How Music Can Help Heal a Broken Heart

Let's look at how music can help heal your broken heart.  We've all been there at some point in our lives - the feeling of a giant hole taking residence within the depths of our chest with no hope of repair. 

"Broken heart " ( a.k.a. heartbreak)...

...is used in reference to a state of extreme grief or sorrow, typically caused by the death of a loved one or the ending of a romantic relationship.

We've all been there at some point in our lives the feeling of a giant hole taking residence within the depths of our chest with no hope of repair. 
Whether it be the loss of a loved one, a hurting friend, or a breakup, it's not easy. In fact, it's downright, well, heartbreaking. 

The good news is that science has proven that music can help heal a broken heart.

Music as therapy provides yet another tool in our toolkit in the harsh reality that life can (and most inevitably will ) bring. 

Biologists say that the exact same parts of the brain that light up when we are in physical pain also light up when we experience hurt. As far as neurons are concerned, emotional distress is physical trauma. Spiking cortisone levels cause muscles to tense, directing blood flow away from one's gut (the heart wrenching "gut") leading to agony. 

Our brain causes this pain, and we know music has a powerful effect on the brain. Simply listening to music causes the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to the brain reward system and feeling of happiness. But even more impressive is its effect on pain. 

Studies have proven that listening to music alters one perception of painful stimuli and strengthens feelings of control. Something so simple as a melody has a direct effect on our neural pathways.
So does self-expression. Writing about emotional hurt taps into the neurochemical pathways of happiness and healing.

As one writes,  a song may start as a jumble of chords and words haphazardly strung together. But with editing, rewriting, and weaving emotions into lyrics, eventually, a song is assembled reflecting hurts of the heart.

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How Music Can Help Heal - Music is therapy

Personally, some of my best songwriting has come out of a broken heart (this is ONE thing Taylor Swift and I have in common)

Slowly, the rush of dopamine begins to fill the hole in your chest ever so slightly. There's a feeling that you will never get over this pain but science tells us there's a way out and slowly...with every chord played and every harmony that sounds, the pieces of one's heart will begin to heal.

Warmly,  Rachel 

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