ReviewTranslational psychiatry2021
Mental health and music engagement: review, framework, and guidelines for future studies.
Review in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Impact of music-based interventions on subjective well-being: a meta-analysis of listening, training, and therapy in clinical and nonclinical populations.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of music-based interventions on cancer-related pain, fatigue, and distress: an overview of systematic reviews.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Personality Type Shapes Acute Anxiety Response to Music and Medicine Intervention During First Chemotherapy (PEGASUS-2).Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Raga Bhairavi in virtual reality reduces stress-related psychophysiological markers.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Article
- Music therapy for mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Review
- Adolescent music engagement is associated with less alcohol consumption and substance experimentation 5-11 years later: A genetically informative study.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- "It's okay to feel!": How a music-based pedagogical activity fosters medical students' emotional development.Medical education · 2026Article
- Preserving music reward in age-related hearing loss through training and adaptation.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Stability of Music Engagement Across Childhood, Adolescence, and Established Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin and Adoption Study.Developmental science · 2026Article
- GWAS of Active Music Engagement Frequency in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.Research square · 2026Article
- Music reward sensitivity and subjective well-being in college students: the indirect pathways of resilience and perceived social support.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Level of concern: COVID-19 threat and music preferences in college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- A scoping review of music-based digital therapeutics for stress, anxiety, and depression.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- The application of AI-assisted music therapy tools in mental health interventions.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- The Influence of Music on Mental Health Through Neuroplasticity: Mechanisms, Clinical Implications, and Contextual Perspectives.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The Music and Mental Health Project: uniting primary health care globally through music.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- The Nexus between music classes and psychological wellbeing: the moderating role of sustainable education policy and teachers innovative support in the post Covid-19 era.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Music-based emotion regulation: a bibliometric systematic review (2000-2024).Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Is engaging with music good for your mental health? This question has long been the topic of empirical clinical and nonclinical investigations, with studies indicating positive associations between music engagement and quality of life, reduced depression or anxiety symptoms, and less frequent substance use. However, many earlier investigations were limited by small populations and methodological limitations, and it has also been suggested that aspects of music engagement may even be associated with worse mental health outcomes. The purpose of this scoping review is first to summarize the existing state of music engagement and mental health studies, identifying their strengths and weaknesses. We focus on broad domains of mental health diagnoses including internalizing psychopathology (e.g., depression and anxiety symptoms and diagnoses), externalizing psychopathology (e.g., substance use), and thought disorders (e.g., schizophrenia). Second, we propose a theoretical model to inform future work that describes the importance of simultaneously considering music-mental health associations at the levels of (1) correlated genetic and/or environmental influences vs. (bi)directional associations, (2) interactions with genetic risk factors, (3) treatment efficacy, and (4) mediation through brain structure and function. Finally, we describe how recent advances in large-scale data collection, including genetic, neuroimaging, and electronic health record studies, allow for a more rigorous examination of these associations that can also elucidate their neurobiological substrates.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.