AnotherMax2021 t1_j1do2jr wrote on December 23, 2022 at 3:16 PM

But does it CAUSE depression? If not, keep listening!

Efficient_Truth_9461 t1_j1e987x wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:40 PM

Abstract: "The purpose of the current study was to observe how music affects the mood of those who suffer from anxiety and depression and those who do not. While previous research has examined this many of the previous studies have induced either physical pain or mood in participants in order to measure the impact of music. The current study, however, intends to examine how music affects mood without attempting to induce mood in participants. Six-hundred and seventy college students were given a questionnaire containing an anxiety questionnaire, depression scale, demographic questionnaire, and music listening questionnaire. Intercorrelations, ANOVAS, as well as linear regressions were performed on the data and results for the study were significant in that music was found to impact participant’s anxiety and depression. Results of the current study indicate that participants’ preference for alternative music and soundtracks/showtunes impacted their level of depression and anxiety."

Efficient_Truth_9461 t1_j1e9p6w wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:43 PM

So it predicts depression, but no mechanism has been determined. So we still don't know the mechanism.

And it depends on the person

Here's another study that shows that

Abstract: "Research suggests that negative moods may be associated with attraction to negative emotion in music, a finding that runs counter to mood management theory. Despite such evidence, no study has examined how and why people who have clinical depression listen to music. Qualitative thematic analysis was conducted with textual responses from 294 online survey respondents (148 with depression and 146 without depression). Findings revealed that people with depression were more likely to use music to match or reflect mood or to express emotion, while those without depression were more likely to use music for energy and inspiration. Negative emotion in music enabled some to attend to negative emotion, with subsequent dissipation of negative mood. For others, it was connected with negative cognition and a worsening of negative mood."

So the answer is that the human brain is too complicated to understand things like this yet. More research is needed to reach a conclusion. It's even a successful coping mechanism for some percentage of the population

Please don't make any unwanted life changes based off of this evidence homies. It's a decision to make for yourself until we have more information. But yes, if you listen to an above average amount of music, you are more likely to develop depression. Again, the mechanism of this is unknown and it depends on the person

xMitch4corex t1_j1ez27k wrote on December 23, 2022 at 8:38 PM

This is not entirely true, the amount of music that someone listens is not a predictor of depression and listening to music won't end up making people depressed! Potentially, it could happen in a very particular situation? Maybe. It might be a sign of whatever is happening in life at a particular moment. You can apply the same principle to spending much time watching tv or movies, playing video games, compulsive behaviors etc. The fact that there is a correlation does not mean causation.

Efficient_Truth_9461 t1_j1f4b7o wrote on December 23, 2022 at 9:15 PM

It is a Correlation, but it can be used to show music causes depression as a trend in the population. So, music may not just make you sad reflexively, but it is directly related with something that does

It's been a minute since I took psych research design, but

This is an anova analysis. Yeah, the mechanism could be anything internal or external, but if you found a proposed mechanism the amount of music, the depression and the degree of exposure to the mechanism would all be directly correlated in a random sampling of a population representative of the whole. So if something related to music listening causes more depression, listening to more music in a vacuum would not increase depression, but in your sample of the population it would show a direct increase in depression as well as a direct increase or decrease in exposure to the mechanism. Let's say the mechanism is spending more time alone increases depression. Everyone listening to more music would mean more time alone in aggregate, resulting in increased depression in your population

If everyone started listening to more music, many would spend more time alone and be more depressed. It causes depression as a trend, not in a vacuum. When they say "causes" they don't mean like how a bright light causes you to blink.

If eating beans is shown to correlate with shitting your pants with an anova analysis and the mechanism is increased gas build up, eating beans still causes increased pant shitting overall in the population. And decreasing bean consumption would mean less pants shit

xMitch4corex t1_j1fktvq wrote on December 23, 2022 at 11:22 PM

An ANOVA is a statistical analysis to determine if the observed variable changes for a reason other than just "chance". But, many people and even scientists (psychologists are not scientists) tend to forget what a significant statistical difference really means biologically, falling in the real of making too many assumptions.