How music helps your mental health

‘Music isn’t just entertainment’. As Professor Bill Thompson told us ‘It has a profound effect on virtually everything about us as human beings. How we relate to others, how we see ourselves, our psychological wellbeing and music can have a genuine impact on the brain’.

Music is used in lots of ways to evoke emotions, whether it’s to set the scene in film and TV storytelling, or by advertisers to convince us to buy their product because it will make us feel a certain way.

Maybe you’ve used it to boost your mood or affirm how you feel when something significant has happened in your life. And what about the physical act of participating in music?

In this episode of Reframe of Mind, Louise and Andy explore the importance of music for mental health, how music can improve mood, and how music and emotions are connected. They are joined by guests including Professor Bill Thompson from the Department of Psychology and Director of the Music, Sound and Performance Lab at Macquarie University and Professor Muireann Irish, cognitive neuropsychologist at the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney who share stories and research on the positive impact music can make.

Louise and Andy have both held professional roles as radio station music directors and they deep dive into their love (and sometimes hate) of music and share the personal impact it has had on their lives. Or more accurately, (hilariously, if we do say so) over-share stories about bonking playlists, Andy’s Abba obsession, Louise’s musical messages from dead pets, milking the dopamine out of radio hits and that time they got in trouble at a Neil Diamond concert.

Check out www.reframeofmind.com.au for show notes and transcript.

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