Mental Health Mixtape #1: Songs about Counseling

As a teenager I was exquisitely jealous of the kids who drew, played guitar, or otherwise had some tangible talent they could show off.  I remember a friend of mine describing the artistic range exhibited in our circle and, sarcastic and self-deprecating as a 14-year-old girl can be, I added “Oh, and I make mix CDs!” with an air punch.

Ok, but really! I delight in seeking out new music and curating playlists.  It’s a practical art, and as delightful as birdwatching when you find the song that fits just so.  For a little while now I’ve been collecting songs about mental health and counseling. These songs span a wide range of genres and express a wide range of feelings about therapy: relief, empowerment, frustration, humor.  I get it. I feel that too.

1. Therapy, Mary J. Blige (R&B)

Why would I spend the rest of my days unhappy?

Good point, Mary J.!  This line ushers in a lush soul take on this logic: that if you don’t like the way things are, why not change?  Blige herself said about the song, “I just felt like the message was universal. Because I think everybody needs a little bit [of therapy.]”

When I can go to therapy/Two times a day

Initially this line gave me pause, because most people don’t.  Go to therapy two times a day, that is (unless they are in crisis or have been recently). But Blige clarified what she meant:

“And it's not, you know, literally sitting in front of a doctor all the time. It could be whatever your therapy is. What works for you."

Alright, then. If I can add bubble tea and solo creek hikes to the list, therapy two times a day is just what the doctor ordered.

2. We Should Go To Counseling, Quiet Company (indie rock)

I first heard this song performed live, and at the time I had no idea it had anything to do with counseling.  I did know that its wry exuberance about transforming pain into something new hit me like a freight train. I think I literally laughed out loud when I saw the title.

And oh, that chorus:

You’ve got to change, change, change mother fucker

You cannot stay the same, same, same expecting progress

You’ve got to do the work, work, work and if you want it

You’ve got to let it hurt, hurt, hurt until you’re smarter

3. Psycho Therapy, the Ramones (classic punk)

This song rides with two soulmates in the Ramones oeuvre that also address therapy: “Teenage Lobotomy” and “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment.”  Unsurprisingly, none of them are all that positive about psychiatric treatment. The Ramones, provocateurs as they were, loved gleeful treatments of difficult social issues:  “Beat on the Brat”(child abuse), “53rd& 3rd” (prostitution), Pet Sematery (zombie pets.)

Look, I’m no punk rock studies grad student (if you are, let’s hang out) but I imagine that kids in the scene were sent to a lot of nonconsensual therapy.  And it probably sucked. So, I can understand where this strain of feeling comes from.

A deep current of suspicion imbues the psychiatric field, and justifiably so.  Many generations of therapists have legitimized mainstream attitudes that treated non-normative people as deviants.  Examples include early therapists’ condescension towards women’s struggles in a patriarchal culture; conversion therapy seeking to “treat” homosexuality; and the hundreds of thousands of lobotomies performed on people throughout the first half of the 20th century.

4. What Do You Hear In These Sounds?, Dar Williams (contemporary folk)

Whereas other songs on this list mostly reflect the artists’ feelings about therapy, this track captures therapy down to lines of in-session dialog.  Williams captures the “aha!” realization many therapy clients report: that it’s ok. It’s fine. I’m just a person struggling to get through this life one day at a time, like most everyone else out there.

And I thought that if we met, I would only start confessing

And they'd know that I was scared

They would know that I was guessing

But the wall came down and there they stood before me

With their stumbling and their mumbling

And their calling out just like me

This video is a charming artifact of ‘90s Lilith Fair feminism.

5. 1080p, Sammus (hip-hop)

Sammus impresses me over and over. PhD, video game nerd, rapper, activist, and now postdoctoral fellow at Brown University.  Deeply personal, the song 1080p delves into Sammus reckoning with impostor syndrome while simultaneously ending a relationship and completing her PhD at Ithaca.  Oh, and she’s hilarious and quick-witted with rhymes that delight. In slice-of-life style she writes elegantly about her low points:

Eatin’ Chex Mix feelin’ helpless

I really miss my fuckin’ ex, it’s

Such a mindfuck cause we never talk

Yet we still share a fuckin' Netflix

Then she delivers with just as much power in the second half of the song when she writes about her recovery and growth:

Now I see the past with some clarity

Glad I took my ass to some therapy

I couldn’t understand my day-to-day without the soundtrack playing between my ears that is one part commentary and one part encouragement.  Without reflection, the things you do every day can easily become like a word you say over and over until it’s just syllables, just noise. Finding music that reflects on therapy helps me understand it, laugh at it, and celebrate it.  All things I find necessary for anything I love.

I’ve got a playlist for depression; for anxiety; for the days when you just feel awesome.  Perhaps fodder for mental health mixtapes to come?

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