Unconventional Therapies - The Effects of Music

There have been an incredible amount of studies conducted specifically on the beneficial effects of music:

A chapter in Perception and Organization: Art, Music, and Media by Alexander Styhre (2008), covers the debate between musicology and music theory. The debate stems from the question of whether music is meaningful or not. Laurence Kramer (1990) is a member of New Musicology and claims that there is "no fundamental difference between interpreting a text and a piece of music."

Similarly, O'Donnell (1999) states in his article, Music and the Mind, that music affects a listener's mood due to a physical response. For example, classical music, especially from the baroque period, has the effect of slowing the heart rate and blood pressure, producing a relaxed state. Music even has an effect on the amplitude and frequency of brain waves.

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Through these notions, it is plausible that music in a film or other form of audiovisual art can communicate a beneficial meaning and positively influence the physiology of an individual that suffers from anxiety.