IIf you listen to music regularly, you know that it can affect our emotions. In fact, we often choose our music according to our mood. According to a Chinese study, classical music can even have a particularly antidepressant effect on the brain.
A study published in the journal Cell Reports highlights the beneficial effects of classical music and suggests that it may even be more effective than some traditional treatments for depression.
Using intracranial recordings and electroencephalograms, the researchers analyzed data from 23 patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression. When the patients listened to classical music, the researchers were able to identify the antidepressant mechanisms it activated in the brain. The participants were divided into two groups: those who liked the music and those who appreciated it less.
To avoid a familiarity effect, the researchers also played classical Western music that the participants did not yet know.
“We concluded that music selection during the formal listening process was individual and had nothing to do with the emotional background of the music,” explains Bomin Sun, director and professor at the Center for Functional Neurosurgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in a statement.
The results show that listening to classical music synchronizes neural oscillations between the auditory cortex (responsible for processing sensory information) and the reward circuit (responsible for emotional information).
Patients in the group with high music appreciation showed better neural synchronization and stronger antidepressant effects than patients in the group with low music appreciation. The researchers therefore propose personalized music therapy for each individual.
“In collaboration with clinicians, music therapists, computer scientists and engineers, we plan to develop digital health products based on music therapy, such as smartphone applications and wearable devices,” says the researcher. “These products will integrate personalized music recommendations, real-time emotional monitoring and feedback, and multisensory virtual reality experiences to provide practical and effective self-help tools for managing emotions and alleviating symptoms in daily life,” he concludes.
