The Way Music Affects Mental Health
In case you’re not currently aware, I am a freshman in college who is currently enduring her first finals week, and with the impending doom of final grades, the lack of sleep, and the crushing stress, my mental health is on the teetering edge. Yesterday in the library, as I stuffed my headphones in my ears and shuffled my hard rock playlist, I got to thinking:
What are the ways that music affects our mental health?
Naturally, instead of studying, I opened a new tab in Chrome and did some research. Most of the research I found was based on the impact of music therapy for mental health patients; The National
Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), has an article₁ on their website regarding the impact, and states that, “Music acts as a medium for processing emotions, trauma, and grief—but music can also be utilized as a regulating or calming agent for anxiety or for dysregulation”. Let’s break that down; for mental health patients who have experienced some type of trauma or depression, music can help them deal with these emotions or cope with grief and other feelings in a healthy manner. For mental health patients suffering with a mental illness, such as schizophrenia, music can relax the patient and allow them to embrace a more calming environment.
The article also mentions the four main types of music therapy that is utilized:
Similar to the method of Active Music Listening utilized with mental health patients, we too can use
music to either match/reinforce or alter our mood. I am the first to admit that when I’m sad, I listen to
music traditionally viewed as sad, aka, mellow, soft music with meaningful, emotive lyrics typically
centering around loss and pain. All this ever does is allow me to cry to a soundtrack, which I admit, at
times, can be therapeutic. Playing music to alter our mood, however, is making a conscious effort to
improve our mood by using music, and can even change our perception. Think: playing the most upbeat, joyous soundtrack you can possibly find in an attempt to counteract your foul mood, and in turn, also change your outlook to be more positive and constructive, rather than pessimistic and negative.
An informational book titled Music, Health, and Wellbeing₂ illustrates all of the effects that music has on the brain and the overall health of people. The book states, “Investigating the emotional valence
dimension with music, compared brain responses to joyful instrumental tunes to those evoked by
electronically manipulated … during the presentation in pleasant music, increases in brain activation
were observed in the ventral striatum and the anterior insula”. Let’s break this quotation down; essentially, in scientific terms, the book is stating that the brain has a positive response to what is deemed joyful and pleasant instrumentals and music, which therefore causes the brain to release positive chemicals, such as dopamine, and increases activity in the parts of the brain that interpret interoceptive emotional experience.
Similarly, the same concepts used in music therapy can be used for your average college student in a
more watered down methodology, such as writing song lyrics when you’re trying to cope with a
difficult emotion, or by listening to songs that have a similar message to what you’re currently
experiencing. By doing this, music can drastically decrease the feelings of anxiety and sadness that
often go hand in hand when we are feeling increased levels of stress. There are also physical effects of listening to music we find pleasant, such as decreased muscle tension, increased exercise, and eased or decreased pain levels.₃
So, now we know some of the effects music has on our brain and our mental health, and if you’ll
excuse me, I’m going to go listen to Stevie Wonder, because you just can’t feel any emotion other than joy while listening to Stevie. I suggest you do the same.
₁: NAMI Article
₂: Music, Health, and Wellbeing
₃: 10 Health Benefits of Music
What are the ways that music affects our mental health?
Naturally, instead of studying, I opened a new tab in Chrome and did some research. Most of the research I found was based on the impact of music therapy for mental health patients; The National
Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), has an article₁ on their website regarding the impact, and states that, “Music acts as a medium for processing emotions, trauma, and grief—but music can also be utilized as a regulating or calming agent for anxiety or for dysregulation”. Let’s break that down; for mental health patients who have experienced some type of trauma or depression, music can help them deal with these emotions or cope with grief and other feelings in a healthy manner. For mental health patients suffering with a mental illness, such as schizophrenia, music can relax the patient and allow them to embrace a more calming environment.
The article also mentions the four main types of music therapy that is utilized:
- Lyric Analysis, which is a “non-threatening” way to process emotions via other people’s words.
- Improvisation Music Playing, which can encourage emotional and self-expression, socialization, and exploration of therapeutic themes to release pent-up emotions in creative ways (i.e. using a drum to represent anger).
- Active Music Listening, which uses music to match (depending on whether it is a positive emotion or not), or alter mood.
- Songwriting, which allows patients to express whatever emotion they’re feeling, and to reflect upon thoughts and experiences.
Similar to the method of Active Music Listening utilized with mental health patients, we too can use
music to either match/reinforce or alter our mood. I am the first to admit that when I’m sad, I listen to
music traditionally viewed as sad, aka, mellow, soft music with meaningful, emotive lyrics typically
centering around loss and pain. All this ever does is allow me to cry to a soundtrack, which I admit, at
times, can be therapeutic. Playing music to alter our mood, however, is making a conscious effort to
improve our mood by using music, and can even change our perception. Think: playing the most upbeat, joyous soundtrack you can possibly find in an attempt to counteract your foul mood, and in turn, also change your outlook to be more positive and constructive, rather than pessimistic and negative.
An informational book titled Music, Health, and Wellbeing₂ illustrates all of the effects that music has on the brain and the overall health of people. The book states, “Investigating the emotional valence
dimension with music, compared brain responses to joyful instrumental tunes to those evoked by
electronically manipulated … during the presentation in pleasant music, increases in brain activation
were observed in the ventral striatum and the anterior insula”. Let’s break this quotation down; essentially, in scientific terms, the book is stating that the brain has a positive response to what is deemed joyful and pleasant instrumentals and music, which therefore causes the brain to release positive chemicals, such as dopamine, and increases activity in the parts of the brain that interpret interoceptive emotional experience.
Similarly, the same concepts used in music therapy can be used for your average college student in a
more watered down methodology, such as writing song lyrics when you’re trying to cope with a
difficult emotion, or by listening to songs that have a similar message to what you’re currently
experiencing. By doing this, music can drastically decrease the feelings of anxiety and sadness that
often go hand in hand when we are feeling increased levels of stress. There are also physical effects of listening to music we find pleasant, such as decreased muscle tension, increased exercise, and eased or decreased pain levels.₃
So, now we know some of the effects music has on our brain and our mental health, and if you’ll
excuse me, I’m going to go listen to Stevie Wonder, because you just can’t feel any emotion other than joy while listening to Stevie. I suggest you do the same.
₁: NAMI Article
₂: Music, Health, and Wellbeing
₃: 10 Health Benefits of Music
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