Hi everyone. It has been great reading posts from others who are in a similar boat... i can feen pretty isolated at times. Anyway, i wanted to start a thread about music, :whistling: because i have used it very effectively in my recovery journey.
The best for me has been "Meteora (Album)" by Linkin Park.
The way I hear the lyrics in many of the songs strke strong chords inside, helping me access very deep anger/rage and grief. I have spent many hours angering to their very apt songs, spluttering at my windscreen in my recovery car (the only safe place i can anger vent).
Spoiler warning!!! If your cPTSD was caused by a significant other (like i think most of us) there will be some emotions come up when listening.
Next "Out of Myself" (Album), by Polish band 'Riverside'.
Great for grief about me having and living with my dissociated selves. I did lots of crying while listening to this album. Again, deeply connecting with the lyrics.
These are just the 2 i get most out of. In fact it was listening to these albums that taught me i was not alone in this struggle. Before i even got the cPTSD diagnosis and started to work with the team of proffessionals i am now linked in with. These albums saved my sanity for almost 2 years.
Please share your recovery music, so i can broaden my options for the powerful emotional connections music can bring.
All the best from Oz. M
:applause:
When I want to get in touch with my anger, I listen to the Deftones' "Koi No Yokan" album or some of the older stuff. Tool is a good band too, for angering, but too many songs to list here.
I'm gonna go listen to your Linkin Park right now. ;)
Thanks for the suggestion Three Roses, i will give them a go in my little green recovery machine (my car LOL). Ta M :thumbup:
Mmmmmm Thanks Three Roses :cheer:, that hit the spot alright. :pissed: :thumbup:
:applause:
Great topic! When I was a teen [late 1970s], I would listen to the Who's album Quadrophenia and scream along with Roger Daltrey. Then a few years ago, I heard Bettye LaVette's version of "Love Reign O'er Me" which is perfect for my grown up recovering self. https://youtu.be/EJi6maTueSc
When I'm angry it's a lot of "Demon Hunter."
Most of the time though, when I'm having a rough time I listen to "Fly Leaf." My favorite song by them is, "Fire, Fire." (may be triggering if you have problems with your paternal figure, or your abuse was caused by alcoholic(s))
Bastille's, "Things We Lost in the Fire," is a great song to.
As a survivor of a sociopathic relationship, a LOT of pop music does it for me. Pop music has to be relatable, and unhealthy relationships are far too common in this day and age. That's my reasoning behind that, lol.
Anyway, I'm really into psychedelic music (simply the most interesting) and two artists really stick out to me that I was actually a fan of while I was still in that relationship... Kinda funny looking back on it, I really did know all along. Anyway, these artists would be Tame Impala (Seriously! Listen to Tame Impala lyrics sometime. They'll blow you away if you've ever been in a manipulative relationship) and, if I'm in a more depressed mood, I'll go with The Antlers. My favorite songs by each of them... Probably "Tame Impala - Music To Walk Home By (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Kb8wF_EFU)" and "The Antlers - Director (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDubIKkN94)". Both insanely relatable songs for me, they give me chills every time I listen to them.
Edit: Okay, one more. If you want an album that's more obviously about a manipulative relationship, there's this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGe2EKwJGmA) as well.
Quote from: ph0e on September 21, 2016, 08:30:19 AMSeriously! Listen to Tame Impala lyrics sometime.
I haven't gotten into Tame Impala, but a good friend gave the same recommendation, for the same reasons! I'm really into Amanda Palmer lately. Her piercing, funny, personal lyrics and punk style hit the spot for me (Runs in the Family is sometimes on repeat in my car. Some of her stuff is quite intense and not typically suitable for calming down). I also LOVE John Grant. I've been listening non-stop to his Pale Green Ghosts album for weeks lately--candid, personal, and painfully funny lyrics matched with luscious techno music. I put it in my ears when I need help with containment. (I'm the middle-aged woman shopping WalMart with earbuds permanently attached)
Thank you all.
Dirge by Death in Vegas makes me feel kind of playful and aggressively happy.
Lizzie - her version of Go Your Own Way really uplifts me.
Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass
If you like jazz at all, Wynton Marsalis has a half hour long song which is sort of a New Orlean's funeral for art called New Orlean's Function.
