title: Significant treatment effect of adjunct music therapy to standard treatment on the positive, negative, and mood symptoms of schizophrenic patients: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Music therapy (MT) has been used as adjunct therapy for schizophrenia for decades. However, its role is still inconclusive. A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that MT for schizophrenic patients only significantly benefits negative symptoms and mood symptoms rather than positive symptoms. In addition, the association between specific characteristics of MT and the treatment effect remains unclear. The aim of this study was to update the published data and to explore the role of music therapy in adjunct treatment in schizophrenia with a thorough meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the treatment effect in schizophrenic patients with standard treatment who did and did not receive adjunct MT through a meta-analysis, and investigated the clinical characteristics of MT through meta-regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main finding was that the treatment effect was significantly better in the patients who received adjunct MT than in those who did not, in negative symptoms, mood symptoms, and also positive symptoms (all p < 0.05). This significance did not change after dividing the patients into subgroups of different total duration of MT, amounts of sessions, or frequency of MT. Besides, the treatment effect on the general symptoms was significantly positively associated with the whole duration of illness, indicating that MT would be beneficial for schizophrenic patients with a chronic course.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our meta-analysis highlights a significantly better treatment effect in schizophrenic patients who received MT than in those who did not, especially in those with a chronic course, regardless of the duration, frequency, or amounts of sessions of MT. These findings provide evidence that clinicians should apply MT for schizophrenic patients to alleviate disease severity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. ducktseng@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ping-Tao
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. kevinachen0527@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yen-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. paoyenlin@gmail.com.|Center for Translational Research in Biomedical Sciences, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. paoyenlin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pao-Yen
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. welsper112@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kun-Yu
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. hywang1975@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hung-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. n043283@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yu-Shian
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. sameric@mail.khja.org.tw.
authors.forename: Yi-Chung
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. d0940102@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chih-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. johnwayroom@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Weilun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan, No.509, Fengping 1st Rd., Daliao Dist, Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan. wckuan@ms28.hinet.net.
authors.forename: Ching-Kuan
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009147:Music Therapy; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
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