Psychological Treatment of Musical Performance Anxiety: Current Status and Future Directions.
Abstract
A comprehensive review of research evaluating psychological treatments of musical performance anxiety is provided. Studies were evaluated against key methodological criteria for psychotherapy outcome research. Available literature points to the utility of exposure and cognitive therapies, although there is no clear-cut evidence suggesting the superiority of one approach or benefits of combining the two. Past research is characterized by recurring methodological limitations, particularly overreliance on self-report outcome measures. Future investigations should consider screening out individuals who do not evidence marked dysfunction and whose anxiety results from weak technical ability, as well as including treatment manuals, multiple therapists, multichannel outcome measures, and follow-up data. Clinicians working with musicians experiencing performance anxiety may wish to incorporate exposure and cognitive restructuring in treatment.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Alternative therapies for MPA lack strong empirical support and many suffer from methodological limitations that weaken conclusions about their effectiveness.
“While promising, these alternative therapies lack strong empirical support, and many suffer from methodological limitations that weaken conclusions about each treatment's effectiveness, i.e., lack of treatment manuals, lack of objective MPA assessment, lack of a full battery of assessment measures, and few follow-up assessments (McGinnis and Milling, 2005).”
From Acceptance and commitment therapy for the treatment of music performance anxiety: A pilot study with student vocalists (2017) · cites this paper as McGinnis and Milling, 2005
Cites
Wampold, B. E., Mondin, G. W., Moody, M., Stich, F., Benson, K., & Ahn, H.-N. (1997) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.122.3.203 · Cited by 1,091 · see citing works
Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy: A meta-analysis.
Kirsch, I., Montgomery, G., & Sapirstein, G. (1995) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.63.2.214 · Cited by 480 · see citing works
Steptoe, A., & Fidler, H. (1987) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1987.tb02243.x · Cited by 263 · see citing works
The occurence of performance anxiety among musicians
Wesner, R. B., Noyes, R., & Davis, T. L. (1990) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/0165-0327(90)90034-6 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Performance anxiety among professional musicians in symphonic orchestras: a self-report study
van Kemenade, J. F. L. M., van Son, M. J. M., & van Heesch, N. C. A. (1995) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.1995.77.2.555 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Yoga ameliorates performance anxiety and mood disturbance in young professional musicians.
Khalsa, S. B. S., Shorter, S. M., Cope, S., Wyshak, G., & Sklar, E. (2009) · Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback · doi:10.1007/s10484-009-9103-4 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Juncos, D. G., Heinrichs, G. A., Towle, P., Duffy, K., Grand, S. M., Morgan, M. C., Smith, J. D., & Kalkus, E. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00986 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Psychological intervention reduces self-reported performance anxiety in high school music students
Braden, A. M., Osborne, M. S., & Wilson, S. J. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00195 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Thurber, M. R., Bodenhamer-Davis, E., Johnson, M., Chesky, K., & Chandler, C. K. (2010) · Biofeedback · doi:10.5298/1081-5937-38.1.28 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Teaching stage fright?—implications for music educators
Patston, T. (2014) · British Journal of Music Education · doi:10.1017/s0265051713000144 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Interventions for music performance anxiety: Results from a systematic literature review.
Burin, A. B., & Osório, F. D. L. (2016) · Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo) · doi:10.1590/0101-60830000000097 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
A yoga intervention for music performance anxiety in conservatory students.
Stern, J. R., Khalsa, S. B. S., & Hofmann, S. G. (2012) · Medical Problems of Performing Artists · doi:10.21091/mppa.2012.3023 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Kinney, C., Saville, P., Heiderscheit, A., & Himmerich, H. (2025) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs15020138 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“Consistent use of follow-ups remains essential to build a clinically sound evidence base, as maintenance and relapse rates are among the fundamental determinants for the effectiveness of anxiety-related interventions (McGinnis & Milling, 2005).”
Juncos, D. G., & de Paiva e Pona, E. (2018) · Music & Science · doi:10.1177/2059204317748807 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Examples of these include a lack of studies with well-controlled designs, lack of treatment manuals, lack of objective MPA assessment, lack of a full battery of assessments, and few follow-up assessments (McGinnis & Milling, 2005).”
Background
- Authors
- McGinnis, A. M., & Milling, L. S.
- ORCID
- Milling, Leonard S.
- Venue
- Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 357-373
- ISSN
- 0033-3204 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1536
- OpenAlex
- W2085049290
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychotherapy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Musicians’ Health and Performance
- Keywords
- music performance anxiety, psychological intervention, exposure therapy, cognitive restructuring, cognitive therapy, psychotherapy outcome research, methodological limitations, self-reported outcome measures, treatment manual, follow-up data
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
