Effects of music therapy as an alternative treatment on depression in children and adolescents with ADHD by activating serotonin and improving stress coping ability.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of music therapy as an alternative treatment on depression in children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by activating serotonin (5-HT) and improving stress coping ability. METHODS: This study is designed based on randomization method. A total of 36 subjects participated in the experiment, consisting of an ADHD control group (n = 18) and ADHD music therapy group (n = 18). The ADHD control group received standard care, while the ADHD music therapy group received music therapy and standard care. The ADHD music therapy group received both active music therapy (improvisation) and receptive music therapy (music listening) for 50 minutes, twice a week, for 3 months: a total of 24 times. From a neurophysiological perspective, changes in depression and stress were tracked by measuring 5-HT secretion, cortisol expression, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and CDI and DHQ psychological scales. RESULTS: The ADHD music therapy group's 5-HT secretion increased (p < 0.001), whereas cortisol expression (p < 0.001), BP (p < 0.001) and HR (p < 0.001) decreased. The CDI and DHQ psychological scales also showed positive changes (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). However, the ADHD Con G's (who did not receive music therapy) 5-HT secretion did not increase, whereas cortisol expression, BP, and HR did not decrease. In addition, the CDI and DHQ psychological scales did not display positive changes. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the application of music therapy as an alternative treatment for ADHD children and adolescents showed positive neurophysiological and psychological effects. Therefore, this study would like to propose a new alternative to medicine for preventing and treating depression through various uses of music therapy.

Alteration of functional neuroanatomy of simple object memory in medial temporal lobe epilepsy patients.

Using H2 15O PET, we examined the neuroanatomy associated with a simple form of episodic memory in patients with right or left medial temporal lobe epilepsy and normal healthy controls. When line drawings of common objects were memorized and tested after a 30 min delay, no behavioral difference was found between the patient groups and the controls. However, the patients with epilepsy showed greater cortical activations than the control group on the side ipsilateral to the epileptic focus. rCBF in the anterior thalamic region was enhanced in patients relative to the control group. The results showed that long-term dysfunction of the medial temporal lobe might reinforce alternative memory pathways and recruit a distributed cortical network ipsilateral to their epilepsy focus.