The effectiveness of music therapy on depression and anxiety of patients with multiple sclerosis

The aim of this study was to determine effectiveness of music therapy on anxiety and depression of patients with multiple sclerosis. The research method was quasi-experimental and its design was pretest-posttest with control group. Study population was all of MS patients that had referred to Tehran MS association and 30 of them randomly selected and then, randomly assigned in experimental and control groups (15 people). Depression and anxiety Beck scales were performed for data gathering. For data analysis, Analysis of Variance with repeated measures was performed. The results showed that the mean scores of depression and anxiety of patients with MS in experimental group significantly different from control group in post-test. Namely, the mean scores of anxiety and depression decreased on the effect of music therapy. Music therapy can use as a complementary treatment and less expensive than other treatments in improving symptoms of depression and anxiety of patients with MS.