REVIEW article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the impact of music interventions on brain function, behavior, and health: Volume IIView all 3 articles
Music Therapy in Health Care Practice: Promise, Pitfalls, and Policy Implications
Provisionally accepted
- 1Center for Medical Education in English, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
- 2Geriatrics Unit, Department of Palliative Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
- 3Department of Occupational Therapy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
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Music therapy has gained recognition as a safe, effective, and person-centered intervention that bridges neuroscience, medicine, and humanities. This review synthesizes current evidence on its clinical applications, mechanisms of action, ethical complexities, and policy implications. While the strongest evidence lies in dementia care, expanding research demonstrates its effectiveness in managing a wide range of conditions, including Parkinson's disease, stroke, acquired and traumatic brain injury (ABI/TBI), schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, depression, insomnia, and in palliative care. Despite its therapeutic potential, implementation is frequently hindered by methodological heterogeneity, workforce shortages, limited reimbursement, resource disparities, lack of streamlined referral mechanisms, and inadequate recognition as a standard clinical practice. In addition, ethical challenges, such as informed consent, patient autonomy, and cultural sensitivity, remain central to guiding both research and clinical practices. Integrating music therapy into mainstream health policy and practice requires standardized reporting frameworks, multidisciplinary collaboration, equitable access policies, and rigorous, long-term studies assessing the cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and patient-centered outcomes. This review concludes with actionable policy recommendations that are imperative to implementing music-based interventions for person-centered, holistic care and ensuring the sustainability of health care systems in the face of aging populations and rising prevalence of chronic illnesses.
Keywords: Health Policy, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Music Therapy, music-based interventions, Neurorehabilitation, non-pharmacological interventions, Person-centered care
Received: 15 Dec 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Lan, Kovinthapillai, Wieczorowska-Tobis and Tobis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yung-Yi Lan
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