Mental Health : thoughts/coping/medicating

[Sakr]

Hey Elektronauts!

Just wondering if anyone else in the community here suffers from mental health issues or even if you don’t. Do you have advice on what you do/should do to help overcome it? even help ease it?

Music is a beautiful escape and a great way to sonically propagate your perseption of the world. But I often find my mental health can sometime bury my motivation to do even what I love.

I’ts a slightly hard topic to bring up, but I feel its important and often overlooked. And its so hard to find community in such a connected but disconnected universe. So thought I’d try my luck here!

Sakr.

[Cornish1999]

Positive forums such as this one are a great way to connect and get a sense of community . That’s why it important to not be mean or nasty on line. There’s enough of that in the real world .

The creation of electronic music wether it be actual playing, engineering or researching methods and equipment very much keeps me in a good place either through a sense of accomplishment or just simple distraction through technical info or dreaming of the ultimate set up lol.

[muzka]

Talk with friends and family and be open about struggles

Try not to judge your music and see only it’s positives

[Waves]

Hey Sakar. Great topic and something that is often overlooked in music, in work, in society…

I have, for years, suffered with depression; it’s taken me almost 15 years to come to terms with it and learn how it affects me, my work, my family. The biggest step forward I have made only happened in the past 6 months; I went to the doctor. I talked about it.

I’d been speaking to friends about it - sometimes you don’t realise how far down in it you are until you speak to someone in a similar boat to you - and they all told me that I needed to go and see someone. I take antidepressants daily and I don’t believe that I’d be quite as effective as a person had I not done something about it. I’m a freelance designer so I don’t have the option - really - of having an ‘off day’ or being ineffective for a client. I needed to do something about it.

It might take time and be quite painful to work through, but you have to learn about yourself, your triggers, and what works for you (and only you; it’s personal) when it comes to managing your state. If you are finding that your mental state or headspace is pressing the mute button on what you love doing, now is definitely time to start talking.

You’ve got this.

[Sakr]

@Cornish1999 thank you for replying!

Dreaming of the ultimate setup, I must say, is a great time!

[Sakr]

@muzka Thanks for replying!

[mokomo]

I agree music is a fantastic outlet - though i’d make a few very personal observations on it:

1. If you’ve a tendency to have depressed phases (which is extremely common), heavy reliance on deep immersion (avoidance) in programmatic music alone can be a negative, verging on being a crutch - think OCD, isolation, perfectionism, rejection of interaction with other people, endless dissatisfaction with what you are creating, wonder what the point is after only the day before thinking you’ve made something great etc. So I would try not to over indulge or at least ensure you’re enjoying it and grooving away positively rather than obsessing and feeling negative about it: if the latter then take a break, change scene and go do something else. GAS can be a symptom, particularly when you have too much gear already you are knowingly ‘self-harming’ yourself financially by laying out more money on gear you don’t need (ahem, eurorack). I’d balance that with - everything in moderation. Buying gear, exploring gear, noodling and creating are all healthy good fun, but I find too much of it as a solitary pursuit can be unhealthy and dissatisfying.
2. tactile music making - and at its best I mean guitar, piano, drums - and singing etc, I believe to be the most therapeutic and engaging the soul. I get a positive buzz making computer or synth music, but strumming away on a guitar and belting out a song feels so much more alive and can quickly lift a dark mood. it can even help your electronic pursuits become more imaginative and original, no matter how untalented you might be with ‘real’ instruments/vocals.
3. the cliched recommendation of getting out walking, jogging or exploring the real natural world (or going for a pint with mates) are essential balancing yings to the yang of music making.

[Sakr]

@Waves

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Thats great news, and really good work! I can only imagine how much work its taking! And I completely understand, my job day in day out is writing and producing for other artists and its exhausting putting on the facade of being happy and feeling creative in a session everyday, I go home and completely breakdown, crash or resent music! I just often find talking to people about it really hard because I struggle to find the word to communicate exactly whats happening in my brain. But you’re 100% right It really is time I brave up and work harder on communicating and understanding my triggers!

