirm. 72 (290), 43–45 (2023).

Cao, M. & Zhang, Z. Adjuvant music therapy for patients with hypertension: A meta-analysis and systematic review. BMC Complem. Med. Ther. 23 (1), 110 (2023).

Article   MathSciNet   Google Scholar  

Yuxing, P. et al. Clinical efficacy analysis of receptive music therapy for anxiety disorder. Pract. Med. China 17 (12), 64–67 (2022).

Xiaoli, Z. et al. Study on the effect of psychological nursing combined with music therapy on anxiety and depression in elderly female stroke patients Chinese. Med. Sci. 12 (06), 85–88 (2022).

Yanhong, Z. et al. Meta analysis of the physiological and psychological effects of music therapy on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. General Nursing 20 (26), 3620–3624 (2022).

Fukui, H. & Toyoshima, K. Music facilitate the neurogenesis, regeneration and repair of neurons. Med. Hypotheses 71 (5), 765–769 (2008).

Grape, C. et al. Does singing promote well-being? An empirical study of professional and amateur singers during a singing lesson. Integr. Physiol. Behav. Sci. 38 (1), 65–74 (2003).

Yongpeng, H. et al. Detection of 20 amino acids in serum of breast cancer patients and its significance in screening breast cancer. J. Second Mil. Med. Univ. 42 (11), 1238–1245 (2021).

Gorresen, P. M. et al. Multi-state occupancy models of foraging habitat use by the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus). PLoS One 13 (10), e0205150 (2018).

Tavakoli, F. et al. Role of music in morphine rewarding effects in mice using conditioned place preference method. Neuro Endocrinol. Lett. 33 (7), 709–712 (2012).

CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Hao, P. et al. Systematic evaluation of the necessity of interpleural lymph node management during axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients. J. Second Mil. Med. Univ. 42 (04), 439–444 (2021).

Peng, S. & Jie, J. Persistent pain after breast cancer surgery and rehabilitation(review). Chin. J. Rehabil. Theory Pract. 24 (2), 128–133 (2018).

Jingyue, P. et al. Research progress of music therapy in breast cancer rehabilitation. Massage Rehabil. Med. 12 (21), 78–82 (2021).

Hong, G. Effects of yoga music on anxiety and pain of PICC catheterization in patients after breast cancer surgery. Contemp. Nurses 02 , 71–72 (2015).

Kai-Na, Z. & Xiao-Mei, L. I. Effect of music therapy on pain of breast cancer patients after radical mastectomy. Chin. J. Nurs. 26 (28), 55–57 (2010).

Liu, C. H. et al. Enhanced functional connectivity between insular subregions correlates with the efficacy of music and instruction-guided relaxation in depression. Neuroreport 31 (17), 1215–1224 (2020).

Usui, C. et al. Music intervention reduces persistent fibromyalgia pain and alters functional connectivity between the insula and default mode network. Pain Med. 21 (8), 1546–1552 (2020).

Kesler, S. R., Kent, J. S. & O’Hara, R. Prefrontal cortex and executive function impairments in primary breast cancer. Arch. Neurol. 68 (11), 1447–1453 (2011).

Boso, M. et al. Neurophysiology and neurobiology of the musical experience. Funct. Neurol. 21 (4), 187–191 (2006).

Kang, J., Scholp, A. & Jiang, J. J. A review of the physiological effects and mechanisms of singing. J. Voice. 32 (4), 390–395 (2018).

Bonassi, G. et al. How music moves us: Music-induced emotion influences motor learning. Neuroscience 526 , 246–255 (2023).

Ferreri, L. et al. Dopamine modulates the reward experiences elicited by music. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116 (9), 3793–3798 (2019).

Article   ADS   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Vik, B. M. D., Skeie, G. O. & Specht, K. Neuroplastic effects in patients with traumatic brain injury after music-supported therapy. Front. Hum. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00177 (2019).

