Scientists have found why classical music may aid the treatment of depression. Music therapy is a treatment option that may help manage many conditions, particularly different forms of mental illness.

In ongoing studies, experts are interested in understanding more about why music therapy is helpful in treating certain conditions. One study found that music therapy’s effectiveness in treating depression is related to people’s subjective enjoyment of the music.

Researchers further identified distinct brain activity in participants who experienced improved depressive symptoms and found that changing music familiarity could improve participants’ enjoyment. Using music to help treat mental illness is one focus of mental illness research. Experts are interested in understanding music therapy and how to achieve the best results from its use.

A study published in Cell Reports looked at some of the underlying mechanisms involved in the effectiveness of music therapy as a treatment for depression. The researchers found that subjective enjoyment was a key factor in seeing an effective response in participants with treatment-resistant depression.

The results further highlight the underlying reasons why music therapy is helpful and what steps could enhance its effectiveness.

This research involved 23 participants who had treatment-resistant depression. Treatment-resistant depression  is depression that doesn’t respond to typical first-line treatments. All participants were between eighteen and sixty-five. Researchers wanted to understand more about how the brain responded to music in these participants.

Researchers looked at the effect of music on two key areas of the brain: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). The study notes that both areas are related to the brain’s reward circuitry and emotions. They also explained that the brain’s auditory cortex takes music and then activates the brain’s reward circuitry to create an emotional response.

All participants had implanted electrodes in the BNST-NAc circuit. Researchers used these in their data collection, as well as temporal scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) to collect information on brain activity. Thus, they were able to collect data on different areas of brain activity: cortical and subcortical areas.

The researchers divided participants into two groups based on their familiarity with the classical music in question. In the familiar group, participants listened to a playlist regularly for two weeks and rated their preferences for specific pieces.

The participants who were able to listen to their preferred music saw more improvement in depressive symptoms, indicating that the anti-depressive effects of music are related to individual enjoyment. In addition, the participants who were unfamiliar with the music but enjoyed it also saw more remarkable symptom improvement than those who did not enjoy the unfamiliar music.

• A Tell report