Metal Is Good For Your Mental Health, A New Study Says

According to a new study, listening to metal music is actually good for your mental health.

The study entitled  "Contextualising the mental health of metal youth: A community for social protection, identity, and musical empowerment," and published in the Journal of Community Psychology found that metal has a positive affect on young people aged 18-24.

 The abstract for their study notes: Metal identities are popularly represented as leading to mental health issues but with flawed evidence. We documented the community contexts around metal and well-being by talking to young metalheads directly. We engaged in repeated, informal talks with 28 young Australians who strongly identified with metal (aged 18–24 years, 5 females and 23 males), and found that the metal identities and community protected them from mental health problems.


"Four core themes were found from transcripts," reads the abstract. "They were all bullied or marginalized through social relationships at school; they enjoyed the impact of metal music and lyrics when angry or ostracized; they felt part of a protective community of metalheads, even though in many cases at this age it was more imagined than real; and embodying metal identities enabled them to keep bullies, detractors, and others at bay, and to find friend groups."


 References: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.21949/abstract