Maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation through music: a behavioral and neuroimaging study of males and females

Abstract

Music therapists use guided affect regulation in the treatment of mood disorders. However, self-directed uses of music in affect regulation are not fully understood. Some uses of music may have negative effects on mental health, as can non-music regulation strategies, such as rumination. Psychological testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used explore music listening strategies in relation to mental health. Participants (n = 123) were assessed for depression, anxiety and Neuroticism, and uses of Music in Mood Regulation (MMR). Neural responses to music were measured in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in a subset of participants (n = 56). Discharge, using music to express negative emotions, related to increased anxiety and Neuroticism in all participants and particularly in males. Males high in Discharge showed decreased activity of mPFC during music listening compared with those using less Discharge. Females high in Diversion, using music to distract from negative emotions, showed more mPFC activity than females using less Diversion. These results suggest that the use of Discharge strategy can be associated with maladaptive patterns of emotional regulation, and may even have long-term negative effects on mental health. This finding has real-world applications in psychotherapy and particularly in clinical music therapy.

Connectivity patterns during music listening: Evidence for action‐based processing in musicians

“…The study protocol proceeded on acceptance by the ethics committee of the Coordinating Board of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District. The data collection was part of a broader project (Tunteet) involving additional tests and neuroimaging and neurophysiological measures [Alluri et al, ; Bogert et al, ; Burunat et al, ; Carlson et al, ; Haumann et al, ; Kliuchko et al, ].…”

Music for reducing the anxiety and pain of patients undergoing a biopsy: A meta‐analysis

“…At the molecular level, this may be the reason of reducing both anxiety and pain. Clinical studies have also indicated an important result; that is, music could influence human emotions and treatment outcome in a positive way (Carlson et al, 2015;Iyendo, 2016). With the long history of its medical use, music therapy has been wildly applied to various physical, psychological, functional and educational settings to help improve the physiological and psychological status of patients (Bradt, Dileo, Magill, & Teague, 2016;Raglio et al, 2015;Silverman, 2014).…”

Review on Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation and Music: Implications for Emotion Dysregulation

“…See Carlson et al, 2015), which reflected the improved scores on depression and anxiety. This neuroimaging study confirmes the active role of mPFC in the suppression of negative mood (Ochsner and Gross, 2005; Murakami et al, 2015) and also suggests that music can be applied with maladaptive patterns of emotion regulation (Carlson et al, 2015). …”

“…Neuroimaging studies show that listening to music can induce positive feelings and functional changes in the subcortical limbic structures as well as the frontal cortical regions that are implicated in depression and emotion dysregulation, music therapy therefore holds promise in helping depressed patients improve functioning of affect generating and affect regulating brain systems (Moore, 2013). By using the Music in Mood Regulation (MMR) therapy and fMRI, Carlson et al (2015) found the responded activity of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to the Discharge strategy (a method of MMR that makes negative feelings to be expressed. See Carlson et al, 2015), which reflected the improved scores on depression and anxiety.…”

“…By using the Music in Mood Regulation (MMR) therapy and fMRI, Carlson et al (2015) found the responded activity of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to the Discharge strategy (a method of MMR that makes negative feelings to be expressed. See Carlson et al, 2015), which reflected the improved scores on depression and anxiety. This neuroimaging study confirmes the active role of mPFC in the suppression of negative mood (Ochsner and Gross, 2005; Murakami et al, 2015) and also suggests that music can be applied with maladaptive patterns of emotion regulation (Carlson et al, 2015).…”