Orak, Y. et al. Effects of music therapy on pain and oxidative stress in oocyte pick-up: A randomized clinical trial. Braz. J. Anesthesiol. 70 (5), 491–499 (2020).

Weiwei, S. et al. Observation on the effect of personalized music therapy on alleviating the adverse psychological reaction of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Anhui Pharmac. 17 (08), 1441–1443 (2013).

Li, Y. et al. Clinicopathological and prognostic role of STAT3/p-STAT3 in breast cancer patients in China: A meta-analysis. Sci. Rep. 9 (1), 11243 (2019).

Article   ADS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Turner, M. C. et al. Sleep and breast and prostate cancer risk in the MCC-Spain study. Sci. Rep. 12 (1), 21807 (2022).

van Assche, E., de Backer, J. & Vermote, R. Music therapy and depression. Tijdschr. Psychiatr. 57 (11), 823–829 (2015).

Tang, Q. et al. Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS One 15 (11), e0240862 (2020).

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Zhao, K. et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of music therapy for the older adults with depression. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 31 (11), 1188–1198 (2016).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank all of the staf who contributed their time to our research.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

Zhihui Xu, Cong Liu, Shufan Li & Yuzhang Li

School of Music, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

X.Z.H. designed the study and search strategy. X.Z.H. and L.C. performed abstract and full-text screening, methodological quality, and GRADE assessment, and contributed to the completion of screening and data extraction for all data within this manuscript. X.Z.H. and L.S.F. designed and calculated meta-analyses, subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias, and created images and tables. X.Z.H. wrote the original draft preparation, performed review and editing, and prepared the final draft. F.W.J. contributed to the critical evaluation of the findings and the drafting of the manuscript. X.Z.H., L.C., L.Y.Z., and L.Y.Z. contributed to editing and revising the manuscript in its final version. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree with the order of presentation of the authors. All authors agreed the possible publication of our article on journal of clinical nursing. The participant has consented to the submission of the article to the journal.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuzhang Li .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Xu, Z., Liu, C., Fan, W. et al. Effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients: systematic review and meta-analysis. Sci Rep 14 , 16532 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-66836-x

Download citation

Received : 13 March 2024

Accepted : 04 July 2024

Published : 17 July 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-66836-x

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Music therapy

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines . If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

15 Music Therapy Activities and Tools

As a therapy, music is a proven way to reduce stress and to get into a mindful state of consciousness.

Music therapy includes listening, communicating, and understanding. It is a popular method used in hospitals, educational institutions, and other clinical settings to ease clients and make them comfortable.

Psychologists believe that music therapy improves the quality of life (Scott, 2018). From pain to personal loss, attentional disorders to relationship issues, music therapy is one fix that suits all.

Professor Suzanne Hanser of Berklee College of Music said that music therapy serves five significant purposes:

• Shifting one’s attention from problems to solutions.
• Offering a rhythmic structure for relaxation and breathing.
• Helping clients visualize positive imagery that evokes pleasure and happiness.
• Helping them achieve a deep state of relaxation.
• Changing mood.

Music therapy stands undisputed as a heal for negative stress and burden. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most useful resources on music therapy for kids and adults. With a range of exercises, activities, and kinds of music, the tools mentioned in the sections below can be a great start to uncovering the real benefits of music therapy on all levels.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

What are music therapy activities and tools, 3 music therapy techniques, a look at music therapy interventions, 3 examples of music therapy in action, common questions on the application of music therapy, 3 music therapy activities and exercises, application ideas for kids, 2 music therapy worksheets, 2 questionnaires (incl pdf), 2 books on music therapy, a take-home message.

Music therapy is an expressive art therapy . Whether you are writing a song, listening to it, or singing alongside – music therapy in any form requires some form of communication and expression.

Music therapy is mostly conducted under supervision, where the therapist uses specialized tools or other mechanisms to implement the program successfully.

For example, musical instruments like the guitar or piano are popular music therapy tools. Some forms of music therapy also involve imagery, where the therapist gently guides the client to imagine himself in a pleasant situation and plays soothing music to create the right ambiance for it.

