Music Therapy for Anxiety: How It Works, Benefits, & How to Begin

Can Music Therapy Help With Anxiety?

Music therapy is a powerful and effective therapy approach for individuals with anxiety disorders. When individuals are exposed to soothing melodies and rhythmic patterns, their brains respond by releasing neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Neurochemicals play a pivotal role in promoting relaxation and reducing stress, contributing to a noticeable decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, and stress symptoms of anxiety.

Music therapy can also influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a fundamental component of the body’s stress response system.² This effect can potentially decrease the levels of stress hormones, including cortisol, which can further decrease a person’s anxiety.

Different music genres offer unique benefits.³ Slower-tempo, harmonious genres like classical, ambient, and nature-inspired music are effective for reducing anxiety. Personal preferences also matter because when a person connects to the music emotionally, it can have a stronger therapeutic effect.

10 Benefits of Anxiety Music Therapy

Anxiety music therapy offers a range of benefits that make it an appealing approach to managing anxiety. As a creative therapy, it doesn’t require traditional talk therapy methods, which makes it particularly attractive for individuals who struggle with communicating their anxieties. Additionally, because the power of anxiety music therapy primarily lies in the melodies and rhythms rather than its lyrics, it can be used across all cultures and age groups.

Here are ten benefits of anxiety music therapy include:

1. Calms the nervous system: Music possesses a unique ability to soothe the nervous system. When carefully chosen and crafted, melodies and rhythms can engage the parasympathetic nervous system, triggering the relaxation response. This leads to decreased heart rate and blood pressure, lowered cortisol, slower breathing, and reduced muscle tension.^{1, 2}
2. Helps with emotion regulation: Melodic and rhythmic patterns directly engage the brain’s emotional centers, which can help regulate arousal levels and increase a person’s emotional regulation, thereby reducing anxiety symptoms.
3. Assists with processing emotions: Music taps into emotions, which can help a person to express and process complex feelings surrounding their anxiety. Research suggests that people with heightened emotional sensitivity or those who find it challenging to express their feelings verbally may derive even more substantial benefits from this form of therapy.
4. Stops rumination: Music therapy can help a person to stop ruminating by identifying music that is so immersive the client becomes focused on the present music rather than thinking about the past or future. Positive music can also help to shift your mood from feeling anxious to staying in a more optimistic mindset.
5. Acts as a healthy coping skill: Music is easily accessible anytime and anywhere, making it an effective coping skill for anxiety. Because of its accessibility, it can potentially reduce a person’s dependence on unhealthy coping strategies.
6. Promotes mindfulness promotion: Mindfulness is a great way to combat anxiety. Music is immersive, which can help an individual become mindful of the present moment rather than ruminating about the past or future.
7. Creates social connection: The music therapist and client share a strong bond by working together to choose and create music therapy. This can combat social anxiety. Additionally, group music therapy creates a sense of belonging and connection among participants. When a group of people share musical experiences, they can become bonded and feel less alone in their struggles.
8. Healthy distraction technique: Music is captivating, so it can act as a healthy distraction from anxiety until the person is more able to face their anxiety head-on.
9. Empowers the client: During music therapy, the client is involved in a lot of the decision-making, such as what type of music to play or even creating their own music. This can empower individuals and encourage a sense of control over their emotional experiences.
10. Improves quality of sleep: Music therapy can have a positive impact on sleep patterns by promoting relaxation, resulting in more restful and rejuvenating sleep, thereby combating anxiety-induced sleep issues.¹

What To Expect During Music Therapy for Anxiety

Music therapy for anxiety will look similar to other forms of therapy for anxiety, but there is the added element of music within sessions. Music can be used as a tool to evoke and stay present with feelings and often will be the focus of the client’s work between sessions.

Here are some things to expect during music therapy for anxiety:

• First session: The first session will be focused on taking your history and exploring and helping your therapist understand your symptoms. Music therapy will include exploring your relationship to music and different forms of incorporating music that will be helpful to you specifically.
• Ongoing appointments: Ongoing appointments will spend time processing your past experiences, understanding your current life and behaviors, and sitting with the emotions that come up related to all of these. You and your therapist may include playing, creating, or listening to music in order to help you explore all of these aspects within therapy.
• Length of sessions: Like all therapy sessions, music therapy sessions vary from 30 minutes to 90 minutes, but they most commonly take 50 minutes. The specific length of therapy will depend on how music is incorporated into sessions and your therapist’s availability, and it is most often determined in collaboration with your therapist.
• Length of treatment: The length of treatment depends on many factors, including the severity of your anxiety, your compliance with doing work between sessions, as well as any additional stressors that come up in your life in the course of treatment.
• Homework: The nature of your work between sessions (i.e., “homework”) often looks different for people who are in music therapy because homework will often have a musical element that is not typically included in other forms of therapy. Homework could include searching for a song that feels it describes your situation, composing a song or lyrics, and even sharing music with others.

Is Music Therapy for Anxiety Right for You?

The first element to consider when determining if music therapy may be a good fit to help treat your anxiety is your overall relationship to music: is it an important piece of your life, or do you feel pretty indifferent to music? If music does not tend to move you to emotion, this may not be as helpful as other forms of therapy.

If you have tried other methods of therapy and have not found success, particularly if you are someone who tends to use the defense mechanism of intellectualization for their problems, music therapy could be beneficial to help you step back from the mechanics of your anxiety and situation and to get into the emotions behind it. Without processing the emotions and how your body/nervous system is feeling, it’s common for people to plateau and get “stuck” in their therapeutic work.

There are some drawbacks to music therapy to consider, which can make music therapy not a good fit. If you are someone who gets easily overstimulated, music may not be a good fit for you because the purpose of music within therapy is to stimulate responses in order to work with them. Therapy can also increase anxiety and trigger memories and flashbacks if the wrong music is used, so having upfront conversations with your therapist about your past experiences and triggers is essential in order for music therapy to be helpful.

How to Find a Therapist for Anxiety Music Therapy

To find a therapist specializing in music therapy for anxiety, start by checking out an online therapist directory. Here, you can utilize search filters to help you narrow down therapists with expertise in anxiety and music therapy. If you prefer to see a therapist remotely, online therapy services such as Talkspace or BetterHelp can set you up with a therapist who has immense expertise.