How music can help heal your broken heart
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nothing hurts worse than a broken heart. That’s why, for some people, listening to that perfect break-up song that encapsulates your pain perfectly is as helpful as venting to friends or family.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A </span><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110490"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2014 study</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> found that listening to sad music, including when experiencing love sickness or a breakup, can lead to emotional benefits. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The authors wrote: "Music-evoked sadness … plays a role in wellbeing, by providing consolation as well as by regulating negative moods and emotions."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Professor Bill Thompson from Macquarie University agrees.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Music is one of those comprehensive activities; we're thinking about movement, we're thinking about past memories, we're emotional, we have a lot of mind wandering and imaginative processes,” he told </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/life/how-music-can-help-us-heal-after-a-break-up/10671356"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ABC Life</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"In simple terms, it helps us become more open-minded."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tasmanian artist and songwriter Claire Anne Taylor explained that she feels less isolated when experiencing heartbreak by listening to sad songs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"When I'm going through a rough patch and I hear the words that the artist is singing and they resonate with me, I personally feel like I'm not alone in my suffering," she says.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thompson agrees, but only to a certain point. You don’t want to listen to the sad songs so much that you start to ruminate on the memory of a person or sad situation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ruminating is something people can fall into easily. It's a comfort, because you're used to going over old ground, but it’s not an effective strategy for moving on," he says.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"You're nursing the wound, thinking this is so awful, and there is comfort just going right inside that negative feeling."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, this can be fixed by changing the meaning that’s been attached to the sad event. For example, it might help to look at a breakup as a new beginning instead of an upsetting end.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Change the meaning that you have constructed out of the event … Build up your sense of identity and listen to music that has personal meaning and has been with you for a long time – that defines who you are."</span></p>
