Mechanisms of Music Therapy and Music-Based Interventions

This chapter summarizes the major known mechanisms underlying music therapy and music-based interventions. With perspectives from both clinical and neuroscience arenas, the authors present an overview of the mechanisms in the clinical areas of motor rehabilitation, interpersonal synchrony, pain management, and affect regulation, drawn from neuroimaging, neurophysiological, neuroendocrine, and behavioral studies. Many of those mechanisms are considered to bypass or compensate disturbed neurological processes in a multiplex manner. The authors also discuss implications of available evidence for these mechanisms including future directions for clinical research that will help optimize music-based interventions.