Psychological flexibility for the well-being of musicians: New possibilities for psychological counseling

Values

Flexibility processes often identified in the data were clarity of values and the ability to engage in committed actions. Participants indicated that important and valued aspects of their lives were the development of skills, the appreciation of music and its beauty, teaching, and the sharing of love for music with listeners or students. They reported, for example, “taking pleasure in making music . . . to induce [students’] interest in music, ¹ to find their direction in musical development, and to be able to play flexibly with different musical styles” (S2, 41F29). They valued music making and described music as a tool for expressing and developing other important values such as sensitivity, empathy, endurance, and sharing beauty and emotions with others. These values were typical of all the participants, although their responses were characteristic of the other flexibility and inflexibility processes to different extents. As one participant said,

I want to pass on the beauty to others, to move the deeper and more sensitive places of the soul. My mission as a musician is to evoke emotions in people and let them touch the Absolute . . . By teaching others to play, I want them to find joy in themselves. (S1, 01F26)

These findings show that values could act as a foundation for developing psychological support programs focusing, first, on identifying the important values that direct their behaviors in the context of being a musician.

Committed actions

Participants’ engagement in committed actions included self-development as a way of achieving goals in their music-related activities. They developed themselves by practising regularly, improving their technique independently, participating in courses and masterclasses to enhance their skills, and seeking inspiration in music and elsewhere, “practising my instrument, making valuable friends, getting inspiration from worthwhile concerts, art, books” (S1, 10M29). Committed actions also included musical engagement such as playing in an orchestra, attending jam sessions, and experimenting with new formats of music making:

I try to take my instruments wherever I go to people so I can learn something from my friends and other musicians. When I see open, announced music workshops, especially the part that interests me, I try to attend them to broaden my perspective. (S2, 40M29)

Committed actions such as sharing the beauty of music, expressing emotions, teaching others, caring for one’s health, action planning, and achieving goals were subordinate to music-related values insofar as participants prioritized the latter when engaging in self-development for the purposes of making music. As one said, “I take care of my health (spine) much more intensively and consciously—its deterioration may result in the inability to play an instrument” (S1, 25F25). Participants also reported that it was important to build networks of relationships with other musicians: “I make acquaintances that can be useful in finding a job” (S2, 61F23). Committed actions might therefore serve as a foundation for developing support programs for musicians by using the workable action they can perform in the present moment toward the desired direction.

Acceptance

Participants expressed acceptance in terms of the willingness to let go of unwanted feelings, for example by “enduring failures, forgiving myself for mistakes while playing and singing” (S1, 55 F4). Moreover, acceptance was visible in compassionate behaviors: “compassion for myself from the past because of unpleasant experiences related to music school” (S2, 61K18). In some cases, the participants also reported being able to do what was important to them in the context of being a musician, even in the presence of discomfort: “First, I would like to work on gaining full freedom of the apparatus, but also pure performance freedom in a stressful situation” (S1, 11F23). Participants also wanted to pass acceptance on to their students and were willing to implement it in their approach to teaching by “giving them an open approach to music regardless of its type and genre” (S1, 45M66) and, for example, by encouraging them to love music: “I would love to infect them with the love of music, e.g., even if they give up playing an instrument, I will be quite fulfilled if someday they enjoy listening to a concert” (S2, 1F25).

Defusion

It is crucial for coping with performance-related difficulties to be aware of thoughts that constantly occur during practice or performance and understand that they do not need to lead to actions. Participants reported being able to observe these unhelpful thoughts related to their work: “My mind often accuses me of not doing enough. I could be doing more work” (S2, 56M28). They also reported being able to let go of them: “I am self-aware enough that I am not consumed by other self-critical thoughts while playing” (S1, 52F22).

Self-as-context

It might be helpful to broaden one’s perspective so as to find different approaches to one’s feelings and experiences. Participants in our study used this skill in the service of others, most often in the context of teaching: “I want to work on the ability to properly approach a student without judging them, with an open mind, taking into account their life experiences” (S1, 52F22). It was also important for them to see themselves from different perspectives (e.g., as a teacher, performer, or conductor) so they could fully understand and experience their work: “I try to be someone other than who I was “trained” to be in music school” (S1, 50M20).

