Research on the Effectiveness and Efficacy of the Music Therapy Methods in the Treatment of Depression

Abstract

Due to the side effects or unsuitability of traditional therapies for some patient groups, there is a need for a new form of depression treatment. Therefore, society has turned its attention to music therapy, which has been shown to have significant effects in the treatment of mental illness and depression. This paper categorizes music therapy methods into active and passive music therapy methods for separate exploration and comparison. Active music therapy methods are further divided into improvisation, creative (composition), and re-creative. The effectiveness of passive music therapy methods in the treatment of depression mainly lies in improving patients sleep and promoting beneficial emotions. The effectiveness of active music therapy methods mainly includes the relief of physical pain, the increase of positive emotions, the relief of anxiety, and the increase of social interaction ability. The receptive therapy group reaches the peak of treatment effect faster, but the active therapy group has a higher peak effect.