Whilst I was in Memphis I became a reporter for The Daily Helmsman newspaper for one semester. The University print newspaper had daily editions in both digital and print formats distributed across the city.
The Daily Helmsman
The Daily Helmsman
Self therapy: Using music to help your health
By Luke Chapman
It doesn’t take a genius to realise the huge impacts music can have on our emotions (this is also clinically proven), and personally, I believe its one of the reasons we all love music so much. It can truly help salvage situations, boost moods, or change our mind frames in ways that other methods aren’t able too. Most people are aware of the existence of music therapy, but maybe not its exact definition. Self regulation within music counts as one of the many caveats that form music therapy, and because of this, we are our own therapists. How many times have you sought out a specific song due to how it makes you feel? When you want a pick me up, or a nostalgic trip, you know which song to reach for, and you know how to achieve this through music, that’s self regulation.
Self therapy and self regulation are proven mechanisms to help our mental health, and create beneficial emotions leaving us feeling more positive. We also need to consider and note the idea that we can use music to detriment our emotions. Have you ever listened to a sad song to purposely make yourself feel worse? It may seem like an odd notion to some people, but it’s extremely common, and can still be beneficial. There are both healthy and unhealthy mechanisms when using music, and knowing the difference is important. Firstly, there is a HUGE difference between rumination and reflection, of which music can be used to help both. Rumination is the negative process of getting “stuck in our feelings” or overworking ideas and over thinking, whereas contemplation or reflection is a positive mechanism which helps us to understand occurrences and use them to move forward, and avoid the same thing happening again. This is one example of how music can be suited for both good and bad.
There are many other ways we can use music to help our mental health. Physicality within music can be extremely therapeutic, this can range from dancing alone in your bedroom, raving in a club or jamming out on stage. There are a variety of applications where music can become physical, and it can really help us to rid negative thoughts and get some good exercise. Music also increases our sociability, from listening to music together, to having discussions about the music we like and dislike, this can create positive social interactions which can be a crucial factor in regards to our mental states.
How many times have you reached for your favourite “summer song”, or jammed out to your “childhood favourite” because you know how it’ll make you feel. In our minds we often link experiences to songs, or an emotion. When we reach for these songs, we know we can instantly attain the feeling of being on a beach with a piña colada whilst staring out at the rain from your box room in Brixton. Most people attach these feelings to certain songs, and most of us know how to achieve these desired feelings, it can sometimes be a saving grace to be able to rely on those songs to instantly give us a pick me up.
There are so many ways which music can help us to control our emotions that I havent begun to cover, but its learning about these, and how to use them positively that we need to be able to harness in an effort to create true benefits for our mental health. I know for me personally, music is often my lifeline when it comes to my mental health, and I place a lot of reliance upon it, anyone can. As long as we are using positive mechanisms and not branching into the unhealthy means of coping, we can rejoice in the fact that we are able to truly rely on music to give us the boost we need.
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Music has the potential to have huge impacts on our moods and emotions, and we have the ability to control this. The way we use music is often a lot more then just a time filler, or atmosphere builder, we often consciously appropriate music’s powers to help us with our moods, to make us feel better, and sometimes worse.