When I was home over the weekend, my friend and I were driving back to State College and picked a playlist from Spotify to play. It ended up being a compilation of a lot of melancholy and rather sad songs, but we kept it on because we were enjoying the music. Then my friend said in the midst of our singing, “sometimes I like listening to sad songs just to be sad for a little while.” Now before you think that the comment is strange, think about it. If you’re having a day where things aren’t going too well and you just feel like allowing yourself to have a bad day, you’ll probably not be found listening to upbeat pop or positive music. Instead, you’ll probably listen to something more subdued and relatable to your mournful attitude. Speaking from experience, music is usually a tool that aids us in wallowing in our sorrows, and providing words that relate to our misery. Could there really be a problem with wanting to engage in something that allows us to be sad just a little longer, like my friend does? The answer is yes! Because believe it or not, music is, in some cases, linked to depression!
According to a study of 106 patients that was conducted at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine, music does actually cause an increased chance of teenagers developing depression. How much more likely of developing it? 8.3 times more likely as opposed to teenagers who spend their time reading, which were one-tenth more likely to develop it (Fox News).
With this study and many others, researchers have still not been able to find out whether the actual act of listening to the music is what leads teenagers into depression, or if they become depressed, then listen to sad music, causing them to fall deeper into a depressed state. But Pediatrician Brian Primack is saying, at this point, that “it’s more likely that depressed teenagers are turning to music for solace, rather than music being the cause of the mental illness” (Primack).
Basically, the researchers weren’t completely concerned with cause and effect as this point, but they did want to know if music could be a third variable in the cause of depression in teenagers, considering depression affects 1 in every 12 teens.
The study measured depression in teenagers who mainly watched TV, read a book, spent time on social media, or listened to music. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in this study is that it showed that “there wasn’t a big correlation with depression and TV. Instead, it was music that matched with depression” (npr). This really surprised me because TV definitely provides its viewers with some shows that can be very saddening, but music, even though it’s not visual, appears to have an even worse affect.
I think that to know for sure if these results are true, more studies will have to be done to prove it. And it would, of course, be interesting to see the cause and effect of this problem. But in the mean time, if you feel yourself becoming depressed or upset, maybe you should take a break from the music and distract yourself with a book or a walk!
With this type of study, reverse causation is certainly possible. In this case, reverse causation would be that certain levels of depression effects what type of music you listen to. Usually, teenagers listen to a certain type of music depending on what type of mood they are in. If they are feeling sad, they will probably listen to sad music. If they are happy, they will most likely listen to upbeat tunes because they don’t want a sad song to bring their mood down. But, it is interesting to see what more studies on this topic will find.
While I am familiar with the idea of listening to sad music when you’re depressed, I’ve never actually heard of it worsening depression! I think a possible confounding variable in the link between sad music and depression is a change in environmental or life circumstances. Also, we definitely shouldn’t rule out reverse causation — like you said, it could just be that depressed people turn to depressing music for solace. Some people might even listen to depressing music to pass over the worst of their depressed state and get it over with as quickly as possible.
I found this to be very interesting because I can relate. I usually play different music depending on the mood I’m in (soft rock music when I am tired or just trying to relax verses hip/hop and rap music or EDM right before I am about to go out on a Saturday night). What I am wondering though is if music can be a link to depression, could it be used as the opposite as a form of therapy. What I am trying to get at is if you can listen to upbeat/happier music when you are sad and make you less depressed. If sad music is a causation to depression, I agree, we should stay away from the music for a while and try to do something else. But what if music could help with depression too? That should be a study to be conducted!
This actually doesn’t surprise me at all. I know I am sometimes in your friend’s position where I just feel like being sad so I listen to sad music. Or if I am already I sad I will listen to it so that I can get my emotions out and move on with my day. But certain songs definitely put me into certain moods.