There are numerous tools and activities that music therapists use.

Some of them are:

A musical instrument

Clients love to hear their therapist play and sing along. Having a guitar, ukulele, keyboard, or harp, is excellent for brightening up the session. It brings in an immediate sense of joy and works brilliantly for youngsters in music therapy.

Playing music on a good speaker is ideal for group therapy. It creates a sense of livelihood and encourages clients to participate in the process. Besides, it also helps the therapist to make sure he is audible to all.

A screen for visual activities

When using visual imagery to accompany the music, therapists often keep a tablet or other devices to project the image on the screen. Besides keeping clients engaged throughout the session, visual tools act as a catalyst in enhancing the positive impact of music on our mind.

Paper and pen

Many music therapists keep pen and paper for recording and managing feedback. It is also used in songwriting activities or sentence completion games where the clients express themselves through words.

The core purpose of music therapy is to strengthen one’s emotional skills and calls for a positive shift in mindset . Various methods or music therapy activities are used by professionals to meet these goals (Kimberley 2012).

For example, some music therapy activities include:

• Writing and singing songs.
• Improvising on songs and music pieces.
• Playing a musical instrument.
• Using musical devices and technology.
• Listening to music (with and without visual imagery).
• Exchanging information through music.

What music therapy techniques do you know? We reflect on three techniques.

1. Drumming

Drumming is an excellent music tool for inducing light-hearted fun, positive addiction, and unhindered engagement. Scientists believe that drumming activities increase cellular activity that helps the body fight against neurological and endocrinological disorders.

Besides improving bodily functions, drumming also has a positive social connotation and brings people together as part of a group.

There are no rules in drumming interventions. Clients are free to choose their way and play the instrument as they like.

Rick Allen, a famous drummer and the founder of the Raven Drum Foundation, suggested that some immediate benefits of drumming include:

• Reduction of stress, trauma, and anxiety.
• Controlling symptoms of chronic pain.
• Revitalizing the immune system.
• Creating a sense of social connection.
• Emotional catharsis or release of bottled-up anger and aggression.
• Providing scope for self-realization and introspection.

Singing is a universal music therapy technique that is suitable for clients of all ages and backgrounds. It has been incorporated in various forms and activities and is a widely used music therapy tool today. Many psychologists call singing the ‘mega-vitamin’ for the brain.

Studies have shown that listening to songs or singing along with them helps in repairing damaged brain tissues. This is a reason why singing is a crucial part of treating Parkinson’s disease, dementia, or Alzheimer’s (Gerdner and Swanson,1993).

3. Vibro-Acoustic Therapy

Vibro-Acoustic Therapy or VAT is a scientific approach of combining low-frequency vibrations with the resonations of slow-paced music. The International Society of VAT mentioned that ‘sound waves helps in circulating positive energy throughout the body.’ It activates the body and allows it to use the inbuilt repair mechanisms to calm the mind and body.

Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Exercises (PDF)

Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology.

Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

Music therapy interventions are broadly categorized as active interventions and receptive interventions. In general, all forms of music therapy interventions use the power of tunes and sound waves to penetrate the human mind and help it attain a peaceful state. Whether a person is creating music, playing it, or listening to it, the instant emotions that the process evokes help bring about the positive shift in focus.

Active music interventions are the ones where clients and therapists are equally involved in the therapeutic process. Activities such as dancing, group singing, solo performances, or musical games are ideal examples of active interventions of music therapy.

In receptive or passive interventions, clients are mostly listeners more than performers. These interventions include music relaxation therapies, mindful music meditation, or the like.

A popular music intervention that many neuroscientists rely on is Neurologic Music Therapy or NMT. It is a scientific technique that records brain functions before and after exposure to relaxing music to induce desirable changes in the client. NMT is a therapy of choice for helping clients with neuro-linguistic troubles, and it also helps in developing motor skills in children and young adults. (Koelsch, 2009).

