Psychedelic Therapy and the Role of Music: A Scoping Review of Quantitative Evidence on Subjective and Objective Outcomes.
Brain and behavior June 1, 2026 T Rowe, T Hurzeler, E Towers et al. 1 citation
Music amplifies and intensifies emotions during psychedelic experiences, recruits brain networks involved in meaning-attribution and visual imagery, and increases overall neural entropy. These findings come from a scoping review of 19 quantitative studies (total 330 human participants) that examined interactions between psychedelics and music, primarily with psilocybin and LSD. No studies investigated MDMA and music. Music conditions across studies have been limited. Considerable gaps remain in understanding mechanisms of action and how music is delivered to optimize therapeutic response, due in part to methodological inconsistencies and small sample sizes.