Music Therapy, Emotions and the Heart: a pilot study

In this pilot study we assessed the relation between changes in cardiac physiological parameters and psychological responses to music therapy . ECG Holter recordings were performed before, during and after a music therapy session in 8 healthy individuals. After the session mean heart rate decreased (p=0.05), high frequency of heart rate variability tended to be higher and QTc variability tended to be lower. During music therapy session “affect attunements” have been found in all subjects but one. A significant emotional activation was associated to a higher dynamicity and variations of sound-music productions. Our results may represent the rational basis for larger studies in different clinical conditions.