Links to Music Therapy Research
The body of evidence supporting music therapy is strong and growing—particularly in reducing stress, pain, depression, and behavioral symptoms in autism. Still, some areas (like dementia and cognition) require more rigorous trials.
For current and comprehensive sources, review the journals
Journal of Music Therapy and Music and Medicine.
📚Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
“Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta‑analysis” – Includes 47 studies with over 2,700 participants; found a medium-to-large effect (d ≈ 0.72) on both physiological and psychological stress outcomes. sciencedirect.com+15pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+15frontiersin.org+15
“Effectiveness of music therapy: a summary of systematic reviews” – Synthesizes high-quality meta-analyses across clinical areas. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
“The effect of music therapy for patients with chronic pain” (BMC Psychology, May 2025) – Analyzes nine RCTs (n = 787); shows significant reductions in chronic pain and depression. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+5bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com+5jpsmjournal.com+5
“Music therapy for autism spectrum disorders: systematic review and meta‑analysis” (Frontiers in Psychiatry, Feb 2024) – 13 RCTs (n = 1,160) found a moderate effect (SMD ≈ –0.66) on behavioral symptoms, noting the need for more high-quality trials. frontiersin.org
“Systematic review/meta-analysis of music therapy for older adults with depression” (2016) – 19 RCTs indicate a large effect (SMD ≈ 1.02) in reducing depressive symptoms in seniors. bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com+15researchgate.net+15e-century.us+15
🎓 Individual RCTs & Clinical Trials
Day-surgery stress reduction via music therapy (PubMed, 2007) – RCT (n=60) showed patients choosing their own music had lower cortisol and altered immune markers. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Planned RCT on ICU patient well‑being – Meta-analysis protocol (2022) targeting anxiety, depression, and sleep outcomes in ICU settings. journals.lww.com
Clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov:
NCT07024979 – University students, social and mental health outcomes. arxiv.org+3mskcc.org+3frontiersin.org+3clinicaltrials.gov
NCT05949736 – Medical students; clinical symptom improvement. sciencedirect.com+15clinicaltrials.gov+15jpsmjournal.com+15
🧠 Mechanisms & Bibliometric Insights
“Bibliometric analysis of music therapy (2013–2022)” – Highlights research trends: neurological conditions, anxiety, pain; identifies PLOS One and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews as top outlets. frontiersin.org+2frontiersin.org+2frontiersin.org+2
“Music and Medicine” – A peer-reviewed quarterly journal covering music-therapy research at the intersection of medicine and music. en.wikipedia.org
🔍 Recommended Journals
Journal of Music Therapy (Oxford Academic) – Leading source for clinical and theoretical research. academic.oup.com+1musictherapy.org+1
Music and Medicine – Focused on interdisciplinary studies in music therapy.