Many people are affected by depression, and each person’s story is unique. It is a mental health problem that manifests itself in various ways. It can make people feel alone, disheartened, or unproductive.
People can utilize artistic expressions to sympathize, connect with depression, and have a better understanding of how it feels. There are many songs and movies about depression that sometimes be enough to boost a depressed person’s mood till things get right and they are ready to resume their life. Aside from that, music is another one of those types of art that may be quite beneficial to someone who is depressed.
Music has always been connected with emotion, but scientists are learning more about how it may alter our mood and even mental diseases like depression and anxiety.
Understanding how music influences our emotions can assist mental health providers in customizing therapy to help individuals tackle their mental health problems without the use of pharmaceuticals. Many studies have been done on the subject, and the results suggest that music may influence our mood. (1)
Although listening to songs may not seem like the best approach to lift one’s morale, it is nevertheless highly common for individuals to listen to music when they are down.
As you fight the negative ideas in your brain, songs about depression might help you feel like you are not alone. The depression songs on this list might be depressing at times, but they can also rekindle hope in you to keep pushing forward.
Here’s a collection of 7 emotional and truthful songs that might help us comprehend depression and other mental conditions. These songs offer us the courage to face our everyday struggles with mental illness.
Let You Down by NF
NF’s song Let You Down addresses the difficulty of living with depression. The lyrics of this song discuss how individuals frequently deal with misconceived and negative notions that loop through their heads and contribute to their already existing depression.
Feels like we’re on the edge right now
I wish that I could say I’m proud
I’m sorry that I let you down
I let you down
All these voices in my head get loud
I wish that I could shut them out
I’m sorry that I let you down
Let you down
Yeah, I guess I’m a disappointment
Doing everything I can
I don’t wanna make you disappointed
It’s annoying
I just wanna make you feel like everything I ever did
Was never tryna make an issue for you
But I guess the more you thought about everything
You were never even wrong in the first place, right?
Yeah, I’ma just ignore you, walking towards you
With my head down, lookin’ at the ground, I’m embarrassed for you
Paranoia, what did I do wrong this time? That’s parents for you
Very loyal? Shoulda had my back but you put a knife in it
My hands are full, what else should I carry for you?
I cared for you, but
Feels like we’re on the edge right now
I wish that I could say I’m proud
I’m sorry that I let you down
Let you down
All these voices in my head get loud
I wish that I could shut them out
I’m sorry that I let you down
Let you down
The most difficult aspect of depression is the negative thoughts that constantly make us feel terrible, worthless, and guilty. But you must keep your head high and remember that you have not disappointed anyone and that you will get through this sooner or later.
Hurt by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash’s Hurt, undoubtedly one of the most emotional and touching songs of all time, speaks on depression on a profound level. The starting verses of the song are as follows:
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
The first few lyrics of the song effectively depict how depression feels. It also emphasizes the fact that when we are depressed, our minds are preoccupied with pain. Those suffering from grieving depression may find the song sympathetic and relevant.
For people who have lost loved ones to sickness or untimely death, or those who suffer from depression as a consequence of PTSD, this might be a meaningful song about depression. Eventually, the audience can perceive these emotional lyrics and realize they are not alone.
Fix you by Coldplay
Fix You by Coldplay is one of the few songs that can be both depressing and uplifting at the same time. Fix You glorifies people who care about us enough to assist us through the tough times, and it is perhaps the greatest of their iconic stadium anthems.
The song has a message about welcoming help even if we do not think it would help us or that we do not deserve it. As it’s about someone attempting to help you, this song about depression is usually upbeat. This song gives a light of hope to the people who are struggling and depressed.
It is simply impossible not to cry when you hear the following lyrics of this song:
When you try your best, but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
And high up above, or down below
When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try, you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face, and I
Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face, and I
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
When we are in distress, it is easy to reject support from friends and family. Fix You remind us that those same individuals also want to help us. Not out of a sense of duty or responsibility but out of love and concern for us. They may not be able to help us, but in a crisis, we should at least allow them to try.
How to Save a Life by The Fray
The song “How to Save a Life” by The Fray talks about the perspective and thought of the friend of the person battling their fears. To help someone with anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric illness, it is important to know how to deal with them and understand what is going on in their mind.
