Music and Mindfulness for Anxiety

Overseen By Teresa Lesiuk, PhD

Age: 18+

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: University of Miami

Disqualifiers: Low anxiety, Experienced meditators

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Approved in 1 Jurisdiction This treatment is already approved in other countries

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

Duration: 2 weeks

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial explores how music and mindfulness meditation can reduce anxiety in undergraduate music students. The goal is to determine if combining music with mindfulness improves anxiety and body awareness (understanding internal bodily sensations). Participants should be music students who experience high anxiety and have little meditation experience. As an unphased trial, this study offers a unique opportunity for students to explore innovative techniques for reducing anxiety.

Do I need to stop taking my current medications for the trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications.

What prior data suggests that music in combination with mindfulness is safe for anxiety treatment?

Research shows that combining music with mindfulness is generally safe for most people. Studies have found that listening to music while practicing mindfulness can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. This combination affects the brain and heart, potentially relieving stress.

Another study discovered that both music and mindfulness lower anxiety and tiredness more effectively than usual care. Specifically, meditation and music reduced stress even in challenging situations, such as during medical procedures.

Overall, this approach is well-tolerated, with no major safety concerns reported in these studies. This suggests that using music and mindfulness for anxiety is safe for most people. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about using music in combination with mindfulness for treating anxiety because it offers a non-invasive and holistic approach. Unlike typical anxiety treatments that may rely on medication like SSRIs or therapy alone, this method leverages the calming effects of music alongside mindfulness practices to potentially provide quicker and more accessible relief. This dual approach aims to enhance mental well-being by reducing anxiety symptoms without the side effects associated with pharmaceuticals, making it an appealing option for individuals seeking alternative therapies.

What evidence suggests that music in combination with mindfulness might be an effective treatment for anxiety?

Research has shown that combining music with mindfulness exercises can help reduce anxiety. One study found that listening to music while practicing mindfulness affected brain and heart functions related to anxiety relief. Another review found that music therapy significantly reduced stress. Music, especially classical or personally chosen, lowers stress levels in the body. In this trial, participants will receive music in combination with mindfulness to explore its effectiveness in easing anxiety symptoms. Overall, these findings suggest that using music with mindfulness can be a powerful way to ease anxiety symptoms. ^{3 5 6 7 8}

Who Is on the Research Team?

Teresa Lesiuk, PhD

Principal Investigator

University of Miami

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for undergraduate music students who experience anxiety. The study aims to see if combining music with mindfulness meditation can help them.

Inclusion Criteria

Participants must be novice meditators, having fewer than 10 total meditation experiences

Participants must be proficient English-readers and -speakers and be full-time enrolled students

I am a student.

Exclusion Criteria

Having more than 10 total meditation experiences

I feel my anxiety has been under 7 out of 10 recently.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

1-2 weeks

Treatment

Participants receive music in combination with mindfulness meditation for up to two weeks

2 weeks

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for changes in anxiety and mindful interoception

1 hour post intervention

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• Music in combination with mindfulness

Trial Overview The intervention being tested involves using music along with mindfulness meditation techniques to determine their combined effect on reducing anxiety and improving mindful awareness of bodily sensations in the participants.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: Music in combination with mindfulness group Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants in this group will receive music in combination with mindfulness group for up to two weeks.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

University of Miami

Lead Sponsor

Trials

976

Recruited

423,000+

Published Research Related to This Trial

Excess noise in hospitals negatively impacts health, contributing to increased heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety, and pain, highlighting the need for effective noise management.

The proposal for a 'Department of Sound' aims to reduce hospital noise and implement music therapy, which has been shown to alleviate stress and anxiety for patients and staff alike.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Reducing noise pollution in the hospital setting by establishing a department of sound: a survey of recent research on the effects of noise and music in health care. Cabrera, IN., Lee, MH.[2005]

Music therapy serves as a complementary treatment for critically ill patients in intensive care, enhancing the effects of conventional medical treatments.

The intervention has both physiological and psychological benefits, suggesting it can improve overall patient well-being during critical illness.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Music therapy in ICU. Coughlan, A.[2015]

Music therapy is an effective complementary treatment for cancer patients, helping to improve mood, reduce stress, pain, and anxiety, and enhance relaxation during their treatment process.

Integrating music therapy into supportive cancer care can significantly promote overall wellness and improve both physical and emotional well-being, contributing to a better quality of life for patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Music therapy in supportive cancer care. Stanczyk, MM.[2022]

There is a significant lack of quantitative research on the effects of music therapy for individuals with mental illnesses, despite its potential to treat various clinical populations.

This study analyzes high-quality research methods from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to propose improved methodologies for future music therapy research, aiming to strengthen the evidence base and enhance treatment for mental health patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Quantitative comparison of cognitive behavioral therapy and music therapy research: a methodological best-practices analysis to guide future investigation for adult psychiatric patients. Silverman, MJ.[2019]

In a pilot study involving 36 children aged 8-12 with anxiety disorders, Multimodal Music Therapy (MMT) showed a significantly higher remission rate (67%) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) (33%), indicating its potential effectiveness.

The benefits of MMT not only appeared immediately after treatment but also persisted for four months, suggesting lasting effects, although both MMT and TAU showed similar improvements in other outcome measures.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A randomized controlled trial of multimodal music therapy for children with anxiety disorders. Goldbeck, L., Ellerkamp, T.[2019]

A secondary analysis of a mindfulness-music therapy intervention involving 31 young adults with cancer showed that factors like higher baseline physical functioning, anxiety, fatigue, and female sex were linked to greater improvements in anxiety levels after the therapy sessions.

