Music therapy program funded by NEA is being studied for veterans’ chronic pain

A music therapist with the Henry Jackson Foundation said Creative Forces, a program funded through the National Endowment for the Arts, places creative arts therapists in VA and military medical centers and supports research into arts-based treatments for veterans.

"Creative Forces is a program funded through the NEA and places creative arts therapists in military and VA healthcare institutions," the music therapist said, describing work at the Roudebush VA in Indiana.

The presenters outlined SCIMITAR, which a professor of medicine at Indiana University described as "a fully powered clinical trial looking at symptoms such as pain severity, pain interference, psychological symptoms, depression, anxiety, stress, PTSD, and we're also looking at quality of life." Researchers said the study uses a stepped-care music intervention: step one is a lower-intensity music-listening intervention and step two involves music imagery tailored to veterans' needs.

A core investigator at the VA Center for Health Information and Communication, who also identifies as a music therapist, framed the trial within a bio-psychosocial model and pointed to physiological pathways: "music can interact with things like cortisol level or the release of certain endorphins," the investigator said, noting prior studies that link music to measurable biological effects.

A veteran who participated in the program described how chronic pain and PTSD affected daily life and how music therapy became an accessible tool. "I have chronic pain, I have effects from Agent Orange," the veteran said. "I was lying to everybody. If I'm being absolutely honest, I lied about it. I told my doctors I was fine." The veteran said a therapist's suggestion to try music led to playlist work and, in some cases, reported relief.

Therapists said they work with participants to build playlists that match tempo and tone to mood and to use music imagery for emotional regulation or self-care. Examples cited included Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, John Coltrane and Stevie Wonder; one veteran said the approach "blew my mind." The team also emphasized the trial's economic analysis: investigators will examine cost-effectiveness so that, if results support benefit, the interventions could be scaled within healthcare systems.

Researchers and therapists urged that research and dissemination are critical to increasing access to creative arts therapies for veterans. They described a multi-step research process from conceptualization to data analysis and said early findings suggest benefit, but they did not claim definitive results pending full analysis.

The presenters said they will collect and analyze trial data and disseminate findings to inform clinical care and potential implementation across VA and military health settings.