Harvard Women’s Health Watch

Music therapy doesn’t just soothe the soul — it can help people with a variety of health conditions feel and function better.

Characterized by personally tailored music interventions such as singing, songwriting, playing an instrument, listening to music, or moving to the beat, music therapy strikes a chord in many areas of medicine. Evidence increasingly suggests it helps people better manage disease symptoms and treatment side effects by curbing stress, soothing pain, promoting sleep, and boosting focus.

“Music connects you to a part of yourself that’s well, and that’s true no matter what patient population we’re working with,” Kubicek says. “Music remains, no matter the challenges a person is facing.”