Music can serve as therapy. Here’s how it can help reduce anxiety.
By Raymond Leone for The Washington Post
Music can have a profound effect on us. It can improve our physical and mental health by helping to reduce blood pressure, alleviate stress and lead to a release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that affects our mood and sense of happiness, research shows.
Sometimes, when we are gripped by panic and anxiety, we may not have the words to describe how we are feeling. Then, a song comes on the radio or our playlist, and it hits us: “That is exactly how I’m feeling!”
Music — whether the dark, minor essence of Beethoven or the down-tempo sparseness of Lucinda Williams — can speak for us, especially when we are feeling anxious or depressed.
How you can use music when you are anxious
When you are feeling anxious, instead of finding some “relaxing” music, put together a personal playlist and let the music or the song sequence guide you.
Start with a song or piece of music that matches your current mood. The initial song or songs can have a little more intensity, some tension and dissonance or melancholy. Then each ensuing song can gradually, one step at a time, help bring you along toward a more relaxed place.
Use music that you like. Maybe it’s Norah Jones or 80s pop or classic jazz or Mozart.
This Spotify playlist may help move you from an anxious to a relaxed state of mind
Here is a sample playlist with some instrumental guitar music, starting with a bit more intensity and then moving toward comfort and relaxation:
“Prelude” — Alex de Grassi
“Fusion of the Five Elements” — Michael Hedges
“Megalopolis” — Rodrigo y Gabriela
“The 2nd Law” — Michael Hedges
“Sleeping Lady” — Alex de Grassi
“The Sprinter” — Isato Nakagawa
“Prelude in D Minor” — Acoustic Alchemy
“Saint Agnes and the Burning Train” — Sting
“A Child’s Song” — Will Ackerman
“In This Moment” — Ken Verheecke
“The Rain Is Pouring” — Alex de Grassi
“For the Asking” — Will Ackerman
“The Water Garden” — Alex de Grassi
“The Bricklayer’s Beautiful Daughter” — Will Ackerman
“Golden Slumbers” — Erik Söderlind
Music can meet us where we are — perhaps anxious, depressed or low — and help take us to where we want to be — calm and relaxed. Pick what moves you and make music work for you.
Read the full article here to explore how music can serve as therpay.