Meursault
Hey all!! This is the first time I have posted on here and I just wanted to share one artist that has really helped me keep chugging along when I just want to give up.
The artist's name is Crywolf and his best album is is only full album released so far called "Cataclasm".
If you want one specific song off the album listen to "Anachronism"
The genre is Indie/elecronic. Crywolf writes, sings, and produces all his songs. He's pretty amazing!!
Welcome, Isaac94! :)
Hello, I like the song "linkin park" too,,when I was very tired I listen to "style" and "closer" nowadays.I like most of the jazzy styles because they can wake me up..But one time I lost all of my songs in my iPhone you know every songs need to be paid to upload..and I remember the tool that can recover music of iPhone Iphone Music Manager (http://www.passwordmanagers.net/Iphone-Manager.html) and all of my musics come back!!!! I am so happy and grateful with it..
Hi Everyone!
New here and have to say this forum is amazing as are all of you! Music is a very powerful and healing force indeed. It has been my " savior" through much of my traumatic experiences. Being a musician ( Classical, Jazz, Blues, Progressive guitar) I've seen it change many lives for the better. I've been reminded as of late of this. It has been the only positive "constant" in my life through the years. Pretty epic to see it healing other lives as well! :applause:
I relate so hard to the song "For You" by Staind. Definite trigger warning for emotional abuse. I sang it at a therapy group once and the leader thought I wrote it at first because it matches my experiences so well.
(Also, first post! Hi!)
(Hi! Glad you're here!) :hug:
Hi everyone! I'm new here but would like to say that over all these years the best music for me is always upbeat & optimistic (like Earth, Wind & Fire) or instrumental (like Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow) or tons of songs by Led Zeppelin. Music that makes you feel happy & confident, makes you wanna dance or "takes you away" is what has helped me the most out of anything! It doesn't make you sad or re-live break-ups, or remind you of abusive person/people! Alot of other kinds of music seems to only keep my symptoms in the foreground and then I end up worse off... sometimes for days on end until I force my self to do my style of "music therapy".
I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this :) music has helped me so much. The songs that help when I'm going through a bad time are:
Safe & Sound by Electric President <3
The Death of Me (rock mix) by Asking Alexandria
Little Talks - Of Mice and Men or Julia Sheer cover <3
The Middle - Jimmy Eats World
I also really like Silk by Wolf Alice. It's probably my favorite song but it's pretty depressing lol. Really relatable for co-dependency, addiction and just generally living with a mental illness. Wary that it could be triggering. Personally I find it kind of validating, hearing a song that speaks how I feel when I'm having a bad moment, so it works well for me.
I enjoy Everybody Loves Me, Baby by Don McLean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGWz1sKV6j8, and I'm The Coolest by Alice Cooper.
I've got three that really hit me right where I live:
Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
Crossroads by Don McLean
A Million Years Ago by Adele
Edit:
Also, Magnolia by Gang of Youths, if I'm in a more volatile/contemptuous mood. There's a bit of swearing in it though, for anyone who may be sensitive to that kind of thing.
Relatable music is interesting because it can be so helpful to find something that understands me and, on some days, incredibly triggering, too. Surprisingly a lot of my music is by Goo Goo Dolls, which is not normally a band I would listen to for anything else. They capture confusion, pain, and identity difficulty like no other band I've come across.
"Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman because it captures, in hints, the sense of trapped-ness that I felt while I was living with my parents.
"Name" by Goo Goo dolls because it seems to understands my ambivalence about identity - wanting to be known and understood, but being afraid, and not really knowing who you are, on top of it all.
"Iris" also by Goo Goo dolls.
"I'm Still Here" by John Rzeeznik (main singer for Goo Goo Dolls), which is a lot about identity and your significance.
"One Last Breath" by Creed (suicide trigger warning)
Devin Townsend's Deconstruction is incredible, as is his album Terria (although Terria has its' own embedded emotional memories for me, being something I started listening to as a teenager...)
Deconstruction seems to be about his mental health and addiction recovery process, it's overwhelming, technically brilliant and... Just huge really :)
I have managed to develop a positive association with Craig Pruess' (sp?) Sacred Chants of Shiva, despite the loose association with a new religious movement I was involved with until recently.
