College students are often prone to Depression because of the stress levels associated with social and parental pressures and expectations during the college years. But new research has found that group Music Therapy may help elevate their moods and help them to cope.

Previous research had identified Depression as one of the mental health risks for college students, along with anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity.

College students have various factors that may contribute to their predisposition for Depression. They may be away from home for the first time, and they might be involved in demanding academic programs that make them feel pressured to succeed. Add to that factors like problems with their families, arguments with friends, breakups with boyfriends/girlfriends—and you get an idea of the stresses of the college years. And these stresses may hit young people before they have gained the maturity to have effective coping skills.

Finding Participants

Chinese college students were given two assessments to determine their level of Depression; one test measured mental health and the other measured their level of Depression. Students whose scores determined they were depressed and had poor mental health were asked to participate in the study. Eighty Students participated, of which 40 were in the test group and 40 were in the control group.

Introduction Phase

Students were introduced to the group Music Therapy first. This allowed the students a chance to get a feel for this intervention. Depression can cause people to withdraw from social situations because of feelings of unfamiliarity and inferiority. This introduction phase aimed to break through the initial withdrawal from the activity that would naturally be found in students with Depression.

Implementation Phase

There are 5 key components to the implementation of Music Therapy for depressed college students. These stages include relaxation, attention, rhythm, music-painting, and adaptive cognition. The relaxation and attention stages aim to help guide the student to hear and interpret the music. Rhythm training helps the student adapt to changes in the music which may help transfer to adapting to new situations in life. Music-painting is meant to help the student visualize the music and his/her own feelings. Lastly, adaptive cognition is intended to help the college student assess situations by using a positive attitude and logical thinking.

Feedback and Review Phase

Students had a chance to discuss what they had learned throughout the implementation phase. They also had the chance to talk about how they would use this knowledge in the future to prevent maladaptive behavior to stress and study.

Results of the Therapy

At the beginning of the study, the two groups were assessed and no significant difference in Depression levels was found between the therapy group and the control group.

But after the group Music Therapy intervention, the test group showed decreased scores on the Depression test, indicating less Depression symptoms; the control group scored relatively the same on their posttest as they did on the pretests, indicating that no significant change had occurred.

The test for mental health had initially been the same for both groups, implying an equal degree of impairment in the members of both groups. After the Music Therapy intervention, the test group showed increased mental health while the control group showed no improvement in mental health scores.

Why Music Therapy for Depression

Researchers believe that the Music Therapy as a group intervention works for a number of reasons. Music is aesthetically pleasing, so most people enjoy the intervention. Also, working in a group encourages communication and cooperation skills that may help future coping mechanisms, such as talking to a friend about what is bothering them.

Finding an appreciation and discussing this appreciation with other students also helps keep the focus on positive outcomes rather than negative situations. Expressing feelings in general is a good therapy practice for people with Depression. With further research, Music Therapy may prove to be an important tool in helping young people survive their college years with courage and optimism.

Source: Jinliang, Wang, Wang Haizhen, and Zhang Dajun. “Impact of Group Music Therapy on The Depression Mood Of College Students.” Health (1949-4998) 3.3 (2011): 151-155. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Dec. 2011 with contributions from AltMeds.com editorial staff.