The study suggests that the delivery format of the intervention (in-person vs. virtual) also influenced anxiety reduction, indicating that tailoring future mindfulness-music therapy interventions could enhance their effectiveness for young cancer patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Exploring Influencing Factors of Anxiety Improvement Following Mindfulness-Based Music Therapy in Young Adults with Cancer. Knoerl, R., Mazzola, E., Woods, H., et al.[2023]

A 10-day online mindfulness-based stress reduction program combined with music therapy significantly reduced stress and depression levels in 120 cancer patients compared to a control group.

Participants in the intervention group also reported improved psychological well-being, indicating that this combined approach can be an effective psychological intervention for cancer patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on Stress, Depression, and Psychological Well-being in Patients With Cancer: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial. Yildirim, D., Çiriş Yildiz, C., Ozdemir, FA., et al.[2023]

Music therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for various conditions, including chronic pain, migraines in children, and chronic tinnitus, supported by moderate to large effect sizes in multiple meta-analyses.

The growing body of evidence suggests that music therapy should be considered as a viable intervention in clinical settings, with future research needed to compare its effectiveness against standard treatments.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Outcome research in music therapy: a step on the long road to an evidence-based treatment. Nickel, AK., Hillecke, T., Argstatter, H., et al.[2011]

Music therapy significantly reduced anxiety levels in hospitalized patients with thought disorders, as shown by a decrease in visual analog scale (VAS) scores from 3.1 to 0.897 after the intervention (p = 0.008).

This intervention is a low-risk alternative to traditional treatments, offering positive outcomes without the side effects associated with medications or other restrictive measures.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Music Therapy as a Nonpharmacological Intervention for Anxiety in Patients with a Thought Disorder. Pavlov, A., Kameg, K., Cline, TW., et al.[2018]

Music Therapy (MT) has shown potential in improving social and emotional well-being, particularly for individuals dealing with social anxiety, a prevalent mental health issue.

Incorporating ethnic music into therapy could enhance the effectiveness of music therapy, highlighting the need for strategies to integrate MT into public health programs to better address social anxiety.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Music Therapy and Public Health: How to Bridge the Use of Ethnic Music for Social Anxiety. Arizona, A., Hanurawan, F., Hidayah, N., et al.[2023]

In a study involving 126 mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units, preferred music playlists were analyzed to understand their impact on managing anxiety through patient-directed music listening interventions.

The findings highlight the importance of music selection in therapeutic interventions, suggesting that involving a board-certified music therapist can enhance the effectiveness of music listening protocols in clinical settings.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Analysis of Preferred Music of Mechanically Ventilated Intensive Care Unit Patients Enrolled in a Randomized Controlled Trial. Heiderscheit, A., Johnson, K., Chlan, LL.[2023]

Music therapy significantly reduces anxiety levels in patients on mechanical ventilation, as evidenced by improvements in both the Brief Anxiety Scale and Visual Analogue Anxiety Scales, with p-values indicating strong statistical significance.

In addition to lowering anxiety, music therapy also positively affected physiological measures, including reduced diastolic pressure, mean arterial pressure, and breathing rate, suggesting it may enhance overall patient comfort and recovery.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[The effectiveness of music therapy in reducing physiological and psychological anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients]. Wu, SJ., Chou, FH.[2009]

Music therapy has shown potential as an alternative treatment for various mental illnesses, including depression, autism, schizophrenia, and dementia, based on a review of neuroscientific and clinical studies.

While music can influence neurobiological processes in the brain, further research is needed to determine its long-term effects and whether it can replace traditional treatments.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mental health implications of music: insight from neuroscientific and clinical studies. Lin, ST., Yang, P., Lai, CY., et al.[2011]

Citations

1. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12179724/

Music therapy for the treatment of anxiety: a systematic review ... These findings support the use of music therapy as an effective intervention for reducing anxiety, with inclusive but promising effects on physiological ...

2. mental.jmir.org mental.jmir.org/2025/1/e69120

Effects of Sound Interventions on the Mental Stress Response ... Results: The findings suggest that music, especially classical and self-selected pieces, effectively reduces physiological stress markers, ...

3. medicine.yale.edu medicine.yale.edu/news-article/yale-study-music-mindfulness-may-treat-symptoms-of-anxiety-and-depression/

Yale Study: Music Mindfulness May Treat Symptoms of ... Listening to music while performing mindfulness exercises targets neural and cardiac mechanisms in the brain that may treat symptoms of anxiety and depression.

4. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949834124000503

Harmonious Healing: Advances in Music Therapy and ... Emerging evidence suggests that music therapy can significantly reduce depressive symptoms, especially in group settings, and enhance the efficacy of ...

5. tandfonline.com tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17437199.2020.1846580

Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and ... Results showed that music therapy showed an overall medium-to-large effect on stress-related outcomes (d = .723, [.51–.94]). Larger effects were found for ...

6. nccih.nih.gov nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety

Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety | NCCIH The results of the study showed that meditation was as effective as prolonged exposure therapy at reducing PTSD symptoms and depression, and it ...

7. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12013341/

Music mindfulness acutely modulates autonomic activity and ... Meditation significantly lowered pain during imaging-guided breast biopsy; meditation and music reduced patient anxiety and fatigue compared to standard care.

8. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825002112

Music therapy and its impact on anxiety and mental well- ... This study provides empirical evidence that VR-enhanced music therapy is a more effective method for reducing anxiety and improving mental health than the ...