The DOI matches its Crossref record; 206 of the 211 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 5 are not checked yet.
Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
Music therapy is increasingly being used as an intervention for stress reduction in both medical and mental healthcare settings. Music therapy is characterized by personally tailored music interventions initiated by a trained and qualified music therapist, which distinguishes music therapy from other music interventions, such as ‘music medicine’, which concerns mainly music listening interventions offered by healthcare professionals. To summarize the growing body of empirical research on music therapy, a multilevel meta-analysis, containing 47 studies, 76 effect sizes and 2.747 participants, was performed to assess the strength of the effects of music therapy on both physiological and psychological stress-related outcomes, and to test potential moderators of the intervention effects. Results showed that music therapy showed an overall medium-to-large effect on stress-related outcomes (d = .723, [.51–.94]). Larger effects were found for clinical controlled trials (CCT) compared to randomized controlled trials (RCT), waiting list controls instead of care as usual (CAU) or other stress-reducing interventions, and for studies conducted in Non-Western countries compared to Western countries. Implications for both music therapy and future research are discussed.
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“CBT-I has demonstrated efficacy in traumaexposed populations, reducing pre-sleep arousal and improving sleep continuity by integrating conventional behavioral sleep strategies with trauma-informed adaptations in multiple RCTs [115,116], especially when combined with trauma-focused interventions, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and eye movement desensitization and repro”
From Pre-Sleep Anxiety: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches in Clinical Practice. (2026) · cites this paper as [115]
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From Therapeutic Factors to Mechanisms of Change in the Creative Arts Therapies: A Scoping Review
de Witte, M., Orkibi, H., Zarate, R., Karkou, V., Sajnani, N., Malhotra, B., Ho, R. T. H., Kaimal, G., Baker, F. A., & Koch, S. C. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678397 · Cited by 366
Effects of music therapy on anxiety: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Lu, G., Jia, R., Liang, D., Yu, J., Wu, Z., & Chen, C. (2021) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114137 · Cited by 125
Agres, K., Schaefer, R., Volk, A., van Hooren, S., Holzapfel, A., Bella, S. D., Müller, M., de Witte, M., Herremans, D., Ramírez, R., et al. (2021) · Music & Science · doi:10.1177/2059204321997709 · Cited by 113
Moysis, L., Iliadis, L. A., Sotiroudis, S. P., Boursianis, A. D., Papadopoulou, M. S., Kokkinidis, K.-I. D., VOLOS, C. K., Sarigiannidis, P. G., Nikolaidis, S., & Goudos, S. K. (2023) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2023.3244620 · Cited by 71
Barnett, K. S., & Vasiu, F. (2024) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1422361 · Cited by 73
Metadata
- Authors
- de Witte, M., Pinho, A. D. S., Stams, G.-J., Moonen, X., Bos, A. E. R., & van Hooren, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (NL)
- The Open University (GB)
- KenVaK, Research Centre for the Arts Therapies
- Venue
- Health Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-11-27
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 134-159
- ISSN
- 1743-7199 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-7202
- OpenAlex
- W3105716709
- Cited by
- 444
- References
- 204
- Citations by year
- 2026: 117 · 2025: 131 · 2024: 81 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 4.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Health Psychology Review (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DSpace (Open University in the Netherlands) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DSpace (Open University in the Netherlands) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (grant number 023.007.068)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Art Therapy and Mental Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- music therapy, stress reduction, physiological stress, psychological stress, intervention moderators, music medicine, music listening intervention, healthcare settings
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Humans, Music, Music Therapy, Stress, Psychological
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