Neurobiological and psychological effects of music during psychedelic assisted therapy: A systematic scoping review

Abstract

This review investigates psychological and neurobiological outcomes of music listening following the administration of a psychedelic agent. Music listening is a ubiquitous human experience, used across cultures and age groups to regulate emotion, enhance pleasure, and promote healing. Psychedelics, a class of compounds that primarily act on the serotonergic system, have profound effects on perception and consciousness and have demonstrated therapeutic potential for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, OCD, end-of-life anxiety, and substance use disorders. Although the mechanisms through which psychedelics exert their therapeutic effects are not fully understood, clinical protocols for psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) emphasise the importance of “set and setting”, which refers to an individual’s mindset and the surrounding environment in shaping therapeutic outcomes. Within these protocols, music plays a central role. Participants are typically encouraged to lie down, wear eyeshades, and listen to carefully curated music playlists throughout the duration of the acute psychedelic experience. Music is often the primary external stimulus exposed to participants during psychedelic dosing sessions and music is thought to guide and deepen emotional processing during the session. This scoping review aims to map the existing research examining how music interacts with psychedelics at psychological and neurobiological levels. In particular, it explores whether a participant’s experience of music during PAT may influence therapeutic outcomes. The review will synthesise findings across clinical and experimental studies to highlight key themes, identify gaps in the literature, and inform future research directions.

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