Most people have used music to modulate emotion. Specific songs or musical works may help you feel calm, evoke joy, or bring deep peace. Many people also listen to music that matches their negative emotion, hoping to let out the anger or find empathy in their despair. But does it work? Or can listening to angry music just make you more angry? Turns out, there’s more than one right answer!
How We Listen
When it comes to using music to modulate negative emotions, there are three types of listening. The way that you listen can make a big difference in how the listening impacts your emotions! Take a look at these three ways individuals use that sweet combination of melody, harmony, and rhythm as they attempt to work through sadness, anxiety, depression, and anger:
Solace
“Solace” is when you use music that matches your emotional state. This is listening to sad songs when you’re feeling sad, and “just need a good cry”. You may listen to songs about depression when you are depressed, so that you feel less alone or better understood. This type of listening may help you feel supported, accepted, and slightly more in control of your emotions.
Diversion
“Diversion” is what happens when you’re sad, but listen to happy music to help pull you out of a funk. Some people with anxiety successfully use this type of listening to assist in pulling themselves out of particularly bad moments or anxiety attacks. This type of listening may look a lot like playing your favorite song or songs over and over until you feel better.
Discharge
“Discharge” is listening to music that matches your emotion, in hopes of better letting go of that emotion. This may look like an angry person cranking up some Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, or Linkin Park. It may look like a sad person drowning themselves in break-up songs, but wallowing rather than becoming empowered like one would if they were listening for Solace.
The Study
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published a study called “Maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation through music: a behavioral and neuroimaging study of males and females”. Based on research by a research team at the Center for Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Helsinki, and Aalto University in Finland. The team sought to discover whether the effects of music on a person could be both positive and negative. More specifically, they wanted to know whether music could actually harm a person’s mental health.
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. I’m not going to go into detail about what parts of the brain show which things – it is all available in the linked study. But the team found something surprising!
The Findings
What did they find? The answer is sometimes “yes”! Listening to music CAN be harmful to a person’s mental health. No, this doesn’t mean your nay saying relative was right, and that rock-n-roll music will lead to the downfall of society. It doesn’t even mean that specific music is always bad for all people.
What they found was that the way in which you listen is what really matters. There was also a clear deviation between male participants and female. According to the study, men (but not women) who used the “Discharge” method of listening had higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism than women, or than participants who listened differently. In other words, venting negative emotions through music doesn’t help modulate the negative emotions. Surprisingly, it may make them worse!
How to Listen
If you’re attempting to use music as a resolution for negative emotions, or to work through them, listen carefully. As you listen ask yourself how you’re feeling, and how you think you’ll feel after this song. Or the next one. Is this music helping you to express emotion, or to feel safe and grounded? Or is this music simply feeding your rage or anxiety? Only you can know, but listening appropriately may be vital as you use music to heal. Even if you don’t intentionally turn on the playlist, check in with yourself when a song comes on the radio or Sirius. If the goal is emotional wellness, you might choose to leave the Nine Inch Nails for when you’re feeling a little less open to negative emotions.
