Can Music Fuel Addictions?
A large variety of songs with varying topics exist today. Some people feel that certain types of music can be harmful to individuals. Music can be influential and have a huge impact on our moods and feelings. Today we will be examining the potential link between music and addictions.
People can be addicted to any number of things, drugs, sex, eating couch cushions, etc. the list goes on and on. Addiction is typically considered as such if it disrupts your normal life. In some cases, addictions can be life-threatening and inhibit one’s ability to function normally, but how can music play a role in this? For a person trying to beat their addictions, there can be triggers that can make it more difficult to not relapse.
Music can be a trigger for a few reasons; for one, the song can be strongly associated with the addiction. For example, a person may have a playlist of songs they listen to when drinking. If they hear one of the songs that they have associated with drinking the urge to drink may arise. Another potential triggering element is the glorifying of drugs, substances, and other triggering things. For a recovering person, it may make it easier to spiral, and it also perpetuates this sort of romantic idea of potentially harmful behaviors or acts to non-addicted individuals, making it tempting to try.
Many things can be romanticizing, for example, being in a relationship. For the vast majority of people, relationships are romanticized in movies and other media, making it this highly unrealistic endeavor that no one can live up to. The dangers of romanticism are that they hardly ever portray anything accurately and as it is in reality. We come to expect all these great things only to find out later that it’s not quite true. In the cases of addictions, it is dangerous because addiction is not always easy to break.