Efficacy of Western-based and five-element music therapy for treatment of moderate depression: A randomized...

Music therapy has become a notable complementary approach for psychotherapy. Nevertheless, because of the interplay between music and culture, the relative efficacy of five-element music therapy and Western music therapy remains to be determined for Chinese patients with moderate depression.

To assess the relative efficacy of Western music and five-element music in alleviating negative emotions and sleep disorders of Chinese patients who had moderate depression.

Two hundred and one patients with moderate depression were recruited from August 2022 to February 2023 and randomly assigned to three groups: five-element music therapy (n = 67), Western music therapy (n = 67), and treatment as usual (n = 67). The five-element and Western music therapy groups received the assigned intervention measures once a day for two weeks. The primary outcome was the Hamilton Depression Scale score. The secondary outcomes were scores for the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and the Sleep Dysfunction Rating Scale. Data for the three groups of patients were collected on the day before intervention, the seventh day of intervention, and the fourteenth day of intervention.

Of the 201 patients enrolled, 183 completed all treatments and follow-ups. The full analysis set showed that the five-element music and Western music therapies effectively mitigated depression (B=-3.075, 95 % CI: -5.188, -0.961, P = 0.004; B=-1.985, 95 %CI: -3.908, -0.062, P = 0.043) and anxiety (B=-2.433, 95 % CI: -3.992, -0.874, P = 0.002; B=-2.672, 95 % CI: -4.221, -1.122, P = 0.001). But patients in the five-element music therapy group showed greater relief of symptoms of depression and anxiety compared with patients in the Western music therapy group; the difference was statistically significant (mean difference=-1.94±0.766, 95 %CI: -3.77, -0.11, P = 0.034; mean difference=-1.37±0.509; 95 %CI: -2.59, -0.15, P = 0.021). In addition, the five-element music group exhibited significant improvements in sleep (B=-3.119, 95 %CI: -5.016, -1.223, P = 0.001).

Preliminary research results suggest that five-element music may be used as an adjunct therapy with conventional treatment to more effectively alleviate depression and anxiety and improve sleep quality of Chinese patients who have moderate depression.

The trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100050682), and the initial recruitment began in August 2022.