Classical Music Works as an Antidepressant: Here's How

Classical music is known to have positive effects on the brain — now new research explains how.

Music therapy is a proven and established way to improve mental wellbeing, and classical music in particular has been shown to have a positive effect on mood. A new study explains exactly how classical music elicits antidepressant effects on the brain, helping to improve mental health even in those with treatment-resistant depression.

The small study, conducted by scientists in China and published in Cell Reports, analyzed the impact of classical music on the brains of 13 participants with treatment-resistant depression.

The participants each had electrodes implanted in their brains, which formed a circuit connecting two parts of the forebrain: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc).

Using these implants for deep-brain stimulation, the researchers discovered that music creates its antidepressant effects by synchronizing the neural oscillations between the auditory cortex, a part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information, and the rewards circuit, a part responsible for processing emotional information.

Previous research has also shown that listening to classical music can improve heart rate, blood pressure, and overall mood states.

Western classical music was chosen for this study because it was mostly unfamiliar to the participants, proving that the positive effects weren’t due to a personal memory or significance. However, the participants were separated into two groups based on how much they liked music.

Those who were placed in the “high music appreciation” group experienced a more significant impact from the music and faced better antidepressant effects, while music wasn’t quite as effective for those in the “low music appreciation” group.

By separating the participants into these groups, the researchers were able to determine that different approaches work better for different people, emphasizing the importance of personalized music therapy plans that would improve treatment outcomes.

The researchers conducted the study with the goal of eventually developing new accessible music therapy tools and technology in the future.

“We plan to develop a series of digital health products based on music therapy, such as smartphone applications and wearable devices,” said senior author Bomin Sun, director and professor of the Center for Functional Neurosurgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in a news release. “These products will integrate personalized music recommendations, real-time emotional monitoring and feedback, and virtual-reality multi-sensory experiences to provide convenient and effective self-help tools for managing emotions and improving symptoms in daily life.”