Mental wellbeing among musicians
The latest findings from the first ever UK Musicians’ Census reveal that almost a third of professional musicians in the UK (30%) are experiencing poor mental wellbeing. The results are based on detailed information provided by nearly 6,000 UK musicians, making it the largest ever survey of its kind. This next wave of research published from the Census — by Help Musicians and the Musicians’ Union — focuses on the mental health of those working as musicians and paints a worrying picture. It found that 30% of musicians reported experiencing negative mental wellbeing.
The number of musicians who report negative mental wellbeing increases to 43% of LGBTQ+ musicians and half (49%) of disabled musicians. It increases further still to nearly two-thirds (63%) for those who identify as a gender other than male or female. Looking in more detail, while a quarter (28%) of heterosexual/straight musicians report low mental wellbeing, this rose to around a third of gay men (33%) and lesbian/gay women (37%), and to around half of bisexual (47%), queer (49%) and asexual musicians (50%). Those who work in dance music (35%) were found to on average have the highest rates of poor mental health.