Music therapy and pregnacy

Pregnancy is a period of "transition" in which the pregnant woman learns and assumes the new role of mother. This experience, despite being the anticipatory stage of becoming a mother and a natural event in life, can be associated with a certain degree of stress. Maternal stress generates, among others, a hormonal alteration, especially an alteration in the regulation of cortisol that can be transmitted to the fetus through the feto-placental circulation. These alterations are even more evident in high-risk pregnant women such as multiple gestations.

In recent years, the accumulation of evidence supports the idea that adverse events or external negative stimuli during pregnancy affect maternal psychological well-being and have the potential to alter physiology with detrimental consequences for fetal development. Music has been applied to reduce stress in surgical settings and palliative care. It has also been applied to improve the well-being of women during the transition to motherhood. Finally, a reduction in the stress of pregnancy, a pivotal life event and the bridge to motherhood, is generally perceived as a positive outcome with the potential for widespread benefit. We have designed an open randomized prospective study to assess the effects of music therapy on stress during pregnancy, in high and low risk patients.