comparing the effectiveness of music therapy and alphatheta neuro-feedback training on anxiety and depression among patients with chronic irritable bowel syndrome

Background: non-pharmaceutical interventions are a promising area of research in psychiatry. traditional treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (ibs) lacked notable efficacy. the aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of music therapy (mt) and alphatheta neurofeedback training (nft) on anxiety and depression symptoms among patients with ibs.methods: patients with ibs, based on rome iii criteria, and high level of anxiety or depression symptoms were randomly assigned into three groups: (a) music, (b) alphatheta training, and (c) control. in intervention groups, participants received ten 30minute sessions of either music or alphatheta nft. the hospital anxiety and depression scale (hads) was administered for all patients before and after the training period. thirtythree patients completed the study. data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ancova) to compare changes in hads scores among the three study groups.results: there was a significant main effect of hads scores (f1,18 = 17.79, p < 0.001) in the responses of mt group. significant decreases were observed in hads scores from preintervention to postintervention tests in mt group comparing to control group. the mt accounted for 49 percent of variance in hads scores. there was also a significant main effect of hads scores (f1,20 = 17.79, p < 0.010) in the responses of nft group. hads scores from preintervention to postintervention tests in alphatheta nft group comparing to control group showed significant decreases, too. in addition, mt and alphatheta nft did not show any significant difference in somatic symptoms scores between pretest and posttest among patients with ibs.conclusion: this study showed that mt and alphatheta nft significantly alleviated anxiety and depression level among patients with ibs.