Mindful Music Listening as a Potential Treatment for Depression

An Eight-Week Zen Meditation and Music Programme for Mindfulness and Happiness: Qualitative Content Analysis

Mental wellness can be related to healthier living, the learning process and working environments for people in the university community. A wide range of mental wellness programmes have been explored to provide students with pleasant and satisfying experiences. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of integrating Zen meditation and music listening on the mindfulness and happiness levels of university music therapy students. A qualitative methodology was used, and data were collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews. To investigate various aspects of data regarding the role of the meditation and music (MM) programme for mindfulness and happiness, this study used thematic analysis within a qualitative research design. The findings of this study suggest that the 8-week Mindfulness Meditation (MM) programme is a potential approach for enhancing mindfulness, happiness and stress management. These results carry broader implications, particularly in terms of supporting mental health resources in higher education. Furthermore, the study contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding the positive impact of combining meditation and music to promote mental well-being. This integrated approach has the potential to strengthen coping strategies and further promote the integration of music and meditation practices in various contexts, including higher education.

Clinical effectiveness of mindfulness-based music therapy on improving emotional regulation in blind older women: A randomized controlled trial

Background

This study aimed to investigate clinical effectiveness of a structured eight-week mindfulness-based music therapy (MBMT) program on improving mood regulation in older women with blindness. This investigation compared a MBMT group with a mindfulness intervention (MI) group and a control group.

Methods

Ninety-two older females with blindness from a residential setting in Hong Kong were recruited and randomly allocated to a MBMT (n = 31), MI (n = 30), or control (n = 31) group. Psychological measurements regarding mood regulation and general mood states (namely, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [DERS], Geriatric Depression Scale [GDS], and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21), were taken at pretest and posttest. Outcome assessors were blinded to group assignment.

Results

Data was analyzed based on intention-to-treat basis. At posttest, DERS scores in the MBMT group (mean differences and 95% confidence interval: 12.1, 5.5 to 18.8) and the MI group (7.2, 0.5 to 13.8) were lower than that in the control group. GDS scores in the MBMT group (2.9, 1.7 to 4.0) and the MI group (1.7, 0.6 to 2.9) were lower than those in the control group. Compared with the MI group, the MBMT group improved emotional awareness sub-scores in DERS (2.1, 0.2 to 4.1) and appeared to lower depression in GDS scores (1.1, -0.0 to 2.3; p = 0.053).

Conclusion

MBMT seems more beneficial than MI alone for improving emotional regulation in older women with blindness. The combination of mindfulness and music can generate a synergetic effect by enhancing both attention and appraisal components within the emotional-regulation process.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05583695.

Effect of music breathing, a program based on mindful breathing and music listening therapy for promoting sense of coherence in young people: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health have affected people socially, psychologically, and physically. Young people particularly are having to adjust many aspects of their personal lives: including transitions to work, college, and independent living. Personal resources are important in mitigating stress and improve mental well-being during pandemic. Sense of coherence-an orientation to life-could be considered as a personal resource. Currently, a number of interventions have been developed to target the reduction of stress in young people. Little emphasis has been placed on developing sense of coherence to reduce stress and promote mental well-being among young people. Young people consider music as a preferred leisure activity and an important means of stress relief in their daily lives. However, little research concerning music therapy and sense of coherence exists.

METHODS

In the proposed randomized controlled trial, a sample of 290 young people (aged 18-30) will be recruited and allocated randomly into one of two groups: the experimental group and the control group. Participants in the experimental group will participate in a 6-week Music Breathing program that will include music listening and mindful breathing guided by a certified music therapist. Participants in the control group will receive a control condition for 6 weeks Mental Health Education Programme. The primary outcome of the study will be measured using Sense of Coherence Scale. The secondary outcomes will be measured using the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, BBC Subjective Well-being scale, and salivary cortisol levels. Repeated measures analysis will be used to compare the outcomes between the two groups.

DISCUSSION

The results will inform practice in coping with stress through promoting sense of coherence. Individuals will benefit from the long-term effect of this intervention to enhance their sense of coherence to cope with stressful events and promote better mental well-being.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05655234. Registered on December 8, 2022.

Music Listening and Homeostatic Regulation: Surviving and Flourishing in a Sonic World

This paper argues for a biological conception of music listening as an evolutionary achievement that is related to a long history of cognitive and affective-emotional functions, which are grounded in basic homeostatic regulation. Starting from the three levels of description, the acoustic description of sounds, the neurological level of processing, and the psychological correlates of neural stimulation, it conceives of listeners as open systems that are in continuous interaction with the sonic world. By monitoring and altering their current state, they can try to stay within the limits of operating set points in the pursuit of a controlled state of dynamic equilibrium, which is fueled by interoceptive and exteroceptive sources of information. Listening, in this homeostatic view, can be adaptive and goal-directed with the aim of maintaining the internal physiology and directing behavior towards conditions that make it possible to thrive by seeking out stimuli that are valued as beneficial and worthy, or by attempting to avoid those that are annoying and harmful. This calls forth the mechanisms of pleasure and reward, the distinction between pleasure and enjoyment, the twin notions of valence and arousal, the affect-related consequences of music listening, the role of affective regulation and visceral reactions to the sounds, and the distinction between adaptive and maladaptive listening.

Music Stimuli for Mindfulness Practice: A Replication Study

Mindfulness is a natural human capacity to be aware of the present moment, without judgment, rejection, or attachment to it. Cultivating a mindful state has been related to improvements in mood and stress management. Mindfulness practices may be enhanced with music. The purpose of this study was to replicate a previous study regarding the effectiveness, preference, and usefulness of different auditory stimuli for mindfulness practice. Undergraduate nonmusicians (N = 53) listened to 4 different auditory stimuli of increasing complexity, guiding them in a mindfulness experience. Participants rated their mindfulness experience, provided data on their absorption in music, and ranked auditory stimuli according to preference and usefulness for mindfulness practice. A within-subjects design was used to compare the four conditions, counterbalanced, and randomized across participants. Similar to the original study, Friedman analysis of variances (ANOVAs) and post hoc analyses indicated that participants ranked the Melody and Harmony conditions as most preferred and useful. Different from the original results, the repeated-measures ANOVA of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale scores did not reveal significant differences among auditory stimuli for mindfulness experience. These results provide support for the use of music in mindfulness experiences with a mildly complex stimulus (script, beat, harmony, and melody). However, partially replicated results indicate the need to investigate the discrepancy between participants' effectiveness ratings and preference/usefulness rankings.