Rather than focusing on the stressor itself, music therapy is typically geared towards reducing or eliminating the emotions that arise in response to stress.
[1] Additionally, music therapy programs have been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms in the long term.
[2] In the context of psychology, a coping strategy is any technique or practice designed to reduce or manage the negative effects associated with stress.
Psychologists and medical practitioners have recently focused more time and attention on the concept of music as a coping strategy and the effects of its use on patients.
[9] Once the findings had been gathered, statistical analysis was performed in an effort to discover a correlation between the coping mechanism and its effect on the stress response.
Proponents of these methods claim that if children are prompted with general, unthreatening questions, they are much more comfortable and willing to provide accurate accounts of their levels of stress.
In several studies using non-invasive methods, music has been documented as being effective in reducing the subject's perceived level of stress.
Certain triggers, such as images, sounds, or other significant sensory details associated with the experience can evoke extreme stress responses, panic attacks, or severe anxiety.
PTSD is commonly experienced by veterans of armed conflicts, and can be frequently diagnosed in victims of rape or other violent assaults.
For example, it has been demonstrated that supplying the residents of nursing homes with iPods that feature nostalgic music is a means of reducing the stress of the elderly.
Music's effects on dementia patients have shown to bring them out of their shell, and engage them in singing and being happy, opposed to their usual closed and distant personalities.
[15] However, because several of these studies rely mainly on patient responses, some concerns have been raised as to the strength of the correlation between music and stress reduction.
The results of the study showed that the music video group had better coping skills and better social interactions in comparison, by taking their mind of the pain and stress accompanying treatment, and giving them an outlet to express their feelings.
The music fosters creativity and reduces stress associated with treatments, and takes the children's minds off of their current surroundings.
Just like in the patients themselves, the music therapy has been shown to help them cope with the intense emotions and situations they deal with on a daily basis.
[22] This decrease in tension or feeling of anxiety is more prevalent and noticeable in the attempt to return to homeostasis, and shows far less effectiveness during the actual stressful event.
[23] In addition to the raised respiratory frequency caused by the initial stressor "running" music still had a noticeable physiological effect on the participants.
[1] With the use of the EKG monitor and other empirical methods of study, researchers are able to remove the superficial qualities associated with patient response-based findings and provide a more substantial correlation between the use of music and its effects on the human stress response.
In certain situations, this choice can be one of the few moments where stressed and depressed individuals feel a locus of control over their respective lives.
During therapy the patient lies on his/her back on a mat with speakers within it that send out low frequency sound waves, essentially sitting on a subwoofer.
Several of the empirical studies carried out to demonstrate the correlation between listening to music and the reduction in the human stress response have been criticized for relying too heavily on a small sample size.