Songwriting is fun, so it’s easy to look at the Lost Voices experience as a recreational activity. It is certainly that. But there are also established scientific reasons why the Lost Voices experience is so effective as a therapeutic tool for survivors of trauma. I gleaned the medical information for this article primarily from a paper in the National Library of Medicine, along with many other studies I’ve read over the years and some of the background behind the Trauma Informed Care training we receive from the CASCAID Group at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.
So here’s how it works. When you write down your thoughts, or talk them out, that exercises some specific isolated parts of your brain. Experiencing a song activates completely different parts. Fusing your thoughts with music, though, demands a complex, synchronized interplay across the entire brain. Songwriting turns out to be the ultimate mental juggling act.
When you try to fit lyrics to a melody, you engage the part of your brain (doctors call it the “prefrontal cortex”) that manages complex mental functions like decision-making, working memory, impulse control, and emotional regulation. It has to work on overdrive to satisfy multiple tasks simultaneously. Neurologists call this the “Multi-Tasking Matrix.” You are not simply picking words. You are searching for words that fit a rhyme scheme, a syllabic rhythm, and a specific emotional tone. To execute this, your brain must hold the melody and rhythmic structure in short-term storage, while it simultaneously scans your long-term memory for the meaning of the words.
There is a very useful side effect of all this. Arranging the syllables of words so they line up with musical beats also trains the brain in what is called “rhythmic entrainment” – the ability to precisely orient attention over time. Studies show that people who are writing songs develop an enhanced ability to filter out background noise and sustain focused attention for longer periods of time. We see a practical demonstration of this in our sessions with the kids. Despite the fact that they can be impatient or dysregulated in general, it is often hard to get them to wrap up and end a two-hour songwriting session. Even when dinner’s ready.
Here’s the bottom line. In the process of writing song lyrics, all the interactions we’ve been talking about kick into gear and heavily engage the part of the brain that is deeply tied to your identity, sense of agency, and autobiographical memory. This activates what is called the “Default Mode Network,” associated with daydreaming, self-reflection, and creative thought. Then you bridge that network with the emotional regulatory (or “limbic”) system, which in turn allows for a phenomenon known as “cognitive reappraisal.” That’s the ability to reframe stressful, chaotic, or abstract thoughts into structured, meaningful narratives.
In other words, you achieve a breakthrough.
So when you write a song with Lost Voices, you aren’t just creating art. You’re basically performing a total brain/mind workout. And that can be a very good way to get healthy, which explains the remarkable healing transformations we so often see in our young songwriters.
