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Music for Emotional Self-Care

We often turn to music in moments of heartbreak, grief, or celebration. A familiar song can offer us comfort like a friend after a breakup, while an uplifting song can help us reconnect with the energy we need just before we head to the gym. Music engagement can take many forms, such as listening to music, singing, playing an instrument, writing songs, making music, or participating in musical groups and events like karaoke nights or concerts. Research suggests that engaging with music in such ways can help reduce stress, soothe overwhelming emotions, ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and support overall well-being. In this sketch, we will explore several ways music can support mental and emotional health and why it remains one of the most accessible tools for emotional self-care.

Listening to music

Listening to music can help us metabolize difficult and intense emotions, such as anger, sadness, or grief, by providing a safe emotional container. Often, our brains try to avoid, suppress, react to, or rationalize away intense emotions as a way of protecting us or helping us avoid unwanted consequences. However, this can sometimes make it harder to process and make sense of what we are feeling. As a result, these emotions may keep resurfacing, leaving us feeling overwhelmed or caught in a spiral. Listening to music that aligns with our mood (e.g., “sad music” when we are feeling sad) can help us feel safe enough to fully experience our emotions rather than push them away. In doing so, music can create space for us to “feel the feelings,” allowing those emotions to be processed, understood, and integrated more easily.

Listening to music can support emotional processing in several ways:

  • It can help us notice and label our emotions, giving us the time and space needed to understand what we are feeling.
  • It can help us express our feelings through rhythm, melody, and lyrics, especially when words are difficult to find.
  • It can provide a sense of bodily release, such as crying, which can have naturally calming and regulating effects on the body.
  • It can help us feel understood and seen when lyrics resonate with our experiences.
  • It can create a sense of companionship, reminding us that we are not alone in what we are feeling.
  • It can provide a steady distraction from spiraling thoughts and interrupt negative thinking patterns, such as rumination.
  • In fact, research suggests that listening to music engages many of the brain’s reward and emotion-processing networks, helping us manage stress and promote positive feelings such as calm and joy.

Singing

Just like listening to music, singing can offer psychological benefits that help ease uncomfortable emotions and support overall well-being. Singing shares many of the benefits of listening to music, such as creating a safe space to notice and process emotions, express feelings, and make sense of our experiences. Because singing also engages physical processes such as breathing, vocalization, and muscle activation, it provides emotional regulation in unique ways. For example, singing naturally encourages more controlled breathing, which can then help calm down physiological arousal and associated irritability and overwhelm. 

In addition, singing often involves muscle use, subtle movement, and changes in posture. This can help us move out of the tense, rigid body positions that frequently accompany intense emotional states. For example, when we feel angry, anxious, or afraid, our muscles may tighten, and our posture may become more closed or constricted. Singing can encourage a more open posture and greater physical flexibility, helping us feel less stuck both physically and emotionally.

Because singing engages the body more actively than listening alone, it can also foster a greater sense of control over our immediate environments and our bodies. This kind of sense of control can help us experience moments of empowerment and confidence.

Sharing music with others

Sharing music with others in group settings, such as attending karaoke nights or concerts, can offer additional social and relational benefits that may extend into other areas of our lives. These experiences can foster a greater sense of connection and belonging, even when we are not directly interacting with other people at the event.

Being surrounded by others who are sharing a similar emotional or musical experience can help us feel less alone and more connected to a broader community. This kind of safe, predictable social exposure, combined with the supportive and regulating effects of music, can help ease tension, social discomfort, and other difficult feelings we may carry around other people. Over time, these positive experiences can help us feel more comfortable, open, and connected in social and relational settings.

Music Therapy

Music is also used as a therapeutic tool through music therapy. Research has shown that music therapy can support emotional well-being, communication, coping skills, social connection, cognitive functioning, and even physical rehabilitation.

Unlike simply listening to music for enjoyment, music therapy often involves a therapeutic relationship with a trained therapist and the use of music-based interventions tailored to an individual’s needs and goals. These interventions use music in more intentional and structured ways, such as guided music experiences, songwriting, and more. Through this process, music can become a powerful medium for emotional processing and self-understanding.

Takeaways

  • Music can support psychological well-being by helping us process difficult moments, regulate emotions, express ourselves, and feel more connected to others and to a sense of meaning.
  • The benefits of music for mental health can be experienced in a variety of ways, including listening, singing, making music, group experiences such as karaoke nights or concerts, or more structured care such as music therapy.
  • Music supports emotional regulation, helps manage symptoms of conditions such as depression and anxiety, and improves overall wellbeing by engaging brain and body systems involved in emotion, stress regulation, reward, and more.

References & further reading

  • Daykin, N., Mansfield, L., Meads, C., Julier, G., Tomlinson, A., Payne, A., Duffy, L. G., Lane, J., D’Innocenzo, G., Burnett, A., Kay, T., Dolan, P., Testoni, S., & Victor, C. (2017). What works for wellbeing? A systematic review of wellbeing outcomes for music and singing in adults. Perspectives in Public Health, 138(1), 39–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913917740391
  • De Witte, M., Da Silva Pinho, A., Stams, G., Moonen, X., Bos, A. E., & Van Hooren, S. (2020). Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 16(1), 134–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2020.1846580
  • Gustavson, D. E., Coleman, P. L., Iversen, J. R., Maes, H. H., Gordon, R. L., & Lense, M. D. (2021). Mental health and music engagement: review, framework, and guidelines for future studies. Translational Psychiatry, 11(1), 370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01483-8
  • Rebecchini, L. (2021). Music, mental health, and immunity. Brain Behavior & Immunity – Health, 18, 100374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100374
  • Romano, M., Archambault, K., Garel, P., & Gosselin, N. (2023). Music interventions with children, adolescents, and emerging adults in mental health settings: a scoping review. Arts & Health, 16(1), 89–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2023.2243288
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At Roamers Therapy, our psychotherapists are here to support you through anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship issues, race-ethnicity issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, ADHD, Autism, or any challenges you encounter. Our psychotherapists are trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Gottman Therapy. 

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This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.

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