LOSUWONKUL 1

Chotika Kul Losuwonkul

Mr. Abel Cadias

English 10 / 10:03

May 16, 2017

The Effects of Sad Music on Mental Health

Listening to sad music has many positive impacts on human mental health, which in-

cludes regulating mood, expressing social relatedness, and bring back memories. The purpose of

this research was to prove that sad music could affect mental health of a person. The importance

of this report is to provide information on the three influences that sad music has on mental

health. The pieces of information found in this report are based on ten sources. First, an article

from Harvard Health Publications entitled Music and health gave an introduction of music

and how it is related to the brain. Second, an article from Kent, entitled The Effect of Music on

the Human Body and Mind described how music have an impact on how the brain function.

Third, an article by Passion J. M.D. entitled Music, Rhythm and The Brain described about

how music and rhythm is related to the function ability of the brain. Fourth, an article entitled

The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review by Sach, Damasio, and Habibi explained how

sadness is related to pleasure and that sad music can be pleasurable. Fifth, an article by

Gustafson, entitled A Seemingly Fatal Attraction Between Sad Souls stated that sad music

helps in validating people mental health both with and without depression. Sixth, an article enti-

tled Sad music induces pleasant emotion written by Kawakami, Furukawa, Katahira, &

Okanoya, discussed that sad music can improve a persons mood and can be related to social life.

Seventh, an article by Bicknell Ph.D., entitled 4 Reasons We Listen to Sad Music, When We're
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Sad pointed out some of the reasons why people listen to sad music when feeling sad. Eighth,

an article from Schfer, Sedlmeier, Stdtler, and Huron entitled The psychological functions of

music listening stated that sad music helps in mood regulation, social relatedness expression,

and stress reduction. Ninth, Eerola and Peltola in their article Memorable Experiences with Sad

MusicReasons, Reactions and Mechanisms of Three Types of Experiences explained that sad

music can make a change in mood and that its relate to social experiences. Lastly, an article enti-

tled Message in the Music: Do Lyrics Influence WellBeing? from Ransom pointed out that sad

music makes people feel less alone and also less stress.

The Relationship of Music and the Brain

People have been listening to music for a very long period of time. We create and listen

to it for various purposes. Human can recognize and separate music or tunes from other non-mu-

sical noises and react to them differently (Harvard Health Publications, 2011). This is because

humans brain and nervous system read musical sound differently than others (Kent, 2006). Play-

ing, listening, reading, and creating music can have an effect on both sides of the brain, in anoth-

er word, every part of it. Daniel J. Levitins article entitled This Is Your Brain on Music indicates

that listening to music have an effects on the subcortical structures of the brain. Then followed

by the auditory cortices on both left and right side and interlaces the brains memory centres as

well as the temporal and frontal lobes which are the language centers. Tapping along the rhythm

also redound the cerebellum, and reading musical notes involves visual cortex. However, the per-

formance that seems to have the largest effects on the brain is by actually playing it. It requires

planning and coordinating of the hands and feet, these are the ability of the frontal motor, senso-
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ry cortex, motor control, somatosensory touch and auditory information. Unlike people who

dont play music, musicians are better at using both hands because they have larger area of ner-

vous system connecting motor areas in the middle of left and right brain. The ability to learn can

also be affected by music because the nervous system develops constantly, therefore, it can

change every day and this is called neuroplasticity (Passion, 2011).

Sad Music and Mood Regulation

Comparing to watching plays, films or paintings containing depressing content, more

range of feelings are provided and brought out by listening to sad music. (Sach, Damasio, &

Habibi, 2015). However, there are many types of music. The ones that have high pitch, fast

rhythm, or ascending melodies music leads to more intense feelings, increasing of anxiety level,

losing control, and panicking. On the other hand, low pitch music provides listeners with more

relaxed feeling and dwindled stress which makes it easier for the listeners to handle pain and

anxiety (Kent, 2016).

Music can be used as a therapy. In fact, it is widely used in many hospitals already. The

purpose of using music in the hospital is to assist the patients with pain, anxiety, confusion eas-

ing or even just the intention to help them relax (Kent, 2016).

