Music has long been known to affect mood, and now recent research shows that music can be a curative for depression in several ways.
- Playing an instrument allows depressed people to express themselves nonverbally when they are not comfortable talking about how they feel. I know of people in depression who have been almost miraculously healed by playing the piano or a violin.
- Listening to soothing music helps an anxious or depressed person let go of feelings that are troubling. To keep the black cloud of depression far from me, I listen to Christian and classical music before going to bed at night and during the day if I become stressed or just need a time out.
- Sharing a deep-felt musical experience with a psychotherapist may help uncover deep hurts that have held one captive to depression…or suggest an inner understanding of deep healing motifs.
For clients I coach who are depressed, music is the one staple I suggest to every one of them, for the reasons above, but also as a jump start in moving a person out of the left hemisphere of their brain (the language venue) into the right hemisphere (the spatial, non-verbal venue).
Triumph Over Depression 