Depression is a serious problem, also among young adult students. In order to reduce depressive symptoms and promote well-being, the music therapy program Emotion-regulating Improvisational Music Therapy (EIMT) was developed by Sonja Aalbers. After participating EIMT, young adult students in a University context may experience less depressive symptoms, improvement of their emotion regulation in stressful situations and less negative feelings. This research focuses on understanding the underlying EIMT mechanisms, including changes in brain activity of young adult students after participating EIMT. It is assumed that brain activity of these students changes after participating EIMT.
The main goal of this study is improved understanding of brain activity of young adult students after participating EIMT. This study aims to formulate hypotheses for future large-scale fMRI research on the effectiveness of creative art therapy on emotion regulation. In addition, the study intents to gain insight into the effects of EIMT on depressive symptoms, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, and the experiences with the applied data collection methods and EIMT.
This is investigated by functional MRI (fMRI) scans, which are performed prior to and after completion of EIMT. The EIMT program includes ten weeks, consisting of weekly one-hour individual music therapy sessions. In addition, participants receive quantitative questionnaires and an interview. Five young adult students with at least mild depressive symptoms, aged 16 – 40 years old, studying at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences Heerlen, participate in this study. Based on the collected fMRI data, the most important study parameter is the functional connectivity between brain areas that are known to be part of emotion regulation networks. This study is also part of the creative minds projects.
Research is conducted at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Maastricht University, Open University and Scannexus. Zuyd University contact person is Vera Nyssen.