Using music therapy alongside standard treatment is effective in helping people with depression.

A team led by Professor Jaakko Erkkila and Professor Christian Gold from the University of Jyvaeskylae in Finland said that providing such therapy helped patients to express themselves emotionally and showed positive results. The research was based on the experiences of 79 people aged between 18 and 50 who had been diagnosed with depression. All were given standard treatment of counselling, psychotherapy sessions and appropriate medication, but 33 were also offered 20 music therapy sessions.

Music therapy has specific qualities that allow people to express themselves and interact in a non-verbal way, even in situations when they cannot find the words to describe their inner experiences

The one-on-one sessions lasted 60 minutes each, with participants improvising music using percussion instruments and drums. The researchers found that, after three months, those who received music therapy showed greater improvement than those receiving standard care.

The music group also had significantly fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression and scored better on general functioning.

Professor Gold said: "Music therapy has specific qualities that allow people to express themselves and interact in a non-verbal way, even in situations when they cannot find the words to describe their inner experiences."

This is a high-quality randomised trial of music therapy specifically for depression and the results suggest that it can improve the mood and general functioning of people with depression

Professor Erkkila added: "We found that people often expressed their inner pressure and feelings by drumming or with tones produced with a mallet instrument. Some people described their playing experience as 'cathartic'."

In an accompanying article in The British Journal of Psychiatry, Dr Mike Crawford, reader in mental health services research at the Centre for Mental Health at Imperial College London, said: "This is a high-quality randomised trial of music therapy specifically for depression and the results suggest that it can improve the mood and general functioning of people with depression.

"Music-making is social, pleasurable and meaningful. It has been argued that music-making engages people in a way that words may simply not be able to do."