Music therapy may improve depression scores, with very low confidence in the evidence
A review of randomized trials favored music therapy for depressive symptoms, while anxiety results remained uncertain.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Pooled trials favored music therapy over controls for depressive symptom scores. Quality of life and sleep scores also favored music therapy, but anxiety did not show a statistically clear improvement. The authors rated the evidence very low, so the apparent benefits need cautious interpretation and confirmation in more reliable studies.
The evidence was rated very low because of bias, substantial differences between studies and imprecision. The abstract does not provide participant counts, treatment schedules or follow-up lengths.
What researchers found
Depressive symptoms: standardized mean difference
Music therapy versus controls; negative values favored music therapy. Assessment timeframe was not reported.
Different therapy formats
The review included randomized trials in people with depression. Results favored music therapy across therapy types, delivery methods and provider backgrounds, but that pattern does not demonstrate that all formats work equally well.
Understanding the score
The average score difference was -0.97 standard deviations for music therapy versus controls. A standard deviation measures how widely scores vary, so this expresses a relative score gap rather than a recovery rate.
The original publication
Music therapy for patients with depression: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Lee YJ, Kim SJ, Yoon J et al.
BJPsych Open · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40922518
- Record checked
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