Music That Heals: Your Personalized Playlist Is More Powerful Than You Think - Part 2

In Part 1, we explored the science of why personalized playlists work — including the powerful Iso Principle. Now let’s look at who benefits and what the research actually shows across different groups.

Children and Youth: Emotional Regulation and Development

For children, music is more than entertainment — it’s a developmental tool. Music therapy with personalized, preference-based music has been shown to support emotional regulation, communication, and social skills in children with a range of needs including developmental disabilities, ADHD, and anxiety.

The key with children is always using their music — the songs they actually love, not what adults think they should listen to. A child who feels heard through their music is a child who is more open to the therapeutic process.

Older Adults: Memory, Mood, and Connection

Personalized playlists have some of their most well-documented and moving effects in older adult populations. Research shows that familiar, personally meaningful music — especially from early adulthood — can:

•       Reduce anxiety and agitation

•       Decrease depressive symptoms

•       Improve quality of life

•       Trigger autobiographical memory and a sense of identity

The Music & Memory program, now adopted in over 1,000 nursing homes in the US alone, uses personalized playlists delivered on iPods to connect with residents. Researchers described witnessing a nonverbal man with advanced dementia light up when he heard his favourite song — he began playing air guitar and singing.

A 2024 systematic review confirmed that music interventions — particularly when personalized and culturally tailored — significantly reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and agitation in older adults with dementia.

Important note: Not all older adults respond the same way. Those with high levels of depression sometimes showed increased sadness when listening to personal music — highlighting the importance of working with a trained music therapist when symptoms are complex.

Anxiety and Depression: Meeting You Where You Are

For people living with anxiety or depression, personalized playlists offer a self-directed, accessible tool for daily emotional regulation — especially between therapy sessions.

A study on therapeutic playlist interventions for anxiety found that while participants did not experience long-term changes from a single intervention, they reported increased awareness of how music affects their mood and stated they would continue using music intentionally. This kind of awareness is itself a therapeutic outcome.

Research published in Translational Psychiatry found positive associations between intentional music engagement and reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety — though researchers note that evidence certainty remains moderate and more rigorous trials are needed.

Chronic Pain and Medical Settings

One of the most consistent findings in music research is its effect on pain. A 2017 meta-analysis found that music-based interventions reduced self-reported chronic pain and associated depressive symptoms — and the effect was stronger when the music was personally chosen.

Conditions in the study included cancer, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and osteoarthritis. Most interventions involved simply listening to recorded music — no instruments, no special training required.

Parkinson’s Disease: Rhythm, Movement, and Mood

This is an area especially close to my work. Research on music-based movement therapy for Parkinson’s disease shows evidence of improvements in motor function, balance, gait speed, and mental health. The rhythmic component of music — particularly rhythmic auditory stimulation — helps the brain and body synchronize movement.

My program, Vivo PD, is built on this evidence base, combining music psychotherapy with rhythm-based approaches to address motor, cognitive, speech, and psychological symptoms of PD.

If you're interested in learning more about music therapy, you can visit the other posts on my blog; if you want to schedule a free consultation, you can drop me a message in the link below. I look forward to hearing from you!

Book your free consultation

Coming Up in Part 3

In the final post of this series, I’ll walk you through how to actually build your own therapeutic playlist — with a simple step-by-step guide for relaxation, activation, and emotional regulation.

Tian Ip is a Registered Psychotherapist and Music Therapist practicing virtually across Canada, and the founder of Vivo PD. Services in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.