Do psychologists use music therapy?
“Music therapy can reduce stress and promote relaxation. It’s been shown to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety levels before surgery. A study published in 2017 found that a 30-minute music therapy session combined with traditional care after spinal surgery reduced pain.”
I do believe music is one of the things that makes us human. It has the power to channel creativity, trigger emotions, and even provide comfort.
So, using music therapy comes naturally to many psychologists.
On the more academic side, I found three articles that elaborate on the subject.
The paper “Music Therapy: What Psychologists Need to Know” - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353347162_Music_Therapy_What_Psychologists_Need_to_Know explores music therapy in Ireland. It focuses on clinical practice in children and adolescents, mental heath, acquired brain injury (ABI), and dementia.
“Reviewing the Effectiveness of Music Interventions in Treating Depression” - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500733/. The authors present a review of original research trials that use music or music therapy as an intervention to treat depressive symptoms. Their goal is “to differentiate the impact of certain therapeutic uses of music used in the various experiments”.
“The State of Music Therapy Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis” - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697726/full uses “the CiteSpace software to provide global scientific research about music therapy from 2000 to 2019.”
Not only music therapy reduce stress and anxiety but it also helps in the recovery of motor and cognitive functions in patients suffered from stroke. It also increase the process of healing.