How heavy metal and head banging can help your mental health

swilow

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How heavy metal and head banging can help your mental health

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If listening to heavy metal provokes disturbed behaviour and angry outbursts, then Liam Frost-Camilleri could be considered a maniac.

He's been listening to metal legends like Machine Head and Dark Tranquillity since he was teenager.

"Heavy metal has always been underground and that's the point of heavy metal; it is an offshoot subculture different than the norm and against authority," Mr Frost-Camilleri said.

"If it wasn't shunned a little bit, it might not be what it is."

. . .While playing shows with his band, Fall and Resist, Liam said the topics of depression and anxiety would come up in conversations with fans and fellow musicians.

"I was amazed at how often once one person started talking about it, another person would start talking about it," he said.

"It seemed to be a pretty big problem amongst musicians in particular, in the heavy metal genre."

Mr Frost-Camilleri said metal could offer an escape and a way to process negative emotions.

"I think the reason why people with anxiety and depression tend to gravitate towards heavy metal is because of the catharsis of the emotion," he said.

"It's more about exorcising demons and less about suggesting what you should be doing."

While not all metal fans have mental health issues, Mr Frost-Camilleri said the community around the often misunderstood genre of music, could offer support during tough times.

"Sometimes the aggression is dialled up, sometimes the sadness is dialled up but they're the two extreme emotions and I think people who are suffering with depression and anxiety understand what is meant by that," he said.

"They listen to it because they go 'Jeez, I wonder what he was feeling when he wrote that?' or 'Wow, he really gets me'."

-Read more..

I thought the article was sort of interesting. I don't know about the catharsis, but metal has so many flavours and I love all of them. Nothing ticks all the boxes like metal. Also kinda cool that the ABC covred this.
 
I can totally see how metal could be helpful in terms of mental health. One nice aspect of it is, in any town I've lived in, the metal scene is usually unpretentious and fairly small, making it easy to feel included (mostly I'd see the same people at shows over and over, that's what I mean). Feeling like you're part of a community is a great antidote for issues like depression and addiction.

On the other hand, I'm still mourning the loss of my metal days. As my depression has gotten worse over the years, I've had to put a lot of my favorite metal bands on the back burner. The aggression, violence, rage--the stuff I love about that music--started to seep into me in a weird way. I can still listen to some of it. But my favorites (e.g. Eyehategod, Old Man Gloom, Pig Destroyer), I'm saving for better times. But this may just be my own deal...I'm not sure if music has this effect on other people.
 
I guess a study showed that classical music fans are very similar in personality to metal fans. Or something like that. They are very much similar to one another in mind.

 
I can totally see how metal could be helpful in terms of mental health. One nice aspect of it is, in any town I've lived in, the metal scene is usually unpretentious and fairly small, making it easy to feel included (mostly I'd see the same people at shows over and over, that's what I mean). Feeling like you're part of a community is a great antidote for issues like depression and addiction.

On the other hand, I'm still mourning the loss of my metal days. As my depression has gotten worse over the years, I've had to put a lot of my favorite metal bands on the back burner. The aggression, violence, rage--the stuff I love about that music--started to seep into me in a weird way. I can still listen to some of it. But my favorites (e.g. Eyehategod, Old Man Gloom, Pig Destroyer), I'm saving for better times. But this may just be my own deal...I'm not sure if music has this effect on other people.
I had to abandon acts like Behemoth and Meshuggah as I began paying attention to effects of the energy of their music and songwriting on my mind.

It didn't seem to impact me negatively for a long time however now I only stick to like metal with a type of energy that is different you could say. Just doesn't have the dark vibes.

Call me allergic to the dark these days, yes.
 
-Read more..

I thought the article was sort of interesting. I don't know about the catharsis, but metal has so many flavours and I love all of them. Nothing ticks all the boxes like metal. Also kinda cool that the ABC covred this.
Speaking of Catharsis I just gave Machine Head's album titled such a listen. It was cool but not something I will keep on repeat.

Not much depth to the songs at all.
 
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