The effects of music on anxiety

This paper discusses the relationship between music and anxiety. The hypothesis of this experiment is; the genres of music played while experiencing anxiety will either improve the symptoms someone is experiencing, or make them more severe. Anxiety is a common disorder that many people suffer with. It is defined as “Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.” For many people around the world, music is used as an escape and a form of coping mechanisms. For some people it works, and for others it does not. There are certain types of music that may increase or decrease the symptoms of anxiety in different individuals. The paper discusses multiple scholarly sources which go over the relationship between the genres within the survey given to the participants. The paper also includes an experiment which gathers people with severe symptoms of anxiety, and compares their individual levels of symptoms depending on the genre of music the participant is assigned to. The genres this experiment looks at are pop, rap, rock, alternative, country and indie. We can cross analyze their symptoms within every genre to see in which genres the anxiety seems to be the worst and which genres seem to calm the anxiety the most. Additionally, this paper reviews data from a detailed survey given to college students on anxiety and music. After reviewing the data, there will be a clear answer as to whether or not different genres of music increase or decrease the symptoms of anxiety.