Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

In today’s society where music listening through smartphones and Bluetooth earbuds are rampant, life without music seems almost inconceivable. Some people would find it extremely displeasing to have a day without their favorite music. Recent studies on how music affects the brain have shown that music triggers the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway, the same pathway fired up not only by pleasurable events but by recreational drugs as well. One crucial attribute of recreational drugs is that they are addictive. Does this mean that we can be “addicted” to music? In order to provide an answer to this question, it would be necessary to compare the specific behavioral and physical criteria of drug addiction against the effect of listening to music in an addictive way. In this study, I will 1) review the previous research on the dopamine reward pathway and music’s effect on it, 2) discuss the addictive properties of music in light of the scientific qualifications of addiction as proposed by the American Psychiatric Association—i.e., craving, binging, and withdrawal—and what research needs to be done in order to understand music’s role in rewarding and pleasurable behavior more fully, and 3) explore the implications of music’s effect on dopamine levels and the therapeutic potentials of music to help mediate the withdrawal effects of harmful addictive substances such as nicotine and alcohol.