Sally Anne Gross featured in article on psychological distress in musicians

Last month, Principal Lecturer Sally Anne Gross was quoted in News Decoder, a global educational news service, in a recent article highlighting the growing mental health crisis among professional musicians.

The article explores the stark contrast between the widely celebrated emotional and cognitive benefits of music and the often unseen psychological toll faced by those who pursue music professionally. Drawing on global studies and personal insights from industry experts, it paints a comprehensive picture of the emotional and financial pressures embedded in the music industry—from unstable incomes and performance anxiety to the unrealistic expectations of success in the digital era.

Sally Anne Gross brought critical insight to the discussion, emphasising the emotional labour inherent in music careers. She compares the emotional demands placed on musicians to the physical exertion of athletes, warning that those working with their emotions should expect emotional injuries as part of their occupational risk.

“There’s an interrelatedness to sport, where the body’s running so fast and in doing that, you would expect it to get injured. If you’re working with your emotions in your working environment … you can expect that you might have emotional injuries.”

She also critiques the modern pressure on artists to project “authentic pain” in a hyper-digital world that values vulnerability as a currency for attention. The potential for emotional exploitation in the pursuit of success is high and costly.

“I think we have to reassess and re-evaluate the ways in which creative industry jobs have been sold to the next generation. We have to really think about what’s happening in the educational space … and it’s absolutely essential that we deal with the issues and challenges of the working environment for all professionals.”

Read the full article here.

Image by Rahul Pandit from Pixabay