Can music improve your mood?

By: Dr. Jennifer B. Baxt, DMFT, NCC, DCC

When people think of depression and what can help treat it, the first thing that will often come to mind will be medication or antidepressants. Though medication can be an effective treatment, they are not a cure for depression and they are not the only treatment option for people suffering depression. As depression is studied to gain more understanding about why people become depressed, it has been found that certain types of music may also be an effective treatment method for improving a depressed individual’s mood. Tests are still being conducted to find out why it works for some people.

Not all music will affect a person in a positive way and not all the same music will affect different people in the same way. It depends on the individual and what they find to be calming. It also has much to do with what lyrics are in the music, because even subconsciously an individual can pick up on what is being said, and also what kind sound the music has, such as a harsh or soft sound. The effectiveness of this type of therapy can also vary depending on what kind of depression the individual has and the cause of the depression. For music therapy to work, it is best to listen to solitudes or music that doesn’t really have lyrics in it or any harsh tones or sounds. Tests have shown that calming music of this sort can calm a person’s heart rate as well as their mind when they were in a relatively agitated state. It really is amazing how much music can affect an individual’s mood. It can make a person happy, sad or even angry. This is why it is important that if a person is attempting to improve their mood by music, they are sure the music they choose will have a positive effect on them.

Music therapy may not be for everyone, and many may not believe in it, but many believe that it has and does work. To find out more about music therapy, one can always look it up on the internet to find answers. There are also online therapists and counselors that a person can contact in order to find out more about this. Someone who believes they might be suffering from depression should be consulting a therapist or a counselor, so they can ask their therapist about this kind of therapy during their next session. An online therapist can also help the patient to work through their depression using other methods. While music therapy may prove useful to some, others may not find as much of a positive result from it. Either way, a therapist can help the patient to figure out what is causing their depression as well as to treat it properly. Trying to self-medicate or treat depression on one’s own is never recommended. If seeing a therapist in person is too uncomfortable, then online therapy is available. A therapist can give the patient the treatment they need so that they can be successful in getting out of their depression.

As depression is studied to gain more understanding about why people become depressed, it has been found that certain types of music may also be an effective treatment method for improving a depressed individual’s mood.

Jennifer B. Baxt, LMHC, LMFT offers online audio/video counseling as well as works with children, individuals, couples, geriatric patients, depression, bipolar, anxiety and substance abuse. Please contact Complete Counseling Solutions via email jennifer@completecounselingsolutions.com or visit our website http://www.completecounselingsolutions.com for any further information.

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