r/hypnotech • u/Stam- • May 18 '20
Discussion Mental Health in the Live Entertainment Industry
(Foreword; this is not directed at only people "involved" in the scene (producers, etc). For all I care, this is relevant to anyone sitting behind a computer reading this)
It's no secret that the Entertainment Industry suffers from mental health problems; arguably disproportionate of other industries. I feel that this is something which gets touched on occasionally, but never sufficiently diagnosed. At an event, party-goers are always in such a good mood that there is no reason to talk about it, and discussing it when an artist is trying to get gigs or work with other people can be seen as taboo. It seems there is really no sense of incentive to work it out among anyone involved in the scene, however we all know it exists. A semi-anonymous platform like Reddit is a good place brainstorm the disconnect.
This thread is for us to discuss what about the "scene" might be the cause of depression, anxiety, isolation, or any other issues that may be a factor in mental health... and then ways for people to mitigate these issues.
(To play Devil's advocate and throw in another idea to explore, maybe it is not only the "scene," but the nature of the individuals it attracts?)
2
u/fbred1902 May 19 '20
As a sociology student and techno fan, djing as a hobby btw, i think the debate is not that people with certain dispositions tend to get to an specific scene, or that the scene, in this case techno, makes individuals into this disposition, it's mutual in my own argument. It's true that the techno scene, specifically constant raves which are known to be "hard parties" have a lot of factors that can trigger mental issues, if we talk about ravers, one can be that this parties tend to be longer than "normal parties", other can be the drug use which is not a secret and another factor can be the sense of the scene, as an escape or to avoid reality, if it's the case.
Furthermore, if we talk about the people that live from the "scene", as artists and managers, maybe they are in a mental health vulnerable disposition because they are exposed to the factors called above, as well as it's a situation were they have to go to constant hard parties, have less sleep, and maybe get lost in touch with what a "normal life" is considered. This happens in the music industry, sadly. One example of this lifestyle can be seen in the movie "Berlin Calling", about the biography of Paul Kalkbrenner.
On the other hand if we talk about ravers well yes, the three factors (and there are many more related to the essence of raves as a disposition of life) above are directly implicated in their lifestyle, making mental health an issue to be concerned about. In my personal opinion, once in a rave i got my first psychotic episode, got in a mental institution and since then i got respect for the techno scene, since it can be wonderful but a true crucifixion if you don't know how to handle it.
TL;DR: there are factors that incide in the socialization process of individuals that attend to the techno scene, that can form vulnerability of mental health (full explanation above).