Music therapy in rehabilitation: a narrative review (2004-2014)

During this decade, there has been an increased on research about music therapy interventions as a therapeutic tool. Narrative reviews that have been published till nowadays show the implications and effectiveness of interventions based on music therapy as a rehabilitative intervention strategy. However, due to their narrowness they lack of a general perspective of the construct. Moreover, these reviews do not include in their criteria the search term “music therapy”, thereby excluding studies that support the effectiveness of music therapy in rehabilitation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to solve this issue including and reviewing findings of published research that have been excluded from previous reviews over the last ten years. There were two research questions: For which disorders is music therapy more effective? What are the benefits of music therapy in rehabilitation? In order to answer these questions, we conducted a literature review in academic databases, such as Academic Search Complete, Medline, and Science Direct, including the search term "music therapy". Furthermore, papers fulfilling inclusion criteria, such as empirical studies, written in English, which used music as therapeutic stimulation were reviewed. We found twenty-four studies in which we analyzed the participants (experimental vs. control), the results, and limitations. We conclude, cautiously, that music therapy may help in the rehabilitation of cognitive, motor, and sensory functions of brain damage, the rehabilitation of schizophrenia and primary depression; and amelioration of neurodegenerative disorders, autism spectrum disorders, substance abuse and other pathologies. We recommend overcoming the methodological limitations of these studies and the suitability of cross-cultural studies