Effects of Group Drumming Interventions on Anxiety, Depression, Social Resilience and Inflammatory Immune Response

Effects of Group Drumming Interventions on Anxiety, Depression, Social Resilience and Inflammatory Immune Response among Mental Health Service Users

A study by the Royal College of Music in London has found that a 10-week program of group drumming reduces depression by as much as 38% and anxiety by 20%.

Summary:

In conclusion, this study demonstrates that group drumming can reduce depression and anxiety and improve social resilience in mental health service users over a 6- and 10-week spans. Changes in psychological profiles were found in parallel with reductions in inflammatory response and a shift towards an anti-inflammatory immune profile, in keeping with other successful mental health interventions. The study also demonstrated a longitudinal impact of drumming, both opening new avenues for research and highlighting the practicality and potentially cost-effectiveness of community drumming interventions for mental health patients. Overall, this suggests the therapeutic potential of group drumming interventions with implications for other music-based psycho-social interventions to be explored in future research. Further work will be needed to reveal a more complete picture of the viability of group drumming in clinical practice and ascertain more about the underlying mechanisms.

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