The myth of the most beautiful profession
Musicians are often told that they should consider themselves lucky because they have the best job in the world. However, the reality is quite different.
The narrative is persistent: the pandemic was a lean period for the "most professionally fulfilled people", the musicians. They were barely able to pursue their profession and, especially as freelancers, had to struggle with great existential fears. But now all that is over and the good life is returning to them. They can turn their wonderful hobby back into a profession, as people who - unlike those who are usually dying - can reconcile their personality with their everyday working life.
Music psychology has long doubted the idea that music strengthens positive emotions and helps us to have a fulfilling everyday life. The renowned music psychologist Patrik N. Juslin, who teaches at Uppsala University in Sweden, warned back in 2013 that we should be "more open to the possibility that much of what makes musical experiences unique is in fact non-emotional aspects", such as the intellectual interest in musical structure or form. The emotional impact of music is largely disconnected from this.
Current studies seem to indicate that the opposite of what previously seemed to be a cliché is actually true: making music not only means exceptional professional and social stress, which causes quite a few people to break down. It also seems to fascinate personalities who have a higher genetic risk of emotional imbalance. At least this is what studies conducted by an international research team with the participation of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main suggest. Their conclusion: on average, musically active people have a slightly higher genetic risk of depression and bipolar disorder.
Music and mental health problems
According to the MPIEA, in 2019 the team was able to prove a connection between musical engagement and mental health problems for the first time in a large population study: Around 10,500 Swedish test subjects had provided information about both their musical activities and their mental well-being. In addition, the data was linked to the Swedish patient register so that psychiatric diagnoses could also be evaluated. It was found that musically active people actually reported depressive, burnout and psychotic symptoms more frequently than those who did not make music. The results were published in the open access journal Scientific Reports published.
The team subsequently expanded its research to include methods of molecular genetics. They discovered "that genetic variants that influence mental health problems and those that influence musical commitment overlap to some extent". Individual indicators for the genetic risk of mental illness and the genetic predisposition to musicality could be calculated.
The analysis of the data showed that people with a higher genetic risk of depression and bipolar disorder were on average more musically active, practiced more and performed at a higher artistic level. Interestingly, the MPIEA writes further, "these correlations occurred regardless of whether the individuals actually had mental health problems".
Flow experiences (states that are felt when you are completely absorbed in an activity) appear to play an important role in overcoming such predisposition-related psychological stress. According to the institute, initial results show that they can have a positive influence on the psyche, even when family and genetic risk factors are taken into account.
Literature
Patrik N. Juslin: "From every day emotions to aesthetic emotions: Towards a unified theory of musical emotions", Physics of Life Reviews 10 (2013), Elsevier.
Wesseldijk, L. W., Lu Y., Karlsson, R., Ullén, F., & Mosing M. A. (2023). "A Comprehensive Investigation into the Genetic Relationship between Music Engagement and Mental Health", Translational Psychiatry 13, Article 15. DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02308-6
