Music Therapy for Mental Health Recovery: Science-Based

Imagine what your daily life would be like without music. Do you often listen to music at night, when you are bored or need background sounds to keep your mind focused? Studies have shown the impact of music on the human brain and how it can help with trauma recovery, emotional regulation, and relaxation. The benefits of how music scientifically helps with mental health and how music therapy can be used effectively will be discussed in this article.

How Music Helps For Mental Health Recovery

Why do you listen to music? Is it to hype everyone up at a party, relate to the lyrics of a breakup song, or feel even more gushed about a person you have been in love with recently? Salimpoor et al. (2011) stated that we "anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music". This study demonstrates that listening to music, especially those that we emotionally connect to, increases dopamine release in our brains, the neurotransmitter that is associated with reward and pleasure; it brings us the pleasurable feeling from being able to connect with the song, which would reinforce our behavior to listen to music more.

Image from Nummenmaa, Research Gate

1) Increases Dopamine Levels

As shown in the diagram above, the mesolimbic pathway plays a crucial role in releasing dopamine by connecting the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Listening to a song that you love activates dopamine to travel from the ventral tegmental area through the mesolimbic pathway to the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens sends signals after receiving dopamine to the prefrontal cortex, which motivates the individual to listen to music again due to the pleasurable feeling.

Dopamine release provides joy and pleasurable feelings, which can elevate mood and depression according to Neurolaunch in 2024.

What songs do you listen to that hype you up or lift your mood? Personally, I love any song on Ariana Grande's Positions album, Sabrina Carpenter, and Arctic Monkeys. Uplifting classical music such as Mozart or jazz can also trigger an increase in dopamine release.

2) Lowers Stress by Lowering Cortisol Levels

Kirk et al. (2021) shared research on how listening to music can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which sends signals to relax the alert signals that the sympathetic nervous system releases during an overwhelming or panicked state.

Photo from Nall, Healthline (2020)

When we are panicking or overly stressed, the sympathetic nervous system, aka the "flight-or-fight" system gets activated and sends alerts, making our heartbeat rise and decreasing our digestion. The sympathetic nervous system activates cortisol, a stress hormone, released through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. By listening to music, we activate our parasympathetic system, aka the "rest-and-digest" system, which reduces the release of cortisol in the HPA and inhibits cortisol production.

Simply stated, listening to music activates the parasympathetic nervous system and reduces cortisol release, which decreases the amount of stress hormones that can slow down our heartbeat and regenerate our digestion.

Back to the Kirk et al. (2021) study, it is concluded that listening to calm music can enhance parasympathetic activity, which can reduce anxiety and stress symptoms.

Therefore, it is recommended to listen to calming music such as Lofi, jazz, piano background music, or slow songs. My favorites are Studio Ghibli's original piano soundtracks and Lofi playlists on YouTube or Spotify.

3) Increases Social Bonding

Have you ever attended a concert, party, or choir where everyone sings together, regardless of how off-tune it sounds? Did you feel present, connected, and ecstatic?

Photo from Onsen

Keeler et al. (2015) noticed that group singing, whether it's a concert, choir, band, or party, can increase oxytocin (shown in the image above) levels, a neuropeptide that increases social bonding and trust.

In summary, engaging in music with a group can enhance trust and social bonds, which increased social bonds can improve overall mental health and well-being.

The next time when you hang out with friends, blast your favorite songs together and dance or/and sing. For example, singing along to Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood with my best friend released my anxious thoughts and helped me stay in the present. Attending a senior or community center to join a choir or concert can produce similar effects.

4) Releases Natural Painkillers

Dunbar et al. (2012) claimed that active engagement in music triggers endorphin, our body's natural painkillers', release. Many individuals suffering from PTSD, depression, or other mental health conditions often resort to drugs or alcohol that hijack the brain to release endorphins and dopamines to bring the feeling of joy. However, alcohol and drugs can lead to addiction, which over time can lead to withdrawal symptoms where the individual quits and receives a crash of a wave of anxiety, pain, and depression.

