Canadian Musician September / October 2019 | Page 42

Music Is Facing a
Mental Health Crisis
Why are musicians alarmingly prone to have anxiety, depression,
and suicidal thoughts, and what can be done about it?
By Michael Raine
The life of a professional touring
musician is a recipe for mental
illness.
Money is tight while they work long and
weird hours, travel incessantly, are isolated
from their friends and family at home, and
have ample access to drinks and drugs.
They write, record, release, and promote,
and then repeat the cycle over and over
again. And now, more than ever, the indus-
try demands constant content, lest they
be forgotten in the ocean of songs hitting
Spotify every Friday. But then they get in
the van and, especially in Canada, drive ab-
surd distances between low-paying gigs for
a tour they likely had to book themselves.
There are a million other tasks, big
and small, that today’s independent and
even label-signed artists need to take care
of each week. It can feel like the hamster
wheel never stops and you have to keep it
going just to survive. So yeah, little wonder
musicians are reporting alarming levels of
42 C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
It’s long overdue that we start talking
about and facing these issues head-on, and
thankfully, there are things musicians can
do for themselves and each other, along
with resources and professionals being in-
creasingly more available to help.
Let’s start with how bad the issue of anxiety,
depression, and suicidal thoughts is in the
musician community. Know this: it’s bad.
The most comprehensive study on it
was commissioned in 2016 by Help Mu-
sicians UK (HMUK), a charity organization
that’s been helping British musicians in
their times of need for almost a century.
Researchers surveyed over 2,200 musicians
and then conducted interviews with select
participants to get a deeper understand-
ing. Entitled Can Music Make You Sick?, it’s
the largest known academic study ever on
the topic and its results were alarming. Sev-
enty-one per cent of respondents reported
having panic attacks and/or high levels of
anxiety and 69 per cent reported suffering
from depression, which is three times high-
er than the general British public. Adding
to the concern, 57 per cent of those who
struggled with their mental health did not
receive treatment, and over half said it was
difficult to get help.
Reinforcing those results is a survey
commissioned earlier this year by Swedish
digital distribution platform Record Union,
which surveyed about 1,500 musicians. It
found that 73 per cent of independent mu-
sicians struggled with some form of mental
illness, with anxiety and depression being
the most common. That number rose to 80
per cent for indie artists between the ages
of 18 to 25. Among Record Union’s survey
respondents, fewer than 40 per cent had
sought professional treatment and more
than half said they self-medicated with al-
cohol and drugs or other means. Tellingly,
only 19 per cent felt the music industry was