The history of music accumulates cases and more cases of abrupt deathsboth among anonymous personnel and among stars like Liam Payneformer member of One Directionwhich is why the profiles of psychologists specialized in the many risks that accompany this sector are growing.
“I felt deep sadness when I found out and on top of that I was not surprised“, laments in a talk the Spanish Rosana Corbacho, one of the professionals who saw the gaps that existed in care to those who work in this industry and wanted to remedy it.
It was in London, working in music herself, that she discovered it: “All my friends were from the sector and I saw what they suffered, a lot of disorders that came from work, so when they went for attention the indication was always: ‘Change jobs‘”. “They didn’t know how important their work is for the identity of my musician friends, leaving it could be equally dangerous for their physical integrity,” he highlights.
At that time there was no specific training for this sector, certainly not in London, much less in Spain, so he began to study Psychology in the free spaces now specialize thanks to work live, both in the US, where he covers large tours, and in individual therapies, which is his backbone.
“The most common disorders are depression and above all the anxietywith a much higher rate compared to the general population, something logical when one lives in the instability of predicting, for example, how the rent will be paid next week,” he points out. He unites it with “the “such a great neurodiversity” that there is in the industry. “When we have a different way of perceiving the world, we are going to feel more attracted to a sector that does not keep us rigid, that is flexible, even if it has other negative things,” he reasons.
While the number of professionals who can care for them grows, Corbacho has also detected in the last five years that patients They come sooner for helpsee yourself in the face of a creative block, which lightens the therapy, and not “after having hit rock bottom three or four times.” “Anxiety on stage, for example, is easy to treat if it is done early,” he points out.
Celebrate this increased awareness for mental healthbut warns against those who air their problems “because it’s fashionable“: “If you are talking about something that is still fresh or you haven’t discussed it, it can put you in a very vulnerable position. I invite you to talk about it in consultation with your therapist.” One of the biggest recent sources of problems for artists is, in their opinion, social networks“especially that constant exposure, without space to be able to reconnect and so on and that turns them into mini-products, which also burns them a lot.”
“A tour is the most dangerous thing for your health”
On the other hand, “no one makes a living from making records anymore. If you’re not on the road you don’t eatthen you don’t rest, and what happens on a tour is the most dangerous thing for your health,” warns this psychologist who at music fairs like the recent BIME in Bilbao preaches the virtues of “healthy tours.”
“Imagine people who are already vulnerable and get into that chronic stress, without friends outside that world or long-term romantic relationships, without feeling that no one loves youand on top of that you can’t show yourself vulnerable because of the competitiveness that exists,” he explains before a business with “a lot of investment of money, time pressures and where the show is above everything.”
“I have had to give therapy when a person has killed themselves during a tour and their companions had to move on,” he recalls, before highlighting a revealing fact about a study that was carried out among tour personnel in the US: “One in every five people knew someone close to them had died by suicide“.
One of the big problems of having your identity closely linked to your professional role is “how it is completely shaken” when the applause or opportunities no longer come the same, despite which, he claims that it helps more people to process success than failure. “When they reach that step that seemed like it was going to be the definitive step of fulfillment, but it turns out that they are not enjoying it and maybe on top of that you have not paid attention to your interpersonal relationships and you are alone there in the gutter,” he points out.
Added to all this eating disordersvery common even in women, or addictions to various drugs, which are often the result “of all that life dissatisfaction, especially if they take away what you feel is the center of your identity.” “Sometimes you die for suicidesometimes because of not knowing how to take care of oneself,” warns the psychologist.
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