By listening to music, especially upbeat songs written in major (happy) keys, natural endorphin levels can increase, which can elevate depression and help cope with traumatic memories.

Turns out, your favorite songs are your painkillers!

5) Slows brainwave activity which enhances sleep

It has been shown that listening to calming music at around 60-80 beats per minute can help shift the brain to release alpha waves to relax the mind, then change to theta and delta waves which bring deep sleep properties (Summer & Coltliar, 2023).

When you are actively using your brain, whether for daydreams about your crush, thoughts about work, or thinking, beta waves occupy your brain. Therefore, slow music that shifts the brain into alpha waves can decrease the consuming thinking, which can help you move into deep sleep mode.

Deep sleep can help boost your immune system, replenish the glycogen that restores energy, release growth hormones for tissue repair, reinforce memories of events and information, regulate emotions, activate the glymphatic system that detoxifies, and reduce heart rate.

6) Helps with Processing Emotions

Have you ever felt depressed, then listened to a sad playlist, and felt a sense of relief afterward?

The sad songs helped you process your emotions, but how did that happen?

Regardless if the music evokes sadness, anger, or excitement, listening to those songs activates the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex (Legge, 2015), which are regions in the brain that help process emotions.

Other than biological aspects, music can aid in processing emotions that are difficult to put into words. How well can you explain how you are feeling daily? The words, "sad", and "upset" are not enough to describe strong emotions. Because language is limited, and emotions have been a huge mystery, music can express complex feelings that cannot be put into words, which can help one process.

How to Use Music Therapy Effectively

With the benefits of music towards mental health discussed, it is important to understand how to use music therapy effectively. These are

1) Set a target (e.g.: for anxiety, depression, etc)

The first step is to take a deep breath and notice how you are feeling. Are you feeling more on the moody end or the positive side? If you realize that you are feeling awkwardly tense or nervous, then you can choose slow and calming music that targets that area of emotional processing.

If you notice that you have been feeling depressed or burnt out, then it is recommended to listen to songs with a minor key (sad tone).

The goal is to recognize how you are feeling overall and listen to music that resonates with your current state of mood.

2) Active vs Receptive Music Therapy

There are two types of music therapy:

• Active Music Therapy: playing an instrument, writing songs, or singing

• Receptive Music Therapy: listening to music

Most people actively engage in receptive music therapy, as music can be heard on the radio, at shopping malls, or in grocery stores. We also have artists or genres that we admire.

The artists that we admire participate in active music therapy, where they play an instrument, sing, or write songs to express meaning and emotions.

If you love playing an instrument or singing, such as I who play the piano, then practicing on a daily or weekly basis can improve your mental health with the benefits listed earlier in the article. If not, I would recommend exploring different genres and finding songs that you enjoy.

3) Using Music For Mindfulness & Processing Emotions

Classical, Lofi, or ambient music is often used for meditation or mindfulness. By focusing on the beat or melody, you are in the present moment, which is mindfulness. Mindfulness can clear your mind and help you stay grounded during stressful times.

If you want to learn more about mindfulness, please check out Abiha's article on mindfulness.

4) Incorporating Apps

Online platforms where you can access music for free are Spotify, YouTube, and Garageband.

Garageband can be used for active music therapy, where you can try mixing in your melodies or beats. I find making up my songs on Garageband (even when it sounds ridiculous) therapeutic.

Youtube and Spotify are popular platforms where you can explore different genres and artists. Once you find your favorite songs, you can blend them into a playlist. Spotify has artificial intelligence that blends playlists of different moods based on the songs you have been listening to recently.

I have "sad", "mood lifter", "chill", and "focus" playlists on Spotify. Listening to these playlists based on the current emotional state I am in helps me feel heard, engaged, and grounded.

It is also important to listen to your preferences, and not constantly listen to music you do not like just because the peers around you prefer them.

I hope you learned something new from this article, and I would love to hear any playlist or song recommendations!