{"entity":{"id":"music-therapy-cancer","kind":"technology","name":"Music therapy and music medicine","aka":[],"tldr":"Listening to music, or working with a trained music therapist, reduces anxiety, pain and fatigue during cancer treatment in a Cochrane review of more than 80 trials. The effects are real but modest, and the evidence is of low to moderate certainty because blinding is impossible.","summary":"A 2021 Cochrane review of 81 trials with 5,576 participants found that music interventions (music therapy delivered by a trained therapist, or pre-recorded music medicine) reduced anxiety and pain, improved fatigue and quality of life, and lowered heart rate and blood pressure in people with cancer, with effects on depression less certain; certainty of evidence was low to moderate because participants cannot be blinded and trials were small. The 2023 SIO-ASCO anxiety and depression guideline says music therapy may be offered for anxiety and depressive symptoms during treatment, and the 2022 pain guideline lists music for pain during procedures. Music therapy is widely available in palliative care and paediatric oncology and has no meaningful risks.","status":"established","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_therapy","links":[{"label":"Cochrane: music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer (2021)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006911.pub4"},{"label":"SIO-ASCO guideline: integrative oncology care of anxiety and depression (JCO 2023)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.23.00857"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:moderate"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["supportive-care"],"technologies":["integrative-oncology","psycho-oncology","palliative-care"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["quality-of-life"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-toxicity-qol","b-palliative"],"keyPapers":["paper-carlson-j-clin-oncol","paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev-2021"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Music engages limbic and reward circuits, lowers sympathetic arousal, redirects attention from pain and, with a therapist, offers a channel for emotional expression.","strengths":["Large Cochrane evidence base","No side effects, low cost","Recommended as an option in SIO-ASCO 2023"],"limitations":["Cannot be blinded","Effects modest and short-lived for single sessions","Trained music therapists are few"]},"route":"/technologies/music-therapy-cancer/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"technology":[{"id":"palliative-care","kind":"technology","name":"Early integrated palliative care","route":"/technologies/palliative-care/"},{"id":"integrative-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Evidence-based integrative oncology","route":"/technologies/integrative-oncology/"},{"id":"psycho-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Psycho-oncology and distress screening","route":"/technologies/psycho-oncology/"}],"term":[{"id":"quality-of-life","kind":"term","name":"Quality of life","route":"/terms/quality-of-life/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-palliative","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Pain relief and palliative care are unavailable to most","route":"/bottlenecks/b-palliative/"},{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-carlson-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Integrative Oncology Care of Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Adults With Cancer: Society for Integrative Oncology-ASCO Guideline","route":"/key-papers/paper-carlson-j-clin-oncol/"},{"id":"paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev-2021/"}]}}