Effects of emotion-based music therapy on emotional awareness and life satisfaction in patients with schizophrenia in remission

Introduction and Objectives: Schizophrenia is a disease that spreads over a long period of time and has serious destructions for the individual.Positive symptoms, manifested by hallucinations, delusions, thought and behavior disorders, are alleviated or relieved with antipsychotic drugs, but the effect of drug therapy on negative symptoms is more limited.Anhedonia, which can be defined as a lack of expression of emotions and a decrease in the ability to experience emotions and positive emotions, plays a critical role in negative symptoms. These symptoms, such as atrophy of emotions, loss of sense of pleasure, not being able to enjoy life, and introversion, which affect the social life of the person, also affect the quality of life of the person.The aim of this study is to examine the effect of a group therapy program using emotion-focused music therapy on emotion awareness and life satisfaction in individuals with schizophrenia who are in remission. Method: The research was carried out in Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty (IU ITF) Department of Mental Health and Diseases. The sample of the research was composed of 16 volunteer participants (8 people in the control group, 8 people in the application group with an unbiased assignment) between the ages of 17-67 who were referred to the Art Psychotherapy and Rehabilitation Program (SPR) of Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Mental Health and Diseases, Social Psychiatry Service. Pre- and post-interviews were made with the experimental and control groups, and the scales were applied in these interviews. Applied pre-test, post-test scales; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Facial Emotion Identification Test (FID), Emotion Expression Scale (EES), Functional Remission of General Schizophrenia Scale (FROGS), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and "Personal Information Form" were used for sociodemographic information. The sessions was performed twice a week for 6 weeks, a total of 12 sessions. Findings: There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of socio-demographic data. When the pre-test and post-test scale scores of the experimental group were compared, there was a statistically significant difference between the total scores of FID and FROGS and an increase was observed in the scores in the post-test compared to the pre-test. When the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group were compared, it was seen that there was a decrease. According to the results of the analysis of the comparison of the pre-test-post-test scale total difference scores in terms of the experimental and control groups, the difference scores of FID, EES, and FROGS showed a statistically significant difference. The difference scores of FID, EES and FROGS in the experimental group were higher than those of the control group. Results: The use of emotion-focused music therapy in patients with schizophrenia increased their level of functionality, improved their ability to express emotions, and provided improvements in the recognition of facial emotions. It is recommended that supportive treatment methods such as music therapy and art therapy should be included in standard health care practices in patients with schizophrenia and that music therapy should be widespread in clinical practices. Keywords; Music Therapy, Schizophrenia, Emotional Awareness, Emotional Expression, Facial Emotions, Life Satisfaction