Music Therapy

Professional organisations in Britain

The British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) traces the British profession to the Society for Music Therapy and Remedial Music, founded in 1958 by Juliette Alvin and colleagues, which became the British Society for Music Therapy. The Association of Professional Music Therapists was established in 1976. BAMT states that it replaced both bodies in April 2011.

The same page says that a long negotiation over state registration was finalised in 1999, and that practising music therapists are legally required to register with what it calls the Health Professions Council. The regulator is now named the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). This is an organisation's own account of one country.

Application in autism since the 1950s

A 2022 Cochrane review states that music therapy has been applied in autism since the early 1950s, and that its availability to autistic people varies across countries and settings. The review also notes that the work requires specialised academic and clinical training. These statements come from the introduction to a review of trials, not from a historical study.

What the sources reviewed do not cover

The sources reviewed for this draft do not document earlier traditions of music in healing, the development of music therapy outside Britain, or the schools of practice that shaped it. No source reviewed supports a claim of continuity between those older uses of music and the modern profession, so none is made here. A dated scholarly history is still needed before this section is complete.

Professional definitions

BAMT describes music therapy as an established psychological clinical intervention delivered by HCPC registered music therapists to people whose lives have been affected by injury, illness or disability. The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) describes the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualised goals within a therapeutic relationship, by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy programme. The phrase evidence-based is the association's own description.

The World Federation of Music Therapy published a revised definition on 20 July 2026, announced at its 18th World Congress in Bologna. It describes a professional discipline using music-based experiences such as listening, singing, playing instruments or improvisation, delivered by trained professionals within a therapeutic relationship. The definition is very recent, and national definitions differ.

A protected title in the United Kingdom

The HCPC defines an arts therapist as a psychological therapist with arts-based experience and training in psychological interventions, using drama, music or art as the primary mode of communication. Music therapist is one of four protected titles in this group, alongside art psychotherapist, art therapist and dramatherapist. The regulator states that an individual must be registered with the HCPC to use a protected title.

Music therapy and other musical uses

Each definition above places music inside a therapeutic relationship with a trained professional, which separates music therapy from listening to music for relaxation or wellbeing without a therapist. None of the sources reviewed assesses everyday listening, community music or similar wellbeing uses, so findings in this article should not be applied to them. Neither the AMTA page nor the sources reviewed here establish how the title is protected in the United States.

Live musical interaction

BAMT describes the therapeutic relationship, developed through live musical interaction and play between therapist and client, as central to the practice. It says the music is often improvised and that a wide range of styles and instruments can be used, including the voice. The World Federation of Music Therapy lists listening, singing, playing instruments and improvisation, and names clinical, educational, cultural and virtual settings and work with individuals, groups and communities.

Format and length in research and guidance

Formats vary. The autism review included individual and group work lasting from three days to eight months. The schizophrenia review included programmes from seven to 240 sessions. NICE guidance on psychosis describes arts therapies as combining psychotherapeutic techniques with creative expression that is often unstructured and led by the service user, usually in groups unless acceptability, access or engagement indicate otherwise.

Training and professional standards

The HCPC standards of proficiency for arts therapists include practising within one's scope, recognising the limits of practice and when to refer, and safeguarding. The standards for music therapists include understanding improvisation as an interactive and relational process, making culturally informed use of a broad range of styles, and applying a high degree of musicianship. These standards describe expected competence, not evidence of outcomes.

Groups described by a professional body

BAMT describes music therapy as used from helping newborn babies bond with their parents to palliative care at the end of life, and names autistic children, people with acquired brain injury, older adults with dementia and people with learning disabilities. It also states that musical participation does not depend solely on the ability to speak. These are a professional body's descriptions of use, not findings from trials.

Conditions that have been studied

Cochrane reviews have examined music therapy for depression, autism, schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders, and substance use disorders, mostly as an addition to usual or standard care. Their findings are set out in the next section and apply only to the populations, comparisons and outcomes reviewed. The sources reviewed do not document why people seek music therapy in everyday life, so this section records professional descriptions and studied conditions only.

Depression

A 2017 Cochrane review included nine studies (421 participants) comparing music therapy plus treatment as usual with treatment as usual alone. In the short term it found moderate-quality evidence of large effects on clinician-rated depressive symptoms (standardised mean difference -0.98, 95% confidence interval -1.69 to -0.27) and patient-reported symptoms (-0.85, -1.37 to -0.34). The effect on quality of life was not clear, and effects against psychological therapies were uncertain (low to very low quality). Longer-term effects were not assessed, and the authors called for larger trials in children and adolescents. This reading is at abstract level.

Autism

A 2022 Cochrane review included 26 studies (1,165 participants), mostly children aged two to twelve. Measured immediately after the intervention, it found moderate-certainty evidence of a greater chance of global improvement (risk ratio 1.22, 1.06 to 1.40), a slight gain in quality of life and a large reduction in total autism symptom severity (-0.83, -1.41 to -0.24). It found no clear difference for social interaction, non-verbal communication or verbal communication, with low or very low certainty. The authors draw no direct conclusions for people above young adulthood and call for longer follow-up.

Psychosis and substance use

A 2017 Cochrane review of 18 studies (1,215 participants) in schizophrenia and similar disorders found low-quality evidence of better global state and fewer negative symptoms with music therapy added to standard care, but no effect on general functioning. The authors describe inconsistent effects that depended on the number of sessions. NICE guidance (CG178) suggests considering arts therapies for adults with psychosis or schizophrenia, particularly for negative symptoms; it names arts therapies generally, not music therapy separately.

A 2022 Cochrane review of 21 trials (1,984 people) with substance use disorders found moderate-certainty evidence of reduced craving (-0.66, -1.23 to -0.10) and greater motivation for treatment when music therapy was added to standard care. It found no clear effect on depression, and no clear benefit over another active intervention for craving. The authors note that most studies came from one researcher in one detoxification unit, which limits transferability. These reviews were read at abstract level.

Adverse-event reporting

Harms are poorly documented. The depression review reports no difference in adverse events between music therapy plus usual care and usual care alone, but found no eligible evidence on adverse events for other comparisons. In the autism review only two studies examined adverse events: one of 36 participants reported none, and the other (290 participants) found no clear difference from standard care. The schizophrenia and substance use reviews found no data on adverse effects. Absence of reporting is not evidence that none occur.

The sources reviewed do not describe common effects, such as emotional responses during sessions, or give incidence data for serious harms. No dedicated source on harms in music therapy was found, so this article makes no claim about their frequency.

Suitability and consent

Findings apply to the ages, conditions and settings studied, and the autism review's authors say its findings cannot be extended directly beyond young adulthood. HCPC standards expect registered music therapists to recognise the limits of their practice, refer on when needed and safeguard service users. As general editorial guidance, a person can ask what a session involves and may pause or stop at any time.

Regulation and care boundaries

In the United Kingdom, music therapist is a protected title requiring HCPC registration, and NICE expects arts therapies for psychosis to be provided by a registered arts therapist. Regulation elsewhere was not verified, including in Ireland and in individual United States states. In the trials reviewed, music therapy was mostly added to usual or standard care. It should not delay or replace necessary medical or mental health assessment and care. Thoughts of self-harm or severe distress call for urgent professional help.