Analogies between Heavy Metal Music and the Symptoms of Mental Illness

Abstract

This paper builds a link between isolated domains within the arts and sciences, specifically between music and psychiatry. An analogous model is presented that associates heavy metal music with bipolar disorder, a form of mental illness. Metal music consists of a variety of subgenres with distinct manifestations of song, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocal structure. These manifestations are analogous to the symptomatology of bipolar disorder, specifically the recurrent episodes of (hypo)mania and depression. Examples of songs are given which show these analogies. Besides creating a subjective link between apparently unconnected knowledge domains, these analogies could play a heuristic role in clinical applications and education about the disorder and mental illnesses at large.