The earliest evidence of a musical instrument was a bone flute that was arguably about 40,000 years old. The in-grained impact of music therapy that more or less all of us experience is partly due to these ancient links of music and human living (Rolvsjord, 2010).

Music therapy has been around since the Stone Age. Ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures like the Aborigines of Australia and some African tribes used singing and musical group activities to pray, celebrate, or sail through tough times (such as drought, flood, or extreme weather conditions).

The Ancient Greek civilization also leaves traces of how they incorporated music into their lives and believed that it is the only way to restore the peace of mind and body.

Musings of Plato and Pythagoras have several indications of how the Greeks tried to support each other through music and encouraged music education and awareness in their communities (Pavlicevic and Ansdell, 2004; Stige, 2002; 2003; Stige, Ansdell, and Pavlicevic, 2010; Stige and Aaroe, 2012).

Another prominent example of a real-life application of music therapy is in autism treatment. Autistic children, who have impaired social and cognitive abilities, respond prominently better to musical stimuli than other modes of communication. It captures their attention and sustains it for a longer duration.

Studies have also shown that teaching differently-abled children daily duties through musical actions helps in imprinting the information permanently and internalizing the information sooner.

Why I want to change the world with music therapy – Erin Seibert

Jeff Peterson, President of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, said that most clients and caregivers, before participating in music therapy sessions come with several queries about the usefulness of music therapy.

Some common questions that people ask include:

• What is music therapy?
• How does it help in improving health?
• How often do we need to practice it?
• How does it impact on mood and emotions?
• Where can we practice it?
• Who can give us more information about music therapy?
• Are music therapy and music relaxation the same thing?

Many online resources and blogs give us an idea of what we should know before signing up for music therapy and who we should talk to. You can have a look at these articles by our writers that beautifully explain music therapy, its background, and implications in real life.

• What is Music Therapy and How Does it Work?
• What Are the Benefits of Music Therapy?

Prefer Uninterrupted Reading? Go Ad-free.

Get a premium reading experience on our blog and support our mission for $1.99 per month.

✓ Pure, Quality Content

✓ No Ads from Third Parties

✓ Support Our Mission

Music therapy research is at its peak, and many effective musical interventions and strategies are uniquely designed to suit our purposes. Below is a list of popular music therapy group activities and other interventions that you might want to know about.

1. Music Bingo

Music Bingo is a cognitive music activity that improves memory and reality orientation. It is a preferred method for adult interventions and is often used in association with other forms of therapy to improve mental health.

The activity involves making cards where each participant draws a song, and others sing it after guessing the name right. It can be played in pairs or as a group, and works great for people with poor memory skills.

2. Music Relaxation

Music relaxation is a well-known music therapy for mindfulness and meditation. The primary purpose of music relaxation is to induce a calm state where the mind can relax, and the muscles can loosen up to shed the pent-up stress.

Music relaxation is a vital component in many yoga retreats, where instructors moderate the room lights and minimize any external distraction before playing the tune. It is also a great way to unwind ourselves every day and helps improve emotional resilience over time.

3. Music Selection

Music selection is used for adolescents or clients with disturbances in emotional and self-regulation. The process involves letting clients choose a piece of music that they are familiar with. Self-selected pieces of music evoke emotions and bring back memories that might be associated with it.

Music selection often accompanies guided visual imagery where the therapist urges the client to imagine himself in a pleasant environment while the music continues to play in the background. It is a meditative practice that induces ultimate self-awareness and acceptance.

Music therapy motivates kids of all ages and is an excellent intervention for managing childhood depression, impulse control problems, and attention-related disorders (Gold, Voracek, and Wigram, 2004).

Musical interventions for children are used in schools, private counseling practices, medical facilities, and foster homes. The common goal is to uplift their mood and help them manage their distress effectively.

Most researchers agree that music therapy for children works best in a group setting. Performing as part of a team helps them form connections to peers and overcome any loneliness they have been facing.

