Research on the Communicative Role of Music in Mental Health

Abstract

Music therapy is an interdiscipline that combines music, medicine, and psychology. It uses musical interventions to promote health, structure behavior, and thus address clinical goals. In recent years, there has been a growing academic interest in music therapy as the number of people suffering from mental illness has increased. On the question of why music can be used to promote peoples well-being, previous research has primarily focused on the relationship between music and emotions and skimmed over the communicative role of music. This paper uses the literature research method to present a detailed analysis of the unique qualities of music compared with language, the possible reasons for communication barriers from the psychological and anthropological levels and discusses why music is of considerable importance in addressing communication disorders. The main conclusion to be drawn from this work is that the similarity and transcendence of music to language can be seen in many aspects, such as history, component elements, and functions, thus indicating the communicative role of music in initiating non-verbal communication, promoting social-communication skills, expressing inner thoughts, and building healthy therapeutic relationships.