Music and Mood Disorders
According to the Mayo Health Clinic, out of every 100,000 adolescents, two to three thousand will have mood disorders, out of which 8-10 will commit suicide. Two prevalent mood disorders in the adolescent population are clinical depression and bipolar disorder.
On average American adolescents listens to approximately 4.5 hours of music per day and are responsible for 70% of pop music sales. Now with the invention of new technologies, such as the iPod and digital downloads, access to music has become easier than ever. As children make the transition into adolescence they become less likely to sit and watch TV, an activity associated with family, and spend more of their leisure time listening to music, an activity associated with friends.
Adolescents have identified many benefits of listening to music, including emotional, social, and daily life benefits, along with the formation of one’s own identity. Music can provide a sense of independence and individuality, which in turn contributes to one’s own self-discovery and sense of identity. Music also offers adolescents with relatable messages that allow him/her to take comfort in knowing that others feel the same way they do. It can also serve as a creative outlet to release or control emotions and find ways of coping with difficult situations. Music can improve one's mood by reducing stress and lowering anxiety levels, which can help counteract or prevent depression. Music education programs provide adolescents with a safe place to express themselves and learn life skills such as self-discipline, diligence, and patience. These school programs also promote confidence and self-esteem. Ethnomusicologist Alan Merriam (1964) once stated that music is a “universal behavior;” it is something that everyone can identify with. Among adolescents, music is a unifying force, bringing people of different backgrounds, age groups, and social groups together.
Read more about this topic: Music Therapy, Forms, Adolescents With Mood Disorders
Famous quotes containing the words music, mood and/or disorders:
“Where should this music be? I’ th’ air, or th’ earth?
It sounds no more.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“This fellow is wise enough to play the fool,
And to do that well craves a kind of wit.
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
Not, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man’s art.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It no longer makes sense to speak of “feeding problems” or “sleep problems” or “negative behavior” is if they were distinct categories, but to speak of “problems of development” and to search for the meaning of feeding and sleep disturbances or behavior disorders in the developmental phase which has produced them.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)