Whether the interventions are conducted in schools or other facilities, group activities help in:

• Knowing others having similar problems and developing empathy.
• Communicating and motivating each other in the group.
• Expressing and reacting spontaneously to the stimuli.
• Building connections and helping each other overcome their loneliness.
• Improving listening skills, readiness, and reaction times.
• Building secure coping mechanisms and self-confidence.

Involving family and teachers in music therapy for kids is also an excellent option for rebuilding the relationships they share with their elders. Musical exercises help them come closer to each other and explore happiness by spending undistracted time with each other.

There are a few interesting music therapy worksheets in our toolkit, and we briefly describe them below.

Using Music to Express Feelings

As mentioned earlier, music therapy calls for emotional catharsis and self-expression. The ‘ Using Music to Express Feelings ‘ worksheet helps clients open up about their innermost feelings through some musical expressions.

The exercise is simple and contains the following steps. It is subjective and self-storable, so there are no right or wrong answers in this. Below is a brief description of the worksheet, and you can learn more about it from the Positive Psychology Toolkit© .

Instructions – Choose three songs that you think describe your situation and feelings right now. For each of the songs you chose, answer the following questions, and be true to yourself. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers here.

1. What are the titles of the songs? ____________________________________________________________ 2. What comes to your mind when you hear the songs? ____________________________________________________________ 3. How do they make you feel? ____________________________________________________________ 4. What part of each song is the most important to you, and why? ____________________________________________________________

Draw What You Hear Worksheet

This worksheet is used in several settings for both individual and group purposes. The task is simple and uses the following steps:

• Clients rate their listening skills at the beginning of the session.
• The therapist then exposes them to a few musical pieces and asks them to attend to each carefully.
• At the next step, each participant gets a worksheet (shown below), where they either write, draw, or journal what they felt after listening to the pieces of music.

Use the following surveys to assess your clients.

1. Music Therapy Questionnaire Survey

The Music Therapy Questionnaire Survey is an assessment that is usually used at the beginning or the end of each session. The questionnaire is objective; a brief overview of it is here below.

2. Children’s Music Therapy Questionnaire

The Children’s Music Therapy Questionnaire is an adaptation of the adult version. The worksheet is represented with bright images and pictorial representations that children should find easy and fun to do. The questionnaire is briefly illustrated below, and you can download the full version as well.

17 Top-Rated Positive Psychology Exercises for Practitioners

Expand your arsenal and impact with these 17 Positive Psychology Exercises [PDF] , scientifically designed to promote human flourishing, meaning, and wellbeing.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

These Music Therapy books are great tools to improve your knowledge and skills.

1. The Handbook of Music Therapy – Leslie Bunt, Leslie Hoskyns, and Sangeeta Swami

The book is divided into four segments, each exploring a crucial aspect of music therapy such as its evolution, historical implications, clinical contributions, practical applications, and professional uses.

It comes with real-life examples and case studies and is suitable for professionals, therapists, or anyone interested to learn more about the fundamentals of musical interventions in psychotherapy.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. Rhythm to Recovery: A Practical Guide to Using Rhythmic Music, Voice and Movement for Social and Emotional Development – Simon Faulkner and James Oshinsky

The book contains over 100 drills that are suitable for different age groups and is undoubtedly an excellent reference for professional use. It offers meaningful insight on childhood and adolescent problems and uncovers unique ways of using music to address those issues.

Music reduces pain and brings us closer to ourselves. It is one of the best remedies for beating stress and loneliness, and also gives us the strength to face and express the strong emotions that guide most of our actions.

Using music as a relaxation technique, individual, or group intervention can bring desired changes in terms of cardiac functioning, blood pressure levels, and overall body functions. Whether you are an active listener or an active performer, music, in any form, will change your life for the better.

As Jean Richter said, and we all at some levels would agree to it:

Music is moonlight in the gloomy nights of our lives.

