Music can be a powerful emotional tool. The sweet, somber sounds of Adele’s “Someone Like You” can bring chills—or even tears—to listeners. In the 18th century, the emotional allure of music was no different: The quiet, reverberating notes in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 can still evoke loneliness and despair. There are few things more satisfying than yell-singing along to Nirvana when you’re angry, or skipping around the house to a Taylor Swift song after a particularly good day. I have used pleasant sounds of nature—such as rain, waves on the shore, meadows or woods with birds, or music the patient finds soothing—instead of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) successfully in patients with PTSD.
As it turns out, the emotions evoked by music don’t just feel good—they’re healthy for you, too. A meta-analysis of 400 music studies found that listening to music has the ability to reduce anxiety, fight depression and boost the immune system. Clinical music therapists have even started popping up, prescribing music for everything from Alzheimer’s to autism spectrum disorder (in addition to other treatments, of course).
How music listening styles impact the brain
The researchers in this study didn’t just look at each participant’s mental health and music habits—they also looked at each participant’s neurological response to music. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a brain imaging technique that uses blood flow to determine which areas of the brain are active. During the brain scan, the participants listened to clips of happy, sad and fearful-sounding music.
Men who preferred to vent their negative emotions through negative music (i.e., the Discharge method) had significantly less activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) than the other participant groups. In contrast, women who used music to distract themselves from negative moods (i.e., the Diversion method) had increased activity in the mPFC.
What’s so important about the mPFC?
“The mPFC is active during emotion regulation,” explained the senior author of the study, Elvira Brattico. “These results show a link between music listening styles and mPFC activation, which could mean that certain listening styles have long-term effects on the brain.” What does all of this mean? When you’re fighting a bad mood, why is it sometimes healthy to listen to music and sometimes unhealthy?
Music is a coping mechanism, and—unfortunately—not all coping mechanisms are good. For instance, using venting and rumination as coping mechanisms relate positively to depression and other mood disorders. Using distraction and positive reappraisal (or “looking on the bright side”), meanwhile, is negatively correlated with depression.
So the next time you have a bad day and curl up in bed with the soft sounds of Mozart (or Taylor Swift), think to yourself—why am I listening to this music? When I’m done listening to it, will I feel better? Or worse?
