Effectiveness of neurofeedback and music therapy on reduction of perceived psychosomatic pain

Abstract

As evidence attests the increasing prevalence of psychosomatic ailments amongst young adult populations, identi- fying more cost-effective and accessible interventions for relieving such clinical conditions seems crucial. Aiming to determine the effectiveness and comparison of music therapy and neurofeedback as two non-invasive thera- peutic approaches, we assessed a number of university students suffering from psychosomatic pains. Based on the psychosomatic complaints scale and the visual scale for pain used as the assessment tools, music was able to lower self-reported scores of pain as a result of reduced levels of tension, while neurofeedback training resulted in considerable relief of pain according to both assessments, and showed higher efficacy particularly in treatment of headache.