Yesterday I went to the local discussion in Riga, Latvia, about depression and music. It happened in a night club’s dancefloor room, with the lights dimmed down. It gave you an intimacy feeling that you were closer to the speakers then you thought you were. I love when discussion curators think about those small details before discussions with such close subject as depression.

It was a bit cold, could have been warmer. But that’s the perks of living in the Northern Europe. I had to hide my face in the jumper. Some people around me didn’t leave their coats and scarfs in the cloackroom but came in fully wrapped up in their warm outfit.

The first part of the discussion was about depression. The difference between clinical depression and the episodic depression. Some people from audience asked more about the ways people can cope with depression. Medication, changing your environment and style of living. The usual answers you can find when you Google depression. Or going to visit psychologist.

The second part was about music, musicians and their daily battle with depression. According to british research, 70% of musicians suffer from anxiety when they have to always “be on stage”, even when they’re not on it (social media, pap shots, etc). BBC

The curators brought up fact that most people who suffer from depression and end up with suicide, are those who daily listen to country music. Not metal. Metal fans are more calmer since they listen to their angst and get the sadness out of their system through music’s lyrics.

Few discussion participants admitted that they have learnt to live with depression. They have learnt to understand the signs of up-coming depression episodes.

The audience and the pariticpants shared their opinion on depression and music. It ended up with all of us agreeing to not be so shy from the subject. Depression is not a “taboo” subject and it should be spoken out more.