Music therapy may offer hope for people with depression

A therapist may be able to use music to help some patients fight
depression and improve, restore and maintain their health, states a
Systematic Review from The Cochrane Library.

About 121 million people world-wide are believed to suffer from
depression. This can be seen in disturbed appetite, sleep patterns and
overall functioning as well as leading to low self-esteem and feelings
of worthlessness and guilt. It can lead to suicide and is associated
with 1 million deaths a year.

Drugs and psychotherapy are common treatments, but a group of Cochrane
Researchers set out to see whether there was evidence that music
therapy could deliver benefits.

After searching the international literature, they identified five
studies that met their criteria. Four of these reported greater
reduction in symptoms of depression among people who had been given
music therapy than those who had been randomly assigned to a therapy
group that did not involve music. The fifth study, however, did not
find this effect.

“While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that
this is an area that is well worth further investigation and, if the
use of music therapy is supported by future trials, we need to find
out which forms have greatest effect,” says lead author Anna Maratos,
an Arts Therapist who works in the Central and Northwest London
Foundation NHS Trust, London, UK.

“The current studies indicate that music therapy may be able to
improve mood and has low drop-out rates,” says Maratos.

“It is important to note that at the moment there are only a small
number of relatively low quality studies in this area, and we will
only be able to be confident about the effectiveness of music therapy
once some high quality trials have been conducted,” says Maratos.

Source: Wiley-Blackwell
http://www.physorg.com/news120295204.html