(ORDO NEWS) — While intuitively people tend to think that playing music is good for their mental health, scientific research points to a more complex and non-obvious connection.
In a new study, an international team of scientists has found a genetic correlation between passion for music and mental health in the example of several thousand twins.
The results of the study show that musically active people have a significantly increased genetic risk of developing depression and bipolar disorder.
Music lessons are often considered beneficial for a person’s mental health, especially for children. For example, many studies have shown that people involved in music or theater report better physical and mental health.
In addition, music therapy in a clinical setting can positively influence the physiological and mental state of the patient.
However, the authors of other scientific papers have stated the existence of a feedback – an increased risk of developing depression, burnout and anxiety among musicians, including just amateurs.
And among professional musicians, they also revealed higher rates of neuroticism and emotional instability compared to amateurs and non-musicians.
To summarize and comprehensively explore the underlying link between music indulgence and various mental health issues, an international team of scientists used a sample of 5,648 genotyped twins with information about music involvement, mental health diagnoses, and creative and athletic achievement.
Based on the available information, the researchers calculated individual indicators – the so-called polygenic scores – for the genetic risk of a number of mental illnesses (including major depressive and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, neuroticism, stress sensitivity, depressive symptoms) and genetic predisposition to musicality.
Analysis of these data showed that participants with a higher genetic risk for depression and bipolar disorder were, on average, more likely to be musically active, making more music and performing more.
Moreover, this correlation was observed regardless of whether the twins had present mental health problems or not.
Scientists have not identified a relationship between musical hobbies and other mental disorders or such disorders with indicators of creative and sports achievements.
At the same time, participants with a stronger genetic predisposition for musicality, including all aspects of interaction with music (singing, playing musical instruments, writing compositions, and so on), also, on average, had a slightly higher risk of developing depression, regardless of whether whether they were engaged in music professionally or amateurishly.
Thus, according to the study, the found relationship most likely reflects not the causal effect of mental health on involvement in music, or vice versa, but the so-called horizontal pleiotropy – when one or more genes affect several indicators at once.
“The overall relationship between music production and mental health is very complex: family and genetic factors can influence both musicality and mental health. In addition, musicians appear to have a slightly higher genetic risk for certain mental illnesses,” said study senior author Miriam Mosing.
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