Music and Detachment
There are times when music can facilitate feelings or experiences of detachment or dissociation from the self. A psychological study by Ruth Herbert titled “An empirical study of normative dissociation in musical and non-musical everyday life experiences” examined different categories’ when listeners experienced disassociation from them self (whether deliberate or not). When examined they noted five categories these musical educed experiences seemed to fall into.
The first category is self-escape. This entails utilizing music in a defensive manner as a way to escape from any unwanted thoughts or feelings at that moment.
The second category entails using music (typically in a portable format, such as an iPod and headphones) to engage in a particular activity, like exercising, to make the distractive powers of music stronger.
Changing sensory awareness is the third category. Those who listen to music that fits into this category fell into one of two subcategories, and that was experiencing heightened senses (or hyper-awareness) or muted senses (like being underwater or experiencing things in slow-motion).
The fourth category is imaginative involvement, in which listeners experienced changes in the awareness as their thoughts (memories, musings, fantasies, etc.) impacted the experience they were having with music.
Lastly, there was a category called spontaneous vacancy in which the participants noted that their sense of self, as well as their surroundings, were receding from their awareness.
Herbert theorized that the detachment brought on from music occurred, particularly in cases in which music did not contain lyrics, because the listener was able to attach meanings to the music.
This research has some rather interesting implications both on how we use music and how music can impact us. Life doesn’t always allow for physical respites, but the knowledge that we can retreat inwardly using music as a catalyst to escape, heighten, or dilute our experiences means that mental respites are possible.