ABSTRACT

Introduction: People suffering from depression commonly show impaired emotion regulation, accompanied by deficits in the regulation of psychobiological stress systems. Initial studies indicate that music therapy can impact depressive symptoms and psychobiological mechanisms, and may therefore contribute to effective treatment for depression.

We will investigate the effects of music therapy on depressive symptoms. Moreover, we will examine the impact of this therapy on circadian biological rhythms in daily life. In particular, we will monitor the circadian rhythm of vagal tone, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), and of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, indexed by the diurnal cortisol profile, within the framework of ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Method: Seventy-four women aged 18–65 years with a diagnosis of depression or dysthymia will be eligible for participation. Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention group (10 weeks music therapy + treatment as usual, TAU) or the control group (TAU only).

Self-report data will be collected before and after the intervention period, and 10 weeks after the post-assessment. Psychobiological data (48 hours HRV, salivary cortisol from six samples each of two consecutive days) and observer ratings will be gathered before and after the intervention period.

Discussion: The study aims to validate previous findings that music therapy is effective in the treatment of depression. The results will foster the understanding of how music therapy affects HPA axis and autonomic regulation processes. The EMA approach offers the potential to test for covariance between different psychobiological markers in daily life.

抽象的

简介：患有抑郁症的人通常表现出不良的情绪调节能力，并伴随着心理生物学压力系统调节能力的缺陷。初步研究表明，音乐疗法可以影响抑郁症状和心理生物学机制，因此可能有助于有效治疗抑郁症。

我们将研究音乐疗法对抑郁症状的影响。此外，我们将研究这种疗法对日常生活中生物钟节律的影响。特别是，我们将在生态瞬时评估框架内，监测迷走神经张力的昼夜节律，以心率变异性（HRV）为指标，下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴以昼夜皮质醇谱为指标（ EMA）。

方法：七十四名年龄在18-65岁之间，被诊断出患有抑郁症或心律不齐的女性有资格参加。参与者将被随机分为干预组（10周音乐治疗+照常治疗，TAU）或对照组（仅TAU）。

自我报告数据将在干预期之前和之后以及评估后的10周内收集。在干预期之前和之后，将收集心理生物学数据（48小时HRV，连续两天分别来自六个样本的唾液皮质醇）和观察者评分。

讨论：该研究旨在验证以前的发现，即音乐疗法可有效治疗抑郁症。结果将促进人们对音乐疗法如何影响HPA轴和自主调节过程的理解。EMA方法提供了测试日常生活中不同心理生物学指标之间协方差的潜力。