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

Emily Carlson*, Suvi Saarikallio, Petri Toiviainen, Brigitte Bogert, Marina Kliuchko, Elvira Brattico

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

105 Citations (Scopus)
268 Downloads (Pure)

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number466
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalFrontiers in Human Neuroscience
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Aug 2015
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • music
  • emotion regulation
  • fMRI
  • prefrontal cortex
  • gender differences
  • mental health
  • PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL
  • HEAVY-METAL MUSIC
  • GENDER-DIFFERENCES
  • DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
  • INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES
  • PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS
  • INTERFERON-ALPHA
  • MOOD REGULATION
  • SELF-REGULATION
  • DOUBLE-BLIND

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