Thank you

[hausland]

Hey @Sakr which aspects of mental health (or issues) are you interested in specifically?

[tengig]

It depends where you live to what kind of financial support you’ll receive to help, of course, but I can recommend you find a psychotherapist or psychologist to talk to, to help work through things.

Burning out can be much worse than one imagines; it can take a really long time to be able to work again if it happens.

Talking to a professional therapist who can use their experience to help you in your individual situation is really the best advice I can give you!

(
Also:

• eat well
• spend time with your friends regularly if you can
• get enough sleep
• sleep regularly, ~ same time every night
  )

[muzka]

Music has long been used in therapeutic practices and with Positive results, both making it and listening.

During my psychology degree I wrote a research proposal to study the neurological science behind using music for therapy. I wanted to see how certain frequencies and harmonic ranges trigger different responses in the brain. Then to also look at rhythm, melody, tempo and how the structure of those sounds impact cognitive processes. Finally study how the medium of listening influences our brain activity as in live, recorded, amplitude, speakers, headphones etc

This is to help have a more precise use of music to help with specific mental health therapies and brain disorders.

Sorry bit off topic but I read countless research that showed the power of sound and music for therapy so always keep a healthy relationship with your love of music

[Sakr]

@mokomo

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

I believe a sense of balance, in my case, is a large part of the problem! But when I am in a good motivated mood I just want to make music. And when I land in my anxiety and depression I find it hard to be motivated to reach out to mates… go out for walk… all those ‘good for the soul’ activities. Which is something I obviously need to work on! Because it’s a largely important part of being a human@

Thanks!

[Sakr]

@hausland I suffer from anxiety and depression

[mokomo]

Another useful technique is to learn to be able to pro-actively step out of yourself mentally - jump out of the negative pool you are in, and get a broader higher level perspective.
Part of depression can be feeling like you are trapped in a small box of swirling worries/dissatisfactions/negatives/apathies/gnawing problems/sense of impending doom …or just feeling low and intolerant and wanting to curl your brain up into a tight ball with as few challenging stimuli as possible. These all sap creativity and further agitate a sense of restlessness and insecurity.
However transforming your mood and perspective can be surprisingly easy if you empower yourself to think your way out of it. Literally curse your anxiety ‘Fvck this sh1tty mood, I’m snapping out of it’ type thinking. Feel yourself become able to dominate your own mood, rather than let it control you.

This may sound like mumbo jumbo (and I am no psychologist) but it works for me. The human brain is surprisingly capable of taking control back when you decide it has to - particularly if we are wallowing in darkness, feeling fragile and tiptoeing around ourselves looking for distractions rather than taking it head on and lifting ourselves into a brighter outlook. Don’t expect the world or external factors to throw you a bone, instead grab it for yourself. Ultimately you are trying to rebalance the chemicals in your brain that have gotten out of whack, so whatever trick works for you…

[tengig]

Edit: I’ve erased my post because it’s off topic.

[muzka]

Hi tengig

It was just an assignment for end of module grading. You had to write a proposal with detailed research to back it up. You can carry out the research when moving onto a doctorate or masters though.

Plenty of great advice above and as mentioned this forum definitely seems a good place to come if in a bad place

[Cornish1999]

Very interested in this , any recommendations of stuff to listen to?

[tengig]

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ <- this is an organisation that I’ve been told is very good! They’re Australian, which won’t be perfect for everyone, but the info on the site is still useful.

[mokomo]

I would caution anyone who identifies themselves as having a condition they are worried about to get professional advice before exploring binaural.
Speaking from experience, and without going into too much detail, if regarded as effective on the brain, binaural should be regarded as a form of treatment so should first be discussed with a professional before ‘self medicating’.

[tengig]

You are right, @mokomo, and the same must be said of any and all advice in this thread.

(I’ve removed my post from above; we can talk about it somewhere else.)