The Application of Music Therapy in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depression, and Anxiety: Effects on Symptom Relief, Social Skill Enhancement, and Emotional Regulation

This paper investigates the effect of music therapy on symptoms, social performance, and emotional regulation in individuals with ASD, depression, and anxiety. Through organised but flexible exercises such as rhythmic breathing, songwriting and chanting, music therapy has become a supplement to conventional treatments that treat the social, emotional and physiological dimensions of these conditions. For people with ASD, music therapy helps them to gain nonverbal communication and social skills. When it comes to depression, music therapy provides a safe space for the expression of emotion and enhances neurochemistry that stabilises mood. For anxiety management, music therapy reduces physiological symptoms and offers ways to cope in the long run. They used a mixed method, combining quantitative (SRS, HDRS, STAI scores) and qualitative feedback to assess the efficacy of the therapy. These outcomes improved dramatically in all groups, especially in the music therapy groups, demonstrating its efficacy as a treatment for mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders. Such results point to the potential for music therapy to increase social interaction, emotional well-being and wellbeing.