Stranger Things and Music Therapy

Why there is some real science behind a Stranger Things plot point.

[contains minor spoilers for the first four episodes of S4 of Stranger Things, but not the main plot]

In the latest season of Stranger Things, Robin and Nancy pretend to be psychology students while visiting a mental hospital. As the head of the hospital, Warden Hatch, leads them through the building, they walk through a room where people are listening to music. Hatch then tells them:

“The right song, particularly one which holds some personal meaning, can prove a salient stimulus.”

And unlike a lot of Stranger Things, there is some real science behind that statement.

Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash

Music therapy has been been effectively used for people with PTSD, depression, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. For Alzheimer’s in particular, therapy relies on finding music that resonates with the individual: A favourite song is much more effective than something they’ve never heard before.

If you’ve seen the first few episodes of Stranger Things season 4 already and want to know more about the science behind the “music therapy” in the show, read the full piece I wrote for Forbes.com.

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🎵 Music by MusiSci

(Note for new readers: “MusiSci” are people involved in both music and science. I used to have a separate newsletter just about this, but now I occasionally feature music by scientists or music made in collaboration with scientists in Mixture.)

Zoe Levitt recently graduated with a Geology degree from MIT, but after a summer of fieldwork in the Himalayas she will focus mainly on her music career, she told MIT News.

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💡Interesting Links

• Scientists Are Using YouTube to Understand How Elephants Mourn Their Dead, by Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine.

• A Father-Son Team Solves a Geometry Problem With Infinite Folds, by Rachel Crowell for Wired.

• Luca Buvoli’s art explores COVID spacetime, by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan for Symmetry Magazine.

• On the TED Radio Hour, Kasha Patel explains why we should use comedy to explain science.

• If you’re in London, the current exhibit “Our Time on Earth” at the Barbican sounds really interesting, with works inspired by science and climate change. (And if you happen to go on June 25th, you could combine your visit with a performance by my orchestra, LEO. We’ll be in the church in the middle of the Barbican grounds that evening.)

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