Continue Reading: 17 Best Drama Therapy Techniques, Activities & Exercises

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

• Blood, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2001). Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion .
• Forsblom, Lantinen, Särkämö, and Tervaniemi, (2009). Therapeutic role of music listening in stroke rehabilitation .
• Guetin, Picot, Pommie, and Djabelkir, (2009). Effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in patients with Alzheimer’s type dementia .
• Klassen, Liang, and Hartling, (2008). Music for pain and anxiety in children undergoing medical procedures .
• Koelsch, S. (2009). A Neuroscientific perspective on music therapy .
• Levy, Jillian (2017). Music therapy: Benefits and uses for anxiety, depression and more .
• Scott, Elizabeth (2018). Music relaxation: A healthy stress management tool.
• Smith, Yolanda (2018). Types of Music Therapy .

Share this article:

Article feedback

What our readers think.

I facilitate an 8 hr restorative justice workshop in a youth detention facility with some of the most violent young people in our state. I’ve recently started implementing music in the middle of our workshop and it has already had a positive effect. To the point that we are starting a music writing and recording class at the facility. If this goes well we will offer the class at other facilities in the state. The info given here is VERY helpful for what we are doing. I’d love to stay tapped in here.

Thank you for the article! I would love to try the music bingo. But it is not totally clear to me how it works? Thank you in advance!

I’m glad you found the article about Music Bingo interesting and that you’re keen to try it!

Here’s how it works: Each participant receives a card with different songs listed. Then a song is played or a hint is given about a song. Participants try to identify the song and if they have it on their card, they mark it. Eventually, the first person to complete a row or pattern (as decided before the game starts) and shout “Bingo!” is the winner.

Hope this helps!

Warm regards, Julia | Community Manager

Let us know your thoughts Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related articles

The Empty Chair Technique: How It Can Help Your Clients

Resolving ‘unfinished business’ is often an essential part of counseling. If left unresolved, it can contribute to depression, anxiety, and mental ill-health while damaging existing [...]

29 Best Group Therapy Activities for Supporting Adults

As humans, we are social creatures with personal histories based on the various groups that make up our lives. Childhood begins with a family of [...]

47 Free Therapy Resources to Help Kick-Start Your New Practice

Setting up a private practice in psychotherapy brings several challenges, including a considerable investment of time and money. You can reduce risks early on by [...]

Read other articles by their category

• Body & Brain (55)
• Coaching & Application (58)
• Compassion (26)
• Counseling (51)
• Emotional Intelligence (24)
• Gratitude (18)
• Grief & Bereavement (21)
• Happiness & SWB (40)
• Meaning & Values (27)
• Meditation (20)
• Mindfulness (44)
• Motivation & Goals (46)
• Optimism & Mindset (35)
• Positive CBT (30)
• Positive Communication (23)
• Positive Education (48)
• Positive Emotions (32)
• Positive Leadership (20)
• Positive Parenting (16)
• Positive Psychology (34)
• Positive Workplace (37)
• Productivity (18)
• Relationships (46)
• Resilience & Coping (40)
• Self Awareness (22)
• Self Esteem (38)
• Strengths & Virtues (33)
• Stress & Burnout Prevention (35)
• Theory & Books (46)
• Therapy Exercises (37)
• Types of Therapy (64)

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Join HS Insider

About                   FAQs                       Join

(Artisan Hans)

Redefining ‘Normal’: The impact of music and art therapy on neurodiverse individuals

Caroline Cho

The term “neurodiversity” has gained significant traction in recent years, both in academic circles and popular discourse. Sociologist Judy Singer established the term as the natural variation in human brain function and behavioral traits. The concept challenges the traditional medical model of viewing neurological differences as disorders or deficits, instead framing them as part of the spectrum of human diversity.

Neurodiversity encompasses a wide range of neurological conditions, including autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and others. Judy Singer, in her 2016 book “Neurodiversity: The Birth of an Idea”, argues that proponents of the neurodiversity paradigm argue that these conditions represent natural variations in the human genome and should be respected and accommodated rather than “cured” or normalized.

