The purpose of this study was to compare group-based psycho educational music therapy to psycho education in measures of satisfaction with life, knowledge of illness, treatment perceptions, and response frequency and type in psychiatric inpatients during a randomized and controlled clinical trial. Participants (N = 105) took part in a single session controlled by treatment manuals and facilitated by a Board-Certified music therapist. No significant differences were found between groups in measures of participant perceived helpfulness or enjoyment but there was a tendency for the music therapy group to have slightly higher means than the control group. Although not significant, the music therapy group had higher mean satisfaction with life and psycho educational knowledge scores than the control group, indicating music therapy was more effective than psycho education in these measures. There were no significant differences between groups for the number of therapist questions and validations as measured by a trained observer. However, almost 11 more questions and validations were made by the therapist during the music therapy sessions. Although not significant, there were almost 20 more participant verbalization per session during the music therapy conditions. Additionally, many of these verbalization were categorized as self statements and cognitive insights, indicating participants in the music therapy condition were talking more about themselves and their unique situations. Congruent with this finding, during the music therapy condition, the ratios of participant self statements to therapist questions and participant cognitive insights to therapist questions were higher than in the control condition. Although not significant, the music therapy group had slightly higher social functioning means than the psycho educational control group as measured by a rater blind to conditions at one-day follow-up. Significant correlations were found between participants' perceptions of helpfulness, enjoyment, and comfort and the total number of verbalization they made during the session. Analyses by condition revealed no significant correlations between perceptions of helpfulness, enjoyment, or comfort and total verbal participation for the music therapy group. However, these measures were significantly correlated for the control group, indicating for higher perceived levels of helpfulness, enjoyment, and comfort the control condition had to verbally participate. The music therapy group, however, did not have to verbally participate to have high perceptions of these variables. Significant correlations were also found between satisfaction with life and the total number of participant verbalization but not between psycho educational knowledge and total number of verbalization, indicating that although not verbally active within the session, participants still learned the psycho educational material. This was the first randomized and controlled psychiatric music therapy study using treatment manuals to control independent variables that quantitatively measured therapist and patient verbalization and employed follow-up data measured by a rater blind to conditions. From the results of this study, it seems that music therapy can be effectively used in a psycho educational context. Implications for psycho educational music therapy and suggestions for future research are made.
