Music + Neuroplasticity:
Rewiring the Adolescent Brain to Treat Mental Health Disorders
Neuroplasticity
"Cells that fire together, wire together. Cells that fire out of sync, lose their link."
~ The Hebbian Theory
For many years, it was believed by scientists that the human brain does not change as it transitions from childhood to adulthood. This has been proven to be very wrong! Your brain changes throughout your entire life, and is extremely adaptable, sort of like plastic. Thus the term “neuroplasticity”.
Use it or lose it!
Your brain's 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) communicate with one another via so-called "synaptic transmission", which means that every time you think, feel, or do something, your neurons fire off chemicals ("neurotransmitters") that other neurons absorb. This communication process is called “neuronal firing.” When neurons communicate frequently, their connection strengthens and a pathway is created. Messages sent across the same pathway over and over begin to transmit faster and faster, and eventually become automatic. These pathways have now turned into your established habits. As Canadian neuroscientist Donald Hebb concluded in 1949: cells that fire together, wire together.
When you learn to think or do something new, a new pathway gets built. If you use this pathway a lot, it becomes second nature for messages to travel along this new road. You automatically start to use your old pathway less and less, resulting in it becoming weaker, while the new road becomes stronger. This process is called "synaptic or neural pruning". What you think, you become!
Sometimes, our brain replaces healthy habits with destructive behaviour patterns, or we simply develop unhealthy or negative thought processes as we get older. Various types of therapy, including music therapy, can guide us in rewiring our brain to build healthy, positive, new connections or pathways, and slowly get rid of the old, negative ones. This is the incredible beauty of neuroplasticity. Think of it as reprogramming your brain!
How is music linked to neuroplasticity, and how can it be used as a treatment?
The goal of music therapy is to improve, restore, or maintain both the physical and mental well-being of patients of varying ages and health conditions. Changes in a patient's behaviour as a result of receiving music therapy are likely linked to the rewiring of that patient's brain. In other words, the patient's behavioural changes are linked to the principles of neuroplasticity. There are three principles in particular which explain how music therapy works.
The first principle relates to enjoyable music activating the reward network of your brain, resulting in the release of dopamine (your body's feel-good neurochemical). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which means it transfers information between the neurons throughout your brain, enabling neuroplasticity and strengthening your brain's synapses (a synapse relays information between two neurons). Dopamine has a variety of functions. It manages how you move, pay attention, and learn, and also regulates your emotional responses. Not only does dopamine contribute to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, but it also stimulates us to go back for more. It teaches us that whatever gives us the "chills". tastes delicious, or feels wonderful to us is worth getting more of! Dopamine gives us a "high". Even the anticipation of eating a yummy piece of cake or knowing you're about to hear a beautiful crescendo in your favourite piece of music can release dopamine. By pairing music you enjoy with non-music-related activities, a music therapist is able to tap into your brain's reward network while reinforcing your learning of those activities.
The second principle involves the Hebbian theory (explained above). Donald Hebb said that in order for two neurons to make a new connection or strengthen an existing one, they need to fire simultaneously. This synchronisation can be stimulated by pairing music with activities that include movement, vocalization, breathing, and your heart rate. The process promotes neuroplasticity, and leads to a faster and more permanent rewiring of your brain. Rhythm, an important feature of music, is especially effective. (Research the concept of "entrainment", the coordination or synchronisation of different rhythms. It's super interesting!)
The third principle relates to the fact that music is more harmonious to listen to than speech or "noise". Exposure to unpleasant noise can be stressful and have a negative impact on neuroplasticity. Based on studies with animals, disordered noise can lead to decreased memory function, for instance. Music, on the other hand, should be considered to be the opposite of noise. Its clear, acoustic sounds, whether instrumental or vocal, stimulate neuroplasticity processes. On top of that, music interacts with many regions of our brain whenever we move to music, play music, listen to or read music, feel emotional because of music, remember something triggered by music, etc.
You now know that using music to increase activity in dopamine-related reward networks, rhythm to synchronize neural activity, and beautiful acoustic sounds to replace unpleasant noise can all promote neuroplasticity. Using these principles of neuroplasticity, music therapists can help us rewire our brain by strengthening or building new pathways that will lead to positive changes in our behaviour and healing. It is an amazing tool to work with. I highly recommend giving music therapy a try!