This shift in perspective has important implications for how we approach education, employment, and social interactions. It calls for a more inclusive society that values and leverages the unique strengths and abilities of neurodiverse individuals, rather than focusing solely on their challenges or limitations.

Researchers and practitioners have since explored various therapeutic approaches to support neurodiverse individuals in navigating a world that is often designed for neurotypical minds. Among these, music and art therapy have shown p articular promise in promoting well-being, self-expression, and skill development .

Music therapy, for instance, has been f ound to be especially beneficial for individuals on the autism spectrum . The structured yet creative nature of music can provide a non-verbal means of communication and emotional expression. Rhythmic activities can help improve motor skills and coordination, while group music-making fosters social interaction and collaboration. Moreover, the predictable patterns in music can offer comfort and reduce anxiety for those who may struggle with sensory overload or unpredictability in their environment.

Similarly, art therapy offers a valuable outlet for neurodiverse individuals to express themselves and process their experiences. For those with ADHD, the focused nature of artistic activities can help improve attention span and impulse control . Art creation can also serve as a form of visual communication for individuals who may have difficulty expressing themselves verbally. The tactile and sensory aspects of various art materials can be particularly engaging for those with sensory processing differences.

Both music and art therapy can be tailored to individual needs and preferences, making them highly adaptable to the diverse range of neurocognitive profiles encountered in the neurodiverse population. These therapies can help build self-esteem, reduce stress and anxiety, and develop coping strategies for managing everyday challenges.

It is important to note that while these therapeutic approaches can be beneficial, they should not be viewed as attempts to “normalize” neurodiverse individuals. Rather, they should be seen as tools to help these individuals navigate and thrive in a world that may not always be designed with their needs in mind.

Column: How to achieve ‘Clean Girl’ skin

by mikaylabrent | Arts and Entertainment

With so many micro-trends coming in and out of style, it has cumulatively led to a new-found appreciation of simplicity. Thus entered the "Clean Girl." Although this term was popularized by social media, the interest in appearing well-kept has been around for...

Column: Can scientists talk to your dog?

by Felicia Lo | Education

It seems like a normal day. Poki licking me awake in the morning. Eating cereal for breakfast. Working on homework on a Saturday. It all seemed normal until I noticed some unusual behaviors in Poki. She refuses to eat her food. Her eyes, legs, and face all look...

FVHS establishes new on-campus, during-bell dual enrollment pathways for Precalculus and AP English classes

by Uy Pham | Education , News , Schools

For the 2024-2025 school year, Fountain Valley High School announced the establishment of two new on-campus, during-bell dual enrollment pathways for students, which will provide alternative options for students taking Precalculus, AP English Language and Composition...

Column: 2024 NBA offseason recap

by James Lew | News , Sports

The 2024 NBA playoffs were highly entertaining, with the next generation of stars like Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous Alexander winning playoff series and cementing their superstar status. The Celtics superstar duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown won their first...

Discover more from HS Insider

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

Sign up for the Health News Florida newsletter

Music-based interventions may be a helpful therapy for neurological disorders.

On this episode, host Dr. Joe Sirven explores the power of sound for anxiety, depressive symptoms and pain associated with a variety of health conditions.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, preliminary research suggests music-based interventions may be helpful for anxiety, depressive symptoms and pain associated with a variety of health conditions.

To learn more, we explore the power of sound as therapy for neurological disorders on this episode of "What's Health Got to Do With It?"

Dr. Francis Collins, a physician-scientist and National Institutes of Health distinguished investigator, explains how music therapy integrates with conventional medical treatments.

In the next blocl, we take up the common symptoms of andropause, the decline in male hormone production.

Stephen Ferrara, associate dean at the Columbia School of Nursing and president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, explains physical and emotional effects of andropause and related lifestyle modifications.

"What's Health Got to Do with It?" is a talk program from WJCT in Jacksonville that examines the intersection of health care and daily life.

Jacksonville neurologist Dr. Joe Sirven is the program host.

Click on the Listen button above to hear the program.

Copyright 2024 WJCT News