Sad music has the same characteristic of counseling people. The researchers conducted a

survey involving 44 participants, asked them to listen to parts of sad music chosen, then rated

and described their emotions after listening to it. The result showed that from just the perspective

toward sad music, the participants mentioned it as tragic. Inversely, once they actually listened to

it, they stated that sad music provided them more joyful, more romantic, and less sorrow emotion
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(Kawakami, Furukawa, Katahira, & Okanoya, 2013). An article from Ransom (2015) also stated

that sad music helps in human well-being and in bringing out pleasant feelings. However, ac-

cording to another survey done by Eerola & Peltola (2016), showed that there are three types of

sadness that people felt. One of them is negative sadness and the other two are positive sadness

comforting and sweet. Overall, the possibility of sad music causing negative emotion is very low

comparing to the positive ones. Therefore, its proved that sad music can lift up mood and regu-

late listeners emotion.

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Figure 1. Participants physical and mental reaction percentage (Eerola & Peltola, 2016)

Stress Reduction and Strengthening Memory

Sad music can provide company and understanding towards the people listening to it

through many ways (Gustafson, 2016). Sad music is the choice that people usually prefer when

they are being stressed or down (Bicknell Ph.D., 2014). Some people also listen to it when they

need comfort and emotion improvement (Eerola & Peltola 2016). Two researchers, Annemieke

Van den Tol and Jane Edwards, stated that the reasons why people listen to sad music are be-
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cause they feel like they can relate to the lyrics, the instrument itself, the meaning expressed,

temporarily distracted from the outside world and forget about things that they are stressing

about for a moment (Bicknell Ph.D., 2014). When listeners listen to sad music, they also feel like

the artists understand them through the lyrics being sung (Ransom, 2015).

Sad music can bring back memorable moments or memories, usually, the one that had

happened about a year ago and is related to it. The flashback usually occurs when the music is

being heard in an unexpected situation. However, sometimes these memories are linked to when

one is resting or recovering, for example when listening to music after coming back from work

or when about to fall asleep. The result of the survey showed that each participants memories

started to come back in different duration of listening to sad music. It could start from less than 5

minutes (15.1%), 5 to 10 minutes (21.0%), 10 to 30 minutes (23.6%), 30 to 60 minutes (19.0%),

and even more than 60 minutes (20.4%). They also mentioned that the memories are very clear

and mostly pleasing (Eerola & Peltola 2016).

!
Figure 2. Percentage of various gender of participants pleasure and intensity feelings over dif-
ferent type of samples (Eerola & Peltola, 2016)
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Conclusion

The purpose of this research was to prove that sad music could affect mental health of a

person. Sad music is directly connected to the brain. Therefore, it is related to the mental health

of humans. It can bring out wide range of feelings, including pleasure. It is also used as a therapy

in many hospitals as well as for individual counsel. This research report recommends that further

research should cover the potential effects of music on physical health of human.
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References

Bicknell J. Ph.D. (2014, September 29) 4 Reasons We Listen to Sad Music, When We're Sad.
Retrieved March 27, 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-music-
moves-us/201409/4-reasons-we-listen-sad-music-when-were-sad

Eerola T. & Peltola H. R. (2016, June 14). Memorable Experiences with Sad MusicReasons,
Reactions and Mechanisms of Three Types of Experiences. Retrieved March 28, 2017,
from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0157444

Gustafson T. K. (2016, August 30). A Seemingly Fatal Attraction Between Sad Souls. Retrieved
March 27, 2017, from http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1009&context=engl_176

Harvard Health Publications. (July, 2011). Music and health. Retrieved March 27, 2017, from
http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/music-and-health

Kawakami, A., Furukawa, K., Katahira, K., & Okanoya, K. (2013, June 13). Sad music induces
pleasant emotion. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/
10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00311/full

Kent D. (2006). The Effect of Music on the Human Body and Mind. Retrieved March 28, 2017,
from http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1162&context=honors

Passion J. M.D. (2011, March 7) Music, Rhythm and The Brain. Retrieved March 28, 2017,
from http://brainworldmagazine.com/music-rhythm-and-the-brain-2/

Ransom P. F. (November, 2015). Message in the Music: Do Lyrics Influence WellBeing?

Retrieved March 28, 2017, from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1094&context=mapp_capstone

Sachs, M. E., Damasio, A., & Habibi, A. (2015). The pleasures of sad music: a systematic
review. Retrieved March 27, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PM-
C4513245/

Schfer, T., Sedlmeier, P., Stdtler, C., & Huron, D. (2013, August 13). The psychological
functions of music listening. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.-
gov/pmc/articles/PMC3741536/