Music therapy and music medicine
Listening to music, or working with a trained music therapist, reduces anxiety, pain and fatigue during cancer treatment in a Cochrane review of more than 80 trials. The effects are real but modest, and the evidence is of low to moderate certainty because blinding is impossible.
Overview
A 2021 Cochrane review of 81 trials with 5,576 participants found that music interventions (music therapy delivered by a trained therapist, or pre-recorded music medicine) reduced anxiety and pain, improved fatigue and quality of life, and lowered heart rate and blood pressure in people with cancer, with effects on depression less certain; certainty of evidence was low to moderate because participants cannot be blinded and trials were small. The 2023 SIO-ASCO anxiety and depression guideline says music therapy may be offered for anxiety and depressive symptoms during treatment, and the 2022 pain guideline lists music for pain during procedures. Music therapy is widely available in palliative care and paediatric oncology and has no meaningful risks.
How it works
Music engages limbic and reward circuits, lowers sympathetic arousal, redirects attention from pain and, with a therapist, offers a channel for emotional expression.
- Large Cochrane evidence base
- No side effects, low cost
- Recommended as an option in SIO-ASCO 2023
- Cannot be blinded
- Effects modest and short-lived for single sessions
- Trained music therapists are few
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"Music therapy and music medicine" OR ABSTRACT:"Music therapy and music medicine") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Music therapy and music medicine, not a curated reading list.
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