A randomized crossover study on the physiological arousal reducing effects of music in forensic psychiatry

Abstract

Listening to music can have a calming effect on people, but the natural “consumption” of music is generally not used in a goal-oriented way to reduce physiological arousal (i.e., heart rate and skin conductance) and tension, and to enhance mood. X-System is designed to predict the innate neurophysiological response to pieces of music and influence the arousal levels of users. We hypothesized that listening to a preferred genre of music has beneficial physiological and psychological effects and that X-System had an effect over and above the use of preferred music genres. A small-scale study (N = 38) was conducted in a medium secure forensic psychiatric facility to investigate the effects of passive music therapy on the arousal, tension, and mood of patients and their caregivers. Participants listened to a selection of songs of their preferred music genre for 2 days. On one of the 2 days, the music selection was played in an order established by X-System, with the aim to maximally reduce arousal, whereas on the other day the music selection was played in random order. In both conditions, physiological indices and self-reported tension decreased after listening to the preferred music. The hypothesized accelerated reduction in skin conductance for the X-System playlist was evident on visual inspection of the data, but the trend was non-significant (p =.065). The use of personalized music in forensic psychiatry might be a relatively effective, inexpensive way to benefit patients and staff members, especially patients that are hesitant to engage in the more traditional therapies.