drugs

Can the music business support musicians in taking care of their mental health? 18

Many musicians have mental health issues. Most common are depression, anxiety disorder and addiction. The singer of the first European tour I booked, got hooked to drugs again during the tour. While on drugs he got paranoid and accused me of stealing his money and lots of other stuff. After the tour, sober again, he apologized sincerely and wanted me to work for him again. Thanks, but no. Who is responsible for the mental health of musicians? The fans? I […]

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Mental health of musicians in the news

The suicides of Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) last week and of Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) last May made me feel very sad. Some people used it to start a discussion about the mental health of musicians and of people working in the music business. Lisa Gritter published a Dutch article in Vice this week with a very personal story about her own burn-out and about the reactions of colleagues and others in the music business. It seems that many of us […]

Music and addiction

Two weeks ago I went to the ILMC conference in London and visited a workshop about mental health of artists. The topis was addiction in the music business, with musicians and with everyone else working int he music industry. The session started with the introduction of Music Support (later more), followed by a speech of psychotherapist and addiction-specialist Christophe Sauerwein. According to Sauerwein, about 15% of the population is receptive for addiction. While ‘normal’ people use drugs to escape reality […]

Enhance social skills of musicians to prevent drug addiction

The most common explanation of drug addiction is, that if you take too long a certain amount of a drug, you will become an addict. It’s the substance that makes you addicted. This theory is the basis that the US war on drugs is based on. But it doesn’t explain why so many famous musicians turn to drugs and have to go to rehab again and again. It doen’t explain why too many talented musicians die of an overdose, like […]