Music therapy in health care practice: promise, pitfalls, and policy implications

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.