Music Therapy Shown to Ease Cancer Survivors’ Anxiety

Music — as researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York have learned recently — can be instrumental in the emotional well-being of cancer survivors.

The MELODY study found music therapy to be effective at easing the anxiety of cancer survivors, as Memorial Sloan Kettering research music therapist Sean McNally explained in an interview with CURE.

“Despite existing treatments, anxiety remains one of the most common symptoms for cancer survivors,” McNally said. “The gold standard for treating anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy, which may not be effective, accessible or preferable for some cancer survivors. Given that music therapy is increasingly available at cancer centers and has shown promising benefits for mental health, the MELODY study evaluated whether music therapy is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for treating anxiety in cancer survivors.”

Of the 300 patients enrolled in the study, 150 underwent seven weekly, hour-long sessions with a music therapist, while the other 150 patients participated in standard cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

“Both music therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy produced clinically meaningful, long-term reduction in anxiety when these therapies were delivered via telehealth,” said McNally. “Music therapy was as effective as the gold standard of cognitive behavioral therapy for treating anxiety in cancer survivors.”

Among the patients who participated in the study was Cynthia Malaran, an entertainer who works under the moniker DJ CherishTheLuv, who is also a breast cancer survivor.

“I had been going through many, many years of CBT therapy, just regular cognitive behavioral talk therapy to get my mind straight and not overthink,” said Malaran. “But there are only so many things that you can put to words in a 45-minute session that feels like, ‘Oh, my God, I have to get everything out in this moment.’ And there are a lot of feelings that you can't put to words. Those are feelings that, really, in my experience, can only come through music, just through humming, through singing, through listening and moving to someone playing music at you, to creating music, to being brave and exploring music if you don't consider yourself a music person, but you're drawn to it.

“The MELODY study was so incredible, and I feel so honored and amazed that we are where we are now, where it's an official thing, because as part of the study to try to prove that music therapy could be as effective, or maybe even more effective, for some patients than cognitive behavioral therapy. I don't think you have to work in the music field for you to have the benefit of it, because again, there's so much that can be pulled out of you through music and that's just cross-culture, that's across the ages, across all people, I'm certain.”

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.