My Discoveries

When I presented my findings and spoke about the artists that I had interviewed, I struggled with talking about their mental health and emotional challenges because I wanted to represent each through their creativity and accomplishments and didn’t want them to be identified by their mental health. That was a significant discovery for me - we all want to be recognized for our creativity and our accomplishments, not our struggles.  Yet, when we see a star athlete, or someone who gets straight A's, or the "pretty" one, we assume that they don't have the problems that we do.

My original intent was to show or prove that music can have a positive connection on mental health and well being.  It has played a significant role for me, could I find others where it has had the same impact, and was their scientific research that proved that to be the case.  I was able to identify that fairly early on.

When it came to my action however, to dive in more deeply, I struggled. Though the research was very centered around the US, there wasn't much that I could do given certain challenges including privacy.  So I focused on the perspective of the artists, how their own challenges and obstacles impact their creative process and interactions with fans, and how I could both connect that globally, and then back to each of us in our daily lives.

One thing I found interesting, if I isolated a person’s struggle or mental health challenge and took their picture away, it would be hard for someone to match the struggle up with the person. Or if I did the opposite, if I showed someone a picture of the person, and listed their accomplishments, no one would think that they had personal struggles or could guess what they might be.  That is easy for someone who we recognize, who is successful, most can't imagine them struggling. 

Just because a person may be successful, famous, or seem happy, they could be struggling. We all have struggles. I thought back to the band Lucy's performance at SXSW - to the average fan, it was just a show and many become inpatient with the band even though it wasn't their fault.  To Lucy, it was their one chance to gain a new audience at SXSW, in the United States and they deserved more support.  Much like each of us do when we find ourselves in a situation that we struggle to get through.

The CDC estimates that as many as 1 out of 2 young adults will be impacted by some form of mental health challenge, ADHD and anxiety being two of them. Which means, you are either facing a challenge and need to feel supported & be open about it and accept help (music could help), or, you know someone who is having a challenge, even if you don’t think or can’t guess what it is, so being kind and supportive to everyone you meet can make a difference.

My goal from here is to continue to learn more about how music can improve mental health and well being.  To encourage as many as possible to invest in their own mental health and well being and encourage others to be more supportive and understanding.  And to continue to engage the artist community to better understand how one's personal challenges and struggles impacts their creative process. 

Building that connection, through music, that global connection, can have a significant impact.