Question: Do you believe that down beat songs that tackle mental health issues actually cause a patient with such issues to feel worse about their situation. Or could they find comfort in the fact that these mental health issues are shared by others and widely talked about?

Stephen Baillargeon answered on 15 Jun 2018:

This is an interesting question that I’ve researched a decent amount. Every moment we’re speaking, we’re making a melody with our voice, and some of those melodies will be happier than others. That’s actually where music comes from in the first place. We evolved to be able to communicate emotions, just like birds, whales, or any other singing animals, and music takes everything that makes the songs that are written into our genes emotional and exaggerates them to express all sorts of things (more information on how humans evolved to enjoy music even though it doesn’t seem to offer any adaptive advantages below if you’re interested). When you find music that feels like somebody is expressing something sad, it feels like they’re coming to you for social support and trying to relate to you, and when you’re going through something rough, it can really help to listen to somebody who trusts you with their emotions. Music makes you feel like you’re connecting with someone who trusts you in this way, and you really are.

Musicians put themselves out there, often specifically so that people who are going through rough times can have someone to relate to. People who sing about mental health issues are teaching you that it’s ok to talk about those problems. So I would expect that songs about mental illness would make people feel more comfortable talking about their problems and it might be reassuring to listen to the music, even if they don’t end up seeking social support. There’s actually a lot of research on why people like sad music, even though it does generally make people sad. Some music therapy even involves strategic music listening, and this is all one reason that that works as well as it does.

The only situation where there are potential downsides are where the mental illness is romanticized. When mental illness is portrayed as something that makes people special and more creative (there is actually a lot of research concluding that mental illness has little to no impact on creativity), or portrays suicidal behavior positively, then that’s where things get a little rough. It’s important that people realize that it’s normal to suffer from mental illness, but we have to be careful about making the mental illness part of our identity. Once a phobia, symptom, or delusion becomes a part of who you are, then you’re not going to want to change it about yourself. Some musicians, including Blue October and Devin Townsend are on the edge where I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re having a negative influence on people by teaching them to embrace and hang onto symptoms that are going to make their lives a lot harder.

I hope this answer helps, and I think it’s a really good question. There’s definitely room for debate on how to balance talking about mental illness and romanticizing it. It’s a tough topic, but a very important one so I’m happy that you’re thinking about it!