CLINICAL-TRIAL OF A MUSIC GENERATED VIBROTACTILE THERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENT FOR MUSICIANS - MAIN EFFECTS AND OUTCOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THERAPY SUBGROUPS

Music performance anxiety (MPA) has been documented as affecting over 60% of all performing musicians, Clinical studies have shown that cogn itive-behavioral psychotherapeutic interventions are highly effective in reducing such anxiety, However, the proportion of musicians seeking amelioration from MPA that enter therapy is low, and thus in reality, traditional counseling environments have been less than fertile in me diating the high incidence of this problem. This study investigates mu sic-enhanced therapeutic regimes as compared to standard traditional v erbal counseling and psychotherapy in order to evaluate a potentially attractive therapeutic option designed especially with musicians in mi nd. Fifty-four professional symphony orchestra musicians were first ma tched in a stratified fashion and then randomly assigned to one of thr ee treatment interventions: traditional psychotherapeutic counseling, counseling supplemented with music, or counseling supplemented with mu sic plus vibrotactile sensations. Treatment conditions were based on c ognitive-behavioral techniques including relaxation training and image ry. The Somatron(R) Acoustic Massage(TM) power recliner served as the therapeutic environment for all musicians. Results indicated that musi c-enhanced therapies were just as effective as traditional counseling. The study's unique features include a dismantling strategy utilized i n therapy evaluation studies, comparison between active treatments, an d conceptualization of the underlying psychological problems faced by musicians as career-based within an occupationally-related context.