Dr. Dorian Lamis of Emory University discusses his earthshaking research into musician suicide and musician well-being, conducted by him and Dr. George Musgrave. We’re joined by Dr. Carolyn Cavanaugh-Toft of Arizona State.
And we also talk about Phish, Ministry, Jonathan Coulton, and lots more.
Opening lyric: Shakespeare’s Sister.
Quotes from the episode:
~“If it was in a spinal tap, movie or something, it would almost be comical. But you know the fact that it was real, and these were real people who had died.”
~“Seeing live music is really one of my favorite things to do. So that’s really my passion, which I think is is one reason why I kind of got into this topic and wanted to bridge my 2 passions… suicide, prevention, psychology, mental health, and then music and the appreciation for music”
~“We really need to protect this profession that does so much for us.”
~“There are certain things we know that put people at risk for developing PTSD.”
~“Reducing the stigma, and not only mental health but suicide, suicide, prevention.”
~“it’s not like these large record labels don’t have any money, you know. There’s resources out there” ~“Musicians and veterans often share some of the same unique risk factors. Loneliness. So veterans, when they come back from war, they may feel alone. Some of the relationship strain may also kind of be similar with being on tour versus being deployed to another country. So I think there’s some of those risk factors, substance abuse definitely. Veterans are at a higher risk for substance abuse as our musicians. So there’s definitely overlap in some risk factors. I think there’s there’s a need to help both to help both professions.”
https://dorianlamisphd.com/
https://psychology.asu.edu/psychforlife/mentalhealth/carolyncavanaughtoft
https://www.supportlifeandmusic.org/2025/03/30/a-new-study-shows-that-musicians-have-one-of-the-highest-suicide-rates/
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