How to Use Music To Reduce Anxiety During the Pandemic

Sometimes, you forget that the best resources are right under your nose. Or at least in the dining room/office/schoolroom of my shelter-in-place world. While working on a newsletter this week for a physican client who is worried about the emotional and mental health of her patients, I realized that I had a mental health expert right in my house. My son, Benjamin Edwardsen, is a board certified music therapist.

Ben is also a jazz vocalist who has had his own bouts with anxiety. He became a music therapist to use his passion for music to help others. When I asked him what people could do to reduce anxiety levels while living through the coronavirus pandemic, he provided me with three very thoughtful techniques. Really cool and useful stuff. Like Ben.

Technique #1: Create a Mood Playlist.

What do you mean I shouldn't be anxious?!!!!??? You're just making me more anxious telling me I shouldn't be anxious? Calm down?  STOP TALKING TO ME.

Ben told me there is a technique in music therapy based on the iso-principle. The idea is that music needs to meet you where you currently are emotionally and then guide you to where you want to be. One way to do this is with a personal mood playlist.

First, identify what your current mood is and then identify what you would like your mood to be. The first song on your playlist should be a song that identifies with your current mood. If you're feeling anxious, play a song that gives you anxiety. If you're feeling angry, play a song that makes you angry. 

Once you have selected the first song, the next step is to find a song that fits the mood you would like to be in. If the goal is to be relaxed, find a song you think is relaxing. If the goal to feel more joyful, find a song that brings you joy. Now that you have your start and end point, find two more songs that can assist in making this mood change more gradual. 

Perhaps the second song is one that has still has some anxiety-inducing qualities but not as strong as your first song. Then the third song could be a song that can be mildly relaxing but not as relaxing as your final song. 

Music selections vary greatly between individuals because music affects people in different ways. For example, Ben's stepfather finds heavy metal relaxing while it definitely increases my anxiety leve to the max. So select music that fits you. 

This process of creating your music playlist to reduce anxiety may seem strange, but it has been proven highly effective because this gradual shift in moods allows you to validate what you are feeling before moving forward.

Technique #2: Write Your Own Lyrics to a Favorie Song

Yesterday, pandemics seemed so far away. Now it looks like they won't go away... Oh, I really want yesterday... Suddenly, I am alone and scared...

Music therapists call this piggybacking. (I started immediately singing "One little piggy went to market, one little piggy stayed home..." until he explaced it to me.) Apparently, it is important to process what we are thinking and feeling as we live in a constant state of concern about the health of those we love, how we are going to pay the mortgage, and whether the business that we spent years building with survive. Music offers a really good way to do process all this stuff.

Here's how it works. Rewrite the words of your favorite song so you express what is going on with you and what you want to happen. You become your own songwriter. Not only is it creative and fun, but piggybacking also reduces anxiety by letting you articulate what's on your mind.

Technique #3: Mindfulness Through Music

Meditate? I rather medicate with some chocolate and wine. Mindfulness? My mind is so full of stuff that I just wish I could empty it. Zombies!

Ben told me music is an excellent way to anchor yourself in the moment and reduce anxiety about the future. Here's how to practice mindfulness with music. The whole focus is to turn your brain off.

1. Find a quiet and comfortable place to listen to 10-20 minutes of music. You can either be sitting or laying down.
2. Select music that is not familiar and does not have words. Music that is familiar or has words can invoke memories and take you out of the present moment. Ben recommends light classical music like Debussy and Ravel.
3. As you are listening to the music, allow yourself the time and space to relax. Become aware of your senses. Become aware of your breath as it enters your body. Become aware of how your body feels either sitting in the chair or lying down. Become aware of how your clothes feel on your body. Become aware of any other sounds that might come into your space. Become aware of any smells that might appear. Be fully immersed in your senses. When you are fully present and aware of your senses, it is very difficult to focus on thoughts. 
4. Thoughts might come through your head. If they do, acknowledge them, but do not focus on them. Instead bring your awareness back to the music and your senses.

Of course, you can also try my technique, which is to listen to one of your favorite singers. This performance by Ruthie Foster just makes me smile. I plan on taking three doses of it after watching tonight's news.