Certain lyrical content may reinforce unhealthy thoughts or behaviors, especially in vulnerable listeners. Long before modern medicine, cultures around the world recognized music’s healing power. Indigenous groups used drums, chants, and flutes in rituals to restore balance and health. Ancient Greeks believed music could cure illness, prescribing melodies to harmonize body and spirit.
We can all recount an instance where a tune transports us back in time, rekindling recollections and often imbuing them with a range of powerful emotions. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence may create immersive musical therapies, while biofeedback systems could synchronize music with heart rate, brain waves, or emotional state in real time. The frontier of music and health science is just beginning to unfold. To lower the chances of this happening, your music therapist will talk to you about your life experiences.
Can my child benefit from music therapy?
No one suggests that a catchy song can fully eliminate serious pain. But several recent studies, including in the journals Pain and Scientific Reports, have suggested that listening to music can either reduce the perception of pain or enhance a person’s ability to tolerate it. Music can positively influence your emotions wherever you hear it, including in hospitals or schools. This is why some healthcare professionals, like nurses, play music at the bedside to help people who are recovering or in pain. But these experiences aren’t the same as music therapy, in which a music therapist designs a treatment plan for you and guides each session.
Music’s Role in Mental and Psychological Health
Over the past two decades, live performances and recorded music have flowed into hospitals and doctors’ offices as research grows on how songs can help ease pain. Another approach is sound therapy, which uses sound, music, and certain instruments played in a way to influence brainwave frequencies. It may be part of an alternative treatment plan outside a standard medical practice. Incorporating music therapy into treatment for people with pain may allow some patients to decrease their need for opioid and non-opioid pain medications. The overall conclusion from analyzing multiple studies has been that music therapy improves the quality of life. The techniques are incorporated into treatment plans to help people who struggle emotionally as well as physically with a health disorder.
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When I had a miscarriage in 2023, I thought about how I had never heard a song about a miscarriage before, but at least 10 percent of pregnancies end in one. Connect with us to explore how our tailored programs can support your health journey. Researchers know music can draw attention away from pain, lessening the sensation. But studies also suggest that listening to preferred music helps dull pain more than listening to podcasts. Acute pain is felt when pain receptors in a specific part of the body — like a hand touching a hot stove — send signals to the brain, which processes the short-term pain. Chronic pain usually involves long-term structural or other changes to the brain, which heighten overall sensitivity to pain signals.
In both group and one-on-one settings, music therapists shape each treatment plan to fit individual needs, inviting clients to take an active role in their recovery. Using clinical music therapy methods like guided improvisation may boost cognitive skills and offer a nonverbal way to process feelings. Sessions often include singing or drumming circles to lift mood and support emotional well-being. Over time, regular music therapy sessions can ease anxiety and help sustain overall well-being. Music therapy uses music to reach the goals set in each client’s treatment plan. Music therapists partner with clients to identify strengths and areas for growth, using instrument play or writing music to help them express themselves.
Music and Mental Health
Out of necessity, I turned to sound healing instruments as a way of staying connected to music while tending to myself. I began offering soundbaths, which grew quickly, and I noticed how nourishing this way of sharing music was—both for me and for others. Explore accessible resources like apps offering curated playlists for different needs or online platforms featuring diverse genres.
Parallel to this, I had been apprenticing extensively with Indigenous healers, specifically in the Shipibo tradition in Peru, where singing is central to the healing process. This wisdom lineage has been a powerful pillar and point of orientation in my life. Salaysay even sees changes in their vital signs, such as a lower heart rate and blood pressure, and some may request fewer painkillers. Start with creating playlists tailored to specific moods or activities—energetic pop for morning motivation, mellow acoustics for relaxation, or instrumental tracks to aid focus at work. Repeated exposure to negative, violent, or disturbing lyrics can subtly reinforce stress, anger, or negative emotions. When life feels overwhelming, let your playlist become your personal therapist, offering solace, clarity, and moments of pure joy.
Or a music therapist may come to you while you’re in a hospital or school. This production trick isn’t inherently bad—after all, who doesn’t love a good mood-boosting anthem? Overexposure to chaotic, high-energy beats or melancholic lyrics can sometimes leave you feeling drained or overwhelmed.
The sheer pleasure of listening to music, the emotional connection it fosters, and the comfort it provides are qualities that go beyond what can be solely measured by scientific methods. Music deeply influences our basic emotions and experiences, transcending scientific measurement. It speaks to the core of our human experience, offering impacts that cannot easily be defined or documented.
- Spring – particularly the well-recognised, vibrant, emotive and uplifting first movement – had the ability to enhance mental alertness and brain measures of attention and memory.
- This explains why musicians often describe a “flow state” where time disappears and self-consciousness fades, replaced by pure immersion in sound.
- Later he concentrated in psychology and began practicing meditation to cope with stress as a Harvard undergraduate.
- Music has no boundaries – one day it will effortlessly pick me up from the bottom, and the next it can enhance every single moment of the activity I’m engaged in.
Some key benefits of these programs are the chance to connect and socialize with others and enrich a person’s life. If you’re living with symptoms of depression or have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder, music therapy may be just one type of counseling available to you. Many people choose to partake in a music therapy intervention alongside another form of treatment, like talk therapy with a cognitive behavioral therapistto improve their overall life.
By making music an intentional part of your day, you invite a constant source of joy, calm, and energy into your life. The subconscious mind is highly receptive to repetitive messages, and lyrics have a way of embedding themselves deep within. This doesn’t mean avoiding all genres with darker themes—it’s about balance. Remember, what you hear influences how you feel and think, so curate your playlists wisely.
However, if you face barriers to attending in-person therapy sessions, like cost, scheduling, or availability, you Healing through music might try online therapy instead. If you’re looking to get matched and meet with a licensed talk therapist, you might explore BetterHelp as an option. While not a panacea, music listening offers substantial therapeutic effects, potentially leading to increased adoption of music therapy sessions alongside traditional talk therapy. Healthcare providers use music as therapy in many contexts, including at the bedside for people in hospitals. However, music therapy isn’t the same as listening to music to help you relax.
Music Across the Lifespan
Music has no boundaries – one day it will effortlessly pick me up from the bottom, and the next it can enhance every single moment of the activity I’m engaged in. Whenever I’m down or in need of a pick me up, I play Dolce Vita by Ryan Paris. It is like a magic button for generating positive emotions within myself – it always lifts me up in a matter of moments. Music can be complicated to understand from a neuroscience perspective. A piece of music encompasses many domains that are typically studied in isolation – such as auditory function, emotion, language and meaning.
- Throughout history, humans have gathered around music for ritual, celebration, and solidarity.
- On the other hand, slower rhythms, such as soothing ballads, can help you relax, unwind, and even fall asleep more easily.
- It is provided by a credentialed therapist who has also completed an approved music therapy program.
Upbeat tempos, like those in pop hits, can energize and uplift your mood, making them great for workouts or morning pick-me-ups. On the other hand, slower rhythms, such as soothing ballads, can help you relax, unwind, and even fall asleep more easily. “Pain is interpreted and translated by the brain,” which may ratchet the signal up or down, said Dr. Gilbert Chandler, a specialist in chronic spinal pain at the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic.