# Music therapy in health care practice: promise, pitfalls, and policy implications

## TL;DR

Music therapy is a promising, person-centered intervention with growing evidence in various health conditions, but its integration into mainstream healthcare faces challenges like policy and resource barriers.

## Contribution

This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of music therapy's clinical applications, challenges, and policy implications for broader healthcare integration.

## Key findings

- Music therapy shows strong evidence in dementia care and emerging effectiveness in conditions like Parkinson’s and depression.
- Implementation barriers include methodological inconsistencies, workforce shortages, and limited reimbursement.
- Ethical and policy considerations are critical for integrating music therapy into standard clinical practice.

## Abstract

Music therapy has gained recognition as a safe, effective, and person-centered intervention that bridges neuroscience, medicine, and humanities. This review synthesizes current evidence on its clinical applications, mechanisms of action, ethical complexities, and policy implications. While the strongest evidence lies in dementia care, expanding research demonstrates its effectiveness in managing a wide range of conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, stroke, acquired and traumatic brain injury (ABI/TBI), schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, depression, insomnia, and in palliative care. Despite its therapeutic potential, implementation is frequently hindered by methodological heterogeneity, workforce shortages, limited reimbursement, resource disparities, lack of streamlined referral mechanisms, and inadequate recognition as a standard clinical practice. In addition, ethical challenges, such as informed consent, patient autonomy, and cultural sensitivity, remain central to guiding both research and clinical practices. Integrating music therapy into mainstream health policy and practice requires standardized reporting frameworks, multidisciplinary collaboration, equitable access policies, and rigorous, long-term studies assessing the cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and patient-centered outcomes. This review concludes with actionable policy recommendations that are imperative to implementing music-based interventions for person-centered, holistic care and ensuring the sustainability of health care systems in the face of aging populations and rising prevalence of chronic illnesses.