Effect of music therapy derived from the five elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine on post-stroke depression

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of five phase music therapy in patients with depression after ischemic stroke.METHODS: A total of 92 patients with post-stroke depression were randomly divided into the control group(32 cases), treatment group A(30 cases), and treatment group B(30 cases). All groups were given basic therapies for cerebral infarction. In addition,the control group was administerd 50 mg of oral sertraline hydrochloride daily, while treatment groups A and B received needling at Baihui(GV 20)plus acupoint injection at Yanglingquan(GB 34) daily; treatment group B also received music therapy derived from the five phases in Traditional ChineseMedicine theory twice daily. All treatments were administered for 5 d per treatment cycle for three cycles, with a 1 d interval between cycles. In all three groups, Hamilton's depression scale(HAMD-17)score and the activities of daily life(ADL) score were measured before and after treatment, and side effects were assessed with the treatment emergent symptom scale.RESULTS: The HAMD-17 score significantly decreased after treatment in all three groups, and the post-treatment reduction in HAMD-17 score was markedly greater in treatment group B than in treatment group A(P < 0.01). The ADL score significantly increased after treatment in all three groups,and the post-treatment increase in ADL score was significantly greater in treatment group B than in treatment group A(P < 0.01). The treatment emergent symptom scale score was highest in the control group, and lowest in group B, and significantly differed between the three groups(P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: Five phase music therapy plus acupoint needling and acupoint injection can improve the symptoms in patients with post-stroke depression.