New research points to the brain benefits of classical music, chiefly its ability to positively impact those suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
New research published in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports looked at how Western classical music benefits brain health. The researchers were looking to identify ways to use music to assist in supporting patients with treatment-resistant depression — a condition that affects about 30 percent of patients who don’t respond to two or more conventional treatment methods.
“Our research integrates the fields of neuroscience, psychiatry, and neurosurgery, providing a foundation for any research targeting the interaction between music and emotion,” says senior author Bomin Sun, director and professor of the Center for Functional Neurosurgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. “Ultimately, we hope to translate our research findings into clinical practice, developing convenient and effective music therapy tools and applications.”
The study included 13 patients with treatment-resistant depression with existing electrodes implanted in their brains for deep-brain stimulation. With help from the implants, the researchers found that the classical music helped to synchronize neural oscillations between the auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing of sensory information, and the rewards circuit, which is responsible for processing emotional information. Study subjects were parsed into two groups — lower music appreciation and higher music appreciation. The latter experienced greater antidepressant effects than the former.
Researchers chose Western classical music including Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, representing sadness, and the third movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, representing joy and excitement, as most participants were unfamiliar with both, thus providing a more objective experience. “We concluded that the music choices during the formal listening process were individualized and unrelated to the music’s emotional background,” Sun says.
The researchers say they will continue to study how music impacts deep structures of the brain and depressive orders.
“By collaborating with clinicians, music therapists, computer scientists, and engineers, we plan to develop a series of digital health products based on music therapy, such as smartphone applications and wearable devices,” Sun says. “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.”
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