Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the evidence of music therapy for depression in adolescents in order to answer the following questions: (1) What types of music therapy are being employed to target symptoms of depression in adolescents? (2) What is the effect of music therapy on depressive symptoms of depression in adolescents? Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed in performing this systematic review. Studies published in the last 25 years from January 1996 to December 2020 were identified through the use of the PubMed database, using the keywords: ‘music’ AND ‘depres*’ OR ‘anx*’. Two authors independently conducted a focused analysis and reached a final consensus on 8 studies that met the specific selection criteria and passed the study quality checks. Results: Eight randomized controlled trials were selected in this review including 8 music therapy interventions for depression: musical negative mood induction procedures (NMIP), Health RHYTHMS drumming protocol, group music therapy (GMT), musical improvisation, Chinese 5-element music therapy, percussion exercises, and cognitive behavioral therapy combined with music therapy. Overall, music therapy interventions appear to significantly reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents. Conclusion: The findings of this systematic review indicate that music therapy may be an effective tool for reducing symptoms of depression in adolescents. There is a need for large sample studies examining this area, along with those that address symptoms of anxiety. Future research incorporating music therapy into clinical practice is necessary.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to review literature on music and biomarkers of stress in order to (1) Identify music interventions and (2) Detail the biomarkers of stress associated with music. Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed in performing this systematic review. Studies published from January 1995 to January 2020 that pertain to biomarkers of stress and music were identified through the use of the PubMed database, using the keywords: ‘music’ AND ‘biomarker’ OR ‘marker’ OR ‘hormone’. Two authors independently conducted a focused analysis and reached a final consensus on 16 studies that met the specific selection criteria and passed the study quality checks. Results: The reviewed studies were all randomized controlled trials. Reviewed music interventions included Music Listening (ML), Meditational Music (MM), ‘Guided Imagery and Music’ (GIM), and Singing. The studies showed that music is associated with a decreasing trend in cortisol, salivary α-amylase, heart rate, and blood pressure, as well as an increasing trend in Immunoglobulin A (IgA), oxytocin, and EEG theta wave, while testosterone was associated with sex-related differences. Conclusion: Music is associated with significant changes in biomarkers of stress, suggesting that it could be utilized for the development of stress reduction tools.

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Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the effectiveness of music therapy for adolescents and young adults with anxiety disorders. Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed in performing this systematic review. Studies published in the last 25 years from September 1997 to September 2022 were identified through the use of the Medline, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases, using the keywords: music* AND anxi*. Two authors independently conducted a focused analysis and reached a final consensus on six studies that met the specific selection criteria and passed the study quality checks. Results: All six studies included showed significant improvement as measured by anxiety symptom severity measures for adolescents and young adults receiving music therapy. Conclusion: While music therapy has shown to be promising as a stand-alone or adjunctive treatment for anxiety disorders in adolescents and young adults, more research is needed to establish music therapy as an effective treatment.