Listening to music isn’t just a form of entertainment — for many, it’s one of the most effective ways to regulate emotions, boost one’s mood and even aid in recovery. 

Music therapy specialists are advocating to take these benefits further. 

Maggie Edwards is a former Kent student and music therapy intern at New Avenues to Independence, which is a nonprofit organization that supports more than 200 individuals with developmental disabilities in multiple counties. Edwards says research has shown that music can engage the brain in ways other activities can’t.

“Music is incredible because it is one of the only things that functions in multiple areas of the brain,” Edwards says. “While there are specific areas for things such as speech and motor skills, music lights up several different areas of the brain.”

Edwards explained that music therapy involves a licensed professional using music in a structured way to help clients achieve specific objectives. It can help individuals explore and work through deeper emotional or psychological challenges that they may struggle to recognize or express on their own.

Those goals can be life-changing.

Edwards points to patients with Parkinson’s disease who learn to walk more smoothly by moving to a beat. Stroke patients, she adds, sometimes regain speech by singing.

Children with autism can develop social skills through call-and-response drumming. Families use music for closure through heartbeat recordings or legacy songs at the end of life.

According to Harvard Medical School, music activates the hippocampus and amygdala — the parts of the brain responsible for emotion and memory — as well as the motor cortex, which controls movement. Researchers have found that this full-brain activation helps explain why music can improve memory, attention and coordination, even in people recovering from neurological damage.

That brain activity is what makes listening to music such a powerful coping skill.

“Music can improve our mood, music can regulate our body and engaging in music can be a healthy coping skill to deal with mental health needs,” Edwards says.

A study published in “Frontiers in Psychiatry” found that just 45 minutes of group music therapy per week significantly reduced stress and anxiety in university students. The study’s authors noted that music provided an accessible way for students to manage emotional overwhelm while building social connection — two factors essential for mental wellness.

Edwards has also witnessed these benefits firsthand.

“Clients that originally had been closed off became suddenly more open and engaged when hearing a song they enjoyed,” she says. “With guiding questions, many clients were even able to make connections with the lyrics of the music or with how the music made them feel and how this could help them in their recovery.”

Research from Harvard Health supports her observation. Studies show that listening to music and engaging in music therapy can lower stress hormone levels, boost dopamine and improve overall mental health and quality of life.

Still, Edwards cautions that music can be misused. Listening to sad songs on repeat, for example, may keep someone stuck in an emotion rather than helping them process it.

“Often, people will make the mistake of ruminating when listening to music,” she says. “They will listen continually to music that sparks a certain emotion, and this gets them stuck in their emotion instead of moving on in a healthy way.”

For colleges and universities facing rising rates of stress, anxiety and depression among students, Edwards believes music therapy should be part of the solution.

“This should be done by hiring a music therapist for a university just like they have counselors on staff,” she says.

Even bringing a therapist in once a week for group sessions, she adds, could give students an accessible outlet for support.

At its core, she argues, music therapy works because it’s personal.

“Music is most impactful when it is familiar and preferred music,” Edwards says. “It really comes down to what it means to that person.”

Cameron Gillen is a web writer. Contact her at [email protected].