Music Therapy: Can It Really Reduce The Levels of Anxiety Among Patients?

For a lot of people, music therapy is an effective tool to make them feel better. While such claim has long been a mere opinion, a recent study has turned it into a fact that could help not just the emotionally challenged people, but also the ones that have physical illnesses to fight against. In the study, researchers have found that playing music while doing biopsy can reduce levels of anxiety.

According to Economic Times India, it was found that music was specifically helpful to breast cancer patients during biopsy for diagnosis and treatment. 207 women undergoing biopsy were chosen as the subjects of the study. The effect of live and recorded music on their anxiety levels was observed.

The subjects were divided into three groups: the control group, the recorded music group, and the live music group. The recorded music group was asked to listen to a recorded song on an iPod, while the live music group had a music therapist playing a live song at their bedside. The control group refers to the patients who did not listen to music during biopsy.

When compared to the control group, it was noticeable that the recorded music and live music groups experienced a huge reduction of anxiety by 42.5 per cent and 41.2 per cent. Researchers said the presence of a musical therapist can greatly help in the surgical setting, for music therapy may enhance the quality of patient care through collaborating with perioperative nurses.

The study was written in a paper published in the AORN Journal. According to Science Daily, it is a two-year randomized study regarding the effect of music on anxiety. The paper was written by two music therapists and a nurse anesthetist, who conducted the research at the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.

The findings show that implementing music therapy programs has a significant effect on surgical patients. Music can indeed go far when it comes to giving benefits to numerous people.

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