Receptive Music Therapy for the Treatment of Depression

November 17, 2008 updated by: Heidelberg University

"Rezeptive Musiktherapie Bei Depression - Eine Randomisierte, Placebokontrollierte Studie" / Receptive Music Therapy in Depression: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in the population. According to data from a Zurich longitudinal study, the lifetime incidence rate for severe depressive symptoms is 95%. Not all persons with depressive symptoms, however, need psychotherapeutic, psychiatric or pharmaceutical treatment. Many people specifically or unspecifically use music to influence their mood and clinical evidence demonstrates that active involvement in music supports an individual's treatment success during psychiatric therapy. The gray area of depressive symptoms that do not require medical treatment, but which contribute to a considerable disturbance of an individual's quality of life and ability to work, is the focus of the proposed study.

The study investigates whether listening to specific music programs arranged to influence depressive symptoms for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evenings can result in improvement of an individual's symptoms, as compared to listening to no prescribed music or no music treatment at all. Of specific interest is the use of music in the evening, which may contribute to the achievement of restive sleep.

The study's objective is to determine if the utilization of two specific music therapies to treat depressive symptoms, compared to a waiting list control intervention and an intervention listening to Mozart over a 5 week period, leads to an improvement of the depressive pathology among patients with moderate depressive disorders or patients with dysthymia. The study is designed as a simple blinded placebo-controlled study.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Participants of this study will be recruited through radio and television programs on the topic of depressive symptomatology. The investigators assume that those who are undergoing a cycle of change between a stronger depressive mood and brightened spirits will be more likely to volunteer for study participation than those who are experiencing a period of stronger depressive mood. Consequently, we anticipate an improvement in depressive mood over the study period, even without therapy, for all participants as compared to study entry. To account for this effect, two control groups are included in the study design.

Although the anticipated effect size attributable to the specific music is relatively small, depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in the population. Therefore, from a public health perspective, even a small effect on depressive symptomology could make an important contribution to this problem as interventions could be easily designed to be applied in broad circles of the population. Furthermore, the use of specific music may be found to play a role in the future primary prevention of depressive symptoms in the population.

Sample size calculation based on on Cohen's d = 0.45. Total target for recruitment = 200 participants.

Potential participants will be targeted through advertisements on the radio and television. An internet website will be given during the radio or television advertisement. The website will only contain information about the study and an invitation to participate. Potential participants will be asked to apply by e-mail. The first 500 respondents will be sent a questionnaire in written form. Based on the estimated response rate and inclusion criteria, it is anticipated that 300 invitations for diagnostic interviews will be sent out in response to the received, completed questionnaires after the data has been imported and analyzed. From these 300 invitations, it is estimated that 200 individuals will agree to participation and will be further assessed as meeting the inclusion criteria. These 200 participants will be randomized to the intervention groups (n =100) and both control groups (n = 50 each).

Once enrolled in the study, participants will complete an advanced psychometric classification through the use of:

  • BDI Beck Depression Inventory (Version II),
  • HADS-D Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
  • SCL-90-R Symptom-Checklist by L.R. Derogatis
  • STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory
  • STAI-G X1 abd X2 State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
  • TAS-20 Toronto-Alexithymia-Scale
  • PSQI Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
  • ME Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (Horne and Ostberg)
  • Physiological measurements: heart rate variability measurements

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

203

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Vienna, Austria, A - 1140
        • Psychocardiology, 2. Med. Dep., Hanusch-Krankenhaus, Heinrich Collin-Str. 30

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients aged 18 to 70 years with a Goldberg Depression Test Score of 15 to 65

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients, who abuse alcohol
  • Patients, with diseases as a consequence of alcohol abuse
  • Patients under psychiatric treatment because of psychoses
  • Patients with a Goldberg Depression Test Score of < 15 or > 65.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Listening to one of two different specific music programs (Group A), which is composed for the treatment of depressive symptoms. The music is listened to during a period of 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening over 5 - 15 weeks.
Listening to one of two different specific music programs (Group A and B), which is composed for the treatment of depressive symptoms. The music is listened to during a period of 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening over 5 - 15 weeks.
Other Names:
  • Receptive Sound and Music
Experimental: 2
Listening to one of two different specific music programs (Group B), which is composed for the treatment of depressive symptoms. The music is listened to during a period of 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening over 5 - 15 weeks.
Listening to one of two different specific music programs (Group A and B), which is composed for the treatment of depressive symptoms. The music is listened to during a period of 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening over 5 - 15 weeks.
Other Names:
  • Receptive Sound and Music
Sham Comparator: 3
Control I (Group C) : Listening 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening to unspecific music (Mozart) over 5 weeks.
Listening 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening to selection of Mozart compositions over 5 weeks.
Other Names:
  • Mozart
No Intervention: 4
Control II (Group D): Waiting list. - Each 50% of the subjects will be assigned randomly to either Group A (arm 1) and B (arm 2) after 5 weeks of waiting time.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change of a composite measure including the Hamilton Depression Scale (double weighted), the Beck Depression Inventory (single weighted) and the HADS-D-scale (single weighted) between study entry and 5 / 10 and 15-week-follow-up.
Time Frame: 15 weeks
15 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Quality of life (SF 36), Vital Exhaustion Brief Questionnaire, Primary outcome measure at 5 and 10 weeks.
Time Frame: 15 weeks
15 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Vera Brandes, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatunsiversität, Salzburg
  • Study Director: Joachim E Fischer, Prof MD MSc, Mannheim Insitute of Public Health, Mannheim Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 20, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 25, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

March 26, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

November 18, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2008

Last Verified

November 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MIPH-2008-MT-1

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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