A Pilot Study Investigating the Effect of Music-Based Intervention on Depression and Anhedonia

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of a music-based intervention on depression and associated symptoms. Twenty individuals formally diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and in a current Major Depressive Episode (11 females and 8 males; aged between 26 and 65 years) undertook a 5 weeks intervention consisting of music listening combined with rhythmic sensory stimulation. Participants listened to a set of designed instrumental music tracks embedded with low-frequency sounds (30–70 Hz). The stimuli were delivered for 30 min, 5 times per week, using a portable consumer device with built-in stereo speakers and a low-frequency transducer, which allowed the low-frequency sounds embedded in the music to be experienced as a mild vibrotactile sensation around the lower back. Changes from baseline to post-intervention in measures of depression symptoms, sleep quality, quality of life, anhedonia, and music-reward processing were assessed with clinician-based assessments as well as self-reports and a monetary incentive behavioral task. The study results indicated that there were significant changes from baseline in measures of depression and associated symptoms, including sleep quality, quality of life, and anhedonia. However, individual differences in treatment response need to be considered. These findings corroborate previous evidence that music-based intervention, when added to standard care, is a promising adjunctive treatment for Major Depressive Disorder, and open new avenues to investigate the effect of music-based therapy to ameliorate anhedonia-specific dysfunction in major depressive disorder and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

The effects of art therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients: An updated meta‐analysis

“…Our meta‐analysis results were based on large populations; thus, implications for the clinical setting are that symptoms of depression in patients with breast cancer may be alleviated with the use of art therapies. Depressive symptoms include diminished interest, cognitive dysfunction and sleep disorders (Braun Janzen, Al Shirawi, Rotzinger, Kennedy, & Bartel, 2019). A previous meta‐analysis (Boehm et al., 2014) ( covering four studies on anxiety and five on depression) suggested that art therapy has beneficial effects on anxiety but not on depression in patients with breast cancer.…”

Possible Mechanisms for the Effects of Sound Vibration on Human Health

“…Although not a rigorously controlled study and not measuring changes in the vagal tone, the pilot study did find a reduction in depression scores in the treatment group and attributes this to stimulation of the vagus nerve and the central nervous system through the abdomen. A study by Braun Janzen et al [ 89 ] that applied a very similar treatment also found a reduction in depression and anhedonia although it did not premise vagal stimulation.…”

“…Assuming then that vibratory stimulation (RSS) can drive oscillatory coherence and potentially regulate dysrhythmic circuits in the brain, RSS may employ the mechanism of oscillatory coherence and positively affect the health conditions resulting to some extent from these dysrhythmias. The positive response of major depression to RSS may be an indicator of this [ 89 ]. The mechanism of driving oscillatory coherence with RSS broadens the focus from the neuroscience of circuit connections (the connectome) to the framework of dynamic brain rhythms related to neural spiking activity (the dynome) [ 13 ].…”

“…These music studies did not use low frequency sound or vibrotactile stimulation. The only known study that has used vibrotactile gamma stimulation [ 89 ] did show significant reduction in depression severity. More research into the occurrence of frontal oscillatory asymmetry and vibratory stimulation is needed.…”

miRNA and mRNA Profiles in Ventral Tegmental Area From Juvenile Mice With Companion Communication of Improving CUMS-Induced Depression-Like Behaviors

“…Thus, researchers began to consider whether rewards can be used as a positive emotional stimulus to have an effect on depression, many studies have begun to study the effect of reward intervention on depressive symptoms. Music interventions can improve the quality of sleep, quality of life, and lack of pleasure in patients (13)(14)(15). What is more, encouraging patients to participate in reward activities during treatment was found to be effective in reducing MDD symptoms (16), and positive social feedback can change mood levels and reward the value of neutral faces (17).…”