Fighting Mental Illness Crisis Among Musicians

Two-thirds of musicians suffer from depression and need help according to Help Musicians UK amounting to crisis. The charity has joined with the magazine Classical Music to launch ‘Harmony in Mind’ which is a campaign to support musicians and get better mental health provision for them. It was said in the magazine that music “presents unusual challenges for people, with high levels of stress around performance, job insecurity, widespread funding crises and sustained searching for an identity in modern society, conspiring to create unstable working environments for many. Stigma around mental health issues is still great, with constant anxiety and stress considered normal.

There has been numerous reports to suggest that there is an enormous amount of mental pressure put on musicians. For example, one survey reported that 56% had “intense and unmanageable levels of pressure.”

The campaign proposed wants classical music leaders to work together to tackle the underlying causes of what has become critical with Classical Music magazine priming new research and offering musicians advice and resources, as well as launching an online campaign room. It has also been said that the music industry has “high levels of self-employed works which makes them particularly vulnerable.” This vulnerability therefore leads to “a worryingly high level of discriminatory behaviours and practices, including sexual harassment, inappropriate behaviour and discrimination relating” it has also been said that “musicians do not report their experiences due to fear of being victimised and ‘blacklisted’.”

It is clear that this is an ongoing problem on the rise and the industry does indeed need to tackle this. For more information on the campaign please visit https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/classical-music-launches-harmony-in-mind-mental-health-campaign/ or for the

For more information visit https://artsindustry.co.uk/news/1584-campaign-to-fight-mental-illness-crisis-among-musicians