Contacting the present moment

Being in the present moment is an essential element of practice and performance, as it allows for more conscious management of difficulties. Awareness of the present moment brought benefits such as the experience of flow during performance, and of the performance as a whole: “when I play in a band . . . I feel the immense power that comes from collaborating musically with others” (S2, 48F29). Participants also showed the ability to notice their experiences of work as musicians, reporting a wide variety and diversity of feelings:

these emotions are, on the one hand, eternal unfulfillment, low self-esteem, and on the other hand, the awareness that music gives me some kind of release from these negative emotions and it also brings joy and fulfilment and allows for purification. (S2, 48F29)

Through focusing on (largely music making in) the present moment, participants reported being able to learn and develop their skills: “Above all, co-musicking is one of the best ways to improve musical relationships. No notes, just listen and respond to music using music” (S1, 50M20). Some participants were aware of their psychological functioning as musicians when they described their wish to make informed decisions about their future. This awareness went beyond contacting the present moment, indicating committed actions toward personal values:

I have recently been trying to analyse in which type of work as a musician I would find myself the most, which elements of my work give me wings and which destroy me. In this way, I would like to make decisions in the near future that will allow me to live in harmony with myself, my dreams and beliefs in the years to come. (S2, 2F30)

Fusion with thoughts

Acting in line with thoughts is an important element of many psychological difficulties faced by musicians (e.g., anxiety and depression). Participants reported fusion with thoughts that reduced effectiveness and sometimes led to helplessness and inaction. Many of these examples included critical thoughts related to participants’ abilities as a musician: “I’m hopeless, I won’t learn, I’ll forget” (S1, 48F26). They reported a variety of verbal rules that in their opinion were related to being a musician (e.g., putting off relationships, health, and self-care): “For music, I can sacrifice everything. Every day I sacrifice my time, whole days, and many relationships” (S1, 51F24). Participants also reported fusion with thoughts about why they were not able to achieve what they wanted as a musician. These were related to psychological difficulties including performance anxiety, for example, “I am blocked by stress and perfectionism” (S2, 60F27), and hurdles that were viewed as unsurmountable: “There is a tremendous competition and relentless judging in the music community” (S2, 62F23). Participants perceived the music industry and music community as highly unsupportive, competitive, and full of obstacles, at the same time offering limited financial possibilities and unstable prospects: “I am limited by an excess of poorly paid work. It takes time away from me that I could devote to my family and at the same time further develop my craft as much as possible” (S2, 27M28). Reports of perceived difficulties often preceded declarations representing experiential avoidance. Many examples of fusion concerned thoughts about not being good enough as a professional, which confirmed previous findings that musicians’ difficulties include coping with lack of perfection, peer-, and self-criticism (Dobson, 2011), and fear of negative evaluation and social avoidance (Lupiáñez et al., 2021). Fusion is a predictor of many psychological difficulties, and psychopathology such as depression and anxiety disorders (Gillanders et al., 2014, 2015), suggesting that it would be worth assessing musicians’ levels of fusion when working with them and planning future interventions. Counselors could also address more basic psychological risk factors identified in the study, such as rumination, negative thoughts, and self-criticism, since these are related to psychopathology and the achievement of goals (Powers et al., 2011). Musicians might cope better with professional demands if they were able to develop adaptive reactions to these factors.

Experiential avoidance

Participants often reported avoiding situations in which they were expected to play or perform because they found them difficult and were frightened of being laughed at or criticized. Avoidance behaviors included procrastinating, and postponing both practice and public performances: “I often put off playing in front of pianists/teachers I know because of the stress of the performance” (S1, 11F23). Experiential avoidance was also evident in participants’ reports of limiting contact with people and situations that might evoke difficult emotions (e.g., unfriendly professors or other musicians). For example, some participants indicated that they avoided relationships and groups of people they perceived as toxic. Although avoidance behaviors as the result of fusion (seeing others in a certain way) might be maladaptive in some contexts, they might be adaptive in other contexts, supporting the values of self-care and mental health prevention:

I avoid unpleasant professors (so I look for excuses not to come to class). I cannot stand people who are unfulfilled and arrogant at the same time, I do not accept an environment in which one “teaches” by humiliating another person. (S1, 48F26)

Avoidance behaviors were also related to the participant’s history of learning to play or sing, and their perception of music education more widely. Participants reported avoiding music making, performing solo in public, and meeting other musicians. Some avoidance behaviors resulted from traumatic experiences of violence and abuse in the past:

A piano teacher in the first-level music school made me very stressed and cry because she shouted, challenged, kicked under the chair, threw notes, and lowered the piano lid on my hands. I was 7-9 years old at the time. After this trauma, I returned to playing after 16 years as an adult woman. (S2, 22F35)

The avoidance of difficult situations was also related to the perception of the environment as being judgmental: “I avoid contact with authority figures, exams, being judged by people in a higher position than me because I internalize their judgments very easily” (S1, 32F35). Some instances of avoidance involved withdrawal from activities that threatened healthy psychological functioning; with more information about the context of these activities, these instances of avoidance could have been categorized instead as committed actions. The variety of emotions reported by participants in relation to their work suggests that it might be important and useful for intervention programs for musicians to include the knowledge and use of emotion regulation strategies (cf. Kaleńska-Rodzaj, 2021) promoting acceptance and self-as-context.

