"I have a playlist called "I Heart Melancholy," and I love listening to it so much it hurts. In a good way. And I know you know what I'm talking about, don't you? Melancholy gets a bad rap. In music, though, sadness can be a feature-not a bug-of psychological health. Listening to sorrow-tinged music can regulate our emotions, deepen meaning, and move us in poignant ways. In other words, a good ache set to music can be good for us."
"Experiments show the pleasure of sad music is mediated by feelings of being moved-a special emotion that mixes tenderness, poignancy, elevation, and a few dignified tears. Anthropologists use the Sanskrit term to describe this emotion of being moved. For many of us listeners, the sadness intensifies that moved feeling, which is why the song we cry to can also be the song we cherish."
Sad music can function as a healthy emotional tool by helping people regulate and process complex feelings. Sadness in music often co-occurs with the positive state of being moved, an emotion combining tenderness, poignancy, elevation, and restrained tears, which amplifies aesthetic pleasure. Listeners report that sorrow-tinged music consoles, aids mood regulation, and deepens meaning. Traits such as empathy and openness to experience increase the meaningfulness of melancholy. Melancholy can be used constructively to cry, reflect, and then re-engage, rather than to ruminate or wallow indefinitely. Play patterns show deeper connections to bittersweet songs.
Read at Psychology Today
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