Lead author Anna Maratos, head of arts therapies at the Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust, and colleagues looked for randomized controlled trials that compared music therapy with other, more traditional interventions for depression.

However, researchers found a lack of uniformity in study approaches, study populations or therapeutic techniques. The reviewers found unusually high levels of participation and compliance among patients receiving the music interventions.

The review, published in The Cochrane Library, found that the benefits of music appeared greatest when providers used theory-based therapeutic techniques rather than "winging it."

Therapeutic interventions included listening to music in groups, body movement and painting to music and improvised singing.