Self-as-content

According to participants’ responses, this process was strongly related to the fusion-with-thoughts process, whereby the individual sees themself as inadequate or not up to the job, for example: “Others are better, I feel I am imperfect in what I do” (S2, 7M30). They might feel limited by others or not self-confident: “despite the exercise, I still won’t be able to achieve what the professor wants” (S2, 10F21). Interestingly, some participants were able to identify the elements of their self-concept that were unhelpful: “I am very critical of myself and do not accept shortcomings in myself, which unfortunately are often unavoidable” (S1, 56M20). Another aspect of the self-as-content process was participants’ concepts of others, such as opinions about other musicians, their work, and their influence on participants’ lives, for example: “today trash, sex, and nudity [are] more important than talent” (S2, 23M30). Some participants indicated that these views led them to giving up professional relationships or projects: “I avoid musicians who are without ambition, are satisfied with what they have, and do not think about development” (S2, 57M52).

Inaction

Linked to the processes of experiential avoidance and fusion with thoughts, participants often mentioned inaction related to withdrawal from activities such as auditions, competitions, and solo performances. Participants also avoided other challenging activities could have helped them achieve their life goals: “Unfortunately, I stay away from stepping out of my comfort zone, which means I very rarely take risks, i.e., I don’t participate in castings or festivals” (S1, 53F28). In addition, they reported withdrawing from other important activities not related to music: “I put off taking care of my health and personal development” (S2, 35F24). Here, the cognitive fusion-with-thoughts process concerned lack of time stemming from the perceived necessity to sacrifice everything for music: “I put off being 100 percent myself” (S1, 15F20).

Inflexible attention

Not being in the present moment can lead to difficulties with concentration during practice or performance. Participants reported remembering and ruminating on “memories of music school, which was in some ways mentally debilitating” (S2, 61F18), unsuccessful performances, lost possibilities, and alternative futures: “I think about the fact that I had the potential to find myself in a much more profitable profession” (S2, 10F21). Inflexible attention affected the way participants practiced and their strategies for coping with stress and other negative experiences. These involved working until they were exhausted, or wasting time on social media or watching TV: “lack of ability to focus for extended periods during exercise, falling into ‘automaticity’ and ‘mindless practice’” (S1, 52F22). Responses also included information from teachers who were experiencing high levels of frustration as the result of curriculum-related difficulties, the nature of the profession (e.g., earnings, work-life balance, instability of future professional prospects), and its environment (e.g., competition, [lack of] professional respect). While these difficulties exist in the real world, they may also function as external barriers to committed actions if encountering them leads to fusion with thoughts (e.g., “Other musicians don’t respect my work,” “I won’t achieve anything in this environment”), the desire to avoid certain people or situations, the feeling that the work is meaningless, or rumination on negative experiences at music school. This suggestion is in line with the findings of previous studies showing that the occupational demands of the music profession influence well-being (Willis et al., 2019). Given that it is not always possible to resolve these difficulties, psychological interventions for musicians should consider their experiences as individuals within the broader context of working in a particular social and occupational environment. Counselors and those responsible for developing psychoeducational and prevention programs should include training in coping skills adapted to the needs of musicians and the difficulties they are likely to encounter in the real world.

Lack of contact with values

Whereas one of the flexibility processes mentioned most often was categorized as clarity of values, we also noted participants’ references to what might be described as a pseudo-value motivating them to take action: “I waste energy trying to get someone else’s approval” (S1, 15F20). Other unhelpful motivations were purely financial or related to striving for perfection; these sometimes led to participants limiting their performances or abandoning activities that represented their personal values: “I have given up practicing things that I know will not benefit me financially even though they relaxed me during my education” (S2, 27M28). They also mentioned lack of clarity of values. This could threaten the health of their psychological functioning in everyday life, as opposed to music making; as one participant said, “[prioritising] time spent on music over time spent on personal life” (S2, 35F24).