Review: The effectiveness of musical therapy in improving depression and anxiety symptoms among children and adolescents - a systematic review
Abstract
Background: Depression and anxiety disorders are considered to be among the greatest burdens of disease in children and adolescents. Recent literature has reported music therapy to be a safe and potentially effective intervention for the treatment of depression and anxiety. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing the symptom severity of depression and/or anxiety among children and adolescents. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were obtained from a systematic search of nine major English databases from inception to January 2021. Studies were categorized by outcome, music therapy technique and follow‐up period. Results: Seven RCTs ( n = 589) were included. Four RCTs had some concern of bias, while three had high risk of bias. Statistical pooling was not appropriate due to clinical heterogeneity. Four studies ( n = 428) favoured music therapy for improvement of depressive symptoms at short‐ and intermediate‐term follow‐ups compared to control. One study ( n = 106) favoured music therapy for improvement of anxiety symptoms at short‐term follow‐up compared to control. No studies favoured any control over music therapy for symptom improvement of depression and/or anxiety. Conclusion: Limited evidence suggests music therapy is an effective treatment for improving depression and/or anxiety symptom severity in children and adolescents. More high‐quality RCTs are needed to address methodological flaws of current studies.
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Many non-pharmacological techniques for adolescent depression (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation, art or music therapy) require specialized equipment or settings.
“While techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and art or music therapy has shown promise, many require specialized equipment or settings (8–11).”
From Recent developments in bibliotherapy for adolescent depression (2025) · cites this paper as [10]
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Recent developments in bibliotherapy for adolescent depression
Liao, F., Liang, J., Zhang, M., Liang, W., Zhang, C., & Yun, X. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1681462 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Belski, N., Abdul‐Rahman, Z., Youn, E., Balasundaram, V., & Diep, D.
- Affiliations
- Brock University (CA)
- McMaster University (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Belski, Nikita
- Venue
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-12
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 369-377
- ISSN
- 1475-357X (ISSN-L)
- 1475-3588
- OpenAlex
- W3217177720
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 0.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Conservation › Art Therapy and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Education › Music Education and Analysis
- Keywords
- music therapy, depression, anxiety, children, adolescents, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, symptom severity, psychotherapy effectiveness
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Child, Depression, Humans, Music, Music Therapy
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