Having someone by your side through a rough phase might save you a lot of trouble, but losing them can be devastating, as these few lyrics from the song demonstrate:
Step one, you say we need to talk
He walks, you say sit down, it’s just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left, and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
‘Cause after all, you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you’ve told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And I pray to God he hears you
The touching song is about wanting to help a friend who is contemplating suicide. Most of us are not skilled psychiatrists who know how to help individuals around us who are depressed or thinking about suicide. This depression song is about the difficulty of breaking through with a depressed individual. This song’s lyrics express frustration in communicating with someone whose thoughts are drifting down.
By The Grace of God by Katy Perry
The song “By The Grace of God.” by Katy Perry emphasizes suicidal ideation in depressed individuals. The lyrics of this song concern how she experienced depression and hopelessness and ended up taking a long excursion.
Like Perry, we frequently cry inside our washrooms while grappling with evil and negative emotions. In this song, she sings regarding how her faith in the higher power helped her stand up and gradually remake herself by setting slowly but surely.
The accompanying verses of this melody assist individuals with recovering expectations when they feel despair in their circumstances.
I rest my soul on Jesus
When the mountains shake
I put my trust in Jesus
The moment I awake
And when my soul is lost at sea
He will be my rock
My vision be in Christ alone
This grace is all we’ve got
His love is like the mighty ocean
His love for me will never stop
Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me
Through it all, by the grace of God
So I, upon His shoulders
Safely brought this far
Helper of my helpless soul
The King of broken hearts
When breath grows still and night draws near
I will not be afraid
I know the plans He has for me
Don’t finish at my grave
His love is like the mighty ocean
His love for me will never stop
Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me
Through it all, by the grace of God
This song gives a ray of optimism to depressed individuals and portrays that you should occasionally perk yourself up to quit doing things that are out of your reach and leave it all on the ultimate power.
Numb by Linkin Park
Linkin Park’s song Numb is written from the perspective of an adolescent who is still living with parents and is being pressured to live up to their expectations. Numb is presumably the most distinct and descriptive song about depression, and it intently portrays what depression feels like. The lyrics of this song discuss how difficult it is to satisfy others’ assumptions about us.
The narrator is depressed due to the stress he is subjected to from his parents, and he lacks the courage to face them openly about the problem. It seems to be an awful situation, and, sadly, it looks that he will be dealing with the depression that comes with it for the possible future, as the following lyrics depict:
I’m tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
Don’t know what you’re expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
I’ve become so numb
I can’t feel you there
Become so tired
So much more aware
I’m becoming this
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you
Can’t you see that you’re smothering me
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control?
‘Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you
The lines emphasize how difficult it is to live up to others’ expectations. When we lose control of our life, we typically experience depression. If a parent, spouse, or friend expects us to be someone we aren’t, it may cause a lot of stress in our lives because we are not being genuine to who we actually are, and this pressure can also result in performance anxiety and excessive stress levels.
Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots’ song Stressed Out was a worldwide success in 2015. This song is about teenagers’ psychological stresses as they transition into adulthood.
They start realizing they are no longer children, and they may feel intimidated by the idea of all the adult duties that await them. They may have fears about adulting, such as the financial load of education loans, seeking jobs, and having to work, which often leaves them with high functioning anxiety and depression. The following few lyrics of the song say it all:
I wish I found some better sounds
No one’s ever heard
I wish I had a better voice
That sang some better words
I wish I found some chords
In an order that is new
I wish I didn’t have to rhyme
Every time I sang
I was told when I get older
All my fears would shrink
But now I’m insecure
And I care what people think
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
Wish we could turn back time
To the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep
But now we’re stressed out
Wish we could turn back time
To the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep
But now we’re stressed out
This song depicts how anxious and insecure teenagers perceive adulthood and easily get distracted by what people think about them. They remember and crave for the simpler times when everything was fine, and their mum sang them to bed. When life was easy, and there were no fears.
Conclusion
Since music has a noticeable influence on our brains, it may be an effective tool for regulating our moods. It can reduce stress hormone cortisol and promote dopamine release, especially when the songs are shuffling. (2)
The production of oxytocin, generally known as the love or trust neurotransmitter, has also been related to listening to music. Oxytocin promotes socialization and helps us interact with others, which might be beneficial for the mood disorders such as depression. (3)
It is very challenging to combat the gloom of depression. It might be beneficial to focus on the small details that can help difficult periods pass more quickly during these moments. Perhaps not a cure, the few minutes of peace that a song may bring, whether through relevant words or a calming tune, can often be enough to lift your mood and help your depression.
Although songs about depression might provide solace in difficult times, they are not the solution. If you or a loved one shows any symptoms of depression, you should seek professional treatment immediately.