It's some seeeeerious meditation music, whenever I put it on I am reminded of one of my first conscious moments of self-care; listening to it whilst making myself dinner despite being completely overwhelmed and 'not there.'
It's hard not to confuse 'music for recovery' with 'music that got me through my childhood/adolescence...'
In the latter category, however... Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral opened me up to the realisation that other people felt as horrible as I did.
Strapping Young Lad's City.
Fear Factory's Demanufacture (which was introduced to me by one of my abusers funnily enough,) communicated pain to me on such an intense level; something I needed. It's tiring to remember that I was 10 or 11 when I first heard it... I read these lyrics and think, god, not only was I into the music but this was SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO ME even before adolescence... I remember things like that when I start to doubt whether anything actually happened. Healthy pre-teens don't vibe with lyrics like this:
(Zero Signal)
So withdrawn and feeling numb
Watching life come all undone
Growing fear, a human grace
A drowning mind in a dark
Embrace
My life
A disarray
And I
Fade away
I am down on my knees
Praying beyond belief
The silence deafens my ears
And welds the shackless
Onto my tears
Lost
All faith
Lost
All trust
Lost
All faith
Lost
All trust
So withdrawn and feeling numb
Watching life come all undone
My life
A disarray
And I
Fade away
I am down on my knees
Praying beyond belief
The silence deafens my ears
And welds the shackless
Onto my tears
I have lost all faith
I have lost all trust
A sordid mesh turning to
Dust
I am lost
I am so numb
I am so numb...
Onto more positive things... New music that I have discovered which is awesome, and helping me bolster my personality as an adult, as an autonomous being:
Kartikeya - Mahayuga (technical death metal with hindu influences)
Cult of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Translates to 'Ascetic Meditation of Death') - Black metal a la Hindu philosophy, freaking AWESOME if you're into that kind of thing...
Wormlust - The Feral Wisdom (Black metal solo project, I've been listening to a lot of that genre lately... Don't confuse it with satanism, only a small portion of black metal artists are actually pushing that agenda... The heart of the music to me is reverence for nature, a desire to be subsumed into the forest, and for absolute solitude; all concepts which had worked their way into my own music before really delving into the arcane metal side of things...)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Little Birds
Neutral Milk Hotel - Ferris Wheel on Fire EP (Both of the above being releases I hadn't heard previously from that band, psychedelic fuzzy folk/noise/acoustic, with the most heart-wrenchingly emotional subject matter and delivery I have EVER heard. The singer/songwriter is apparently quite reclusive, and has definitely experienced a lot of pain. Their main albums, On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, come very very highly recommended by me, though they can be triggering in the most beautiful way.)
I could continue for some time, but that will do for now ;D
Very happy to have found this forum, thanks for posting etc. as I deleted my Facebook account a few years ago (for conspiritorial and self-care reasons,) which has turned out to be an incredibly positive move, but also a little isolating as a lot of support/special interest groups are entirely based on there these days!
I see you're new on here Bungle! Welcome :heythere:
I love mantra chanting myself, it does me a lot of good.
Thank you!
Mantra/meditation may well be the most important part of my self-care initiative, aside from the basics (eating, getting to work on time, showering and such :P)
It can also be quite fun when ones' brain throws in some kind of neurotransmitter release for their troubles (the most appropriate emoticon metaphor for this phenomenon being :sunny: )
More recovery music: Tesseract - Altered State... Progressive rock and metal with a beautiful sound and truly impressive song structures, and the vocals are just incredible. I waited 3/4 of the way through the album for the screaming to kick in before realising that it's all 'clean' falsetto harmonies and prettiness :applause:
Music is such a great tool in many situations! And it really helps to be mindful about what kind of music you need right now. I have several list and favorite albums for different situations. Right now I'm listening to the soundtracks from the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film. Lots of power and it makes me smile :)
Has anyone checked out Grace Vanderwaal's latest single "Clearly ("http://smarturl.it/Clearly)"? It is a remake of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" with additional lyrics. The song is heartfelt and the video is great as well. I find her new song inspirational and just the thing I need at the moment.
I assume everyone is aware of 'if it be your will' sung by Anthony and the Johnsons.
Live version on utube.
Joanne and One Million Reasons by Lady Gaga, as well as Be Kind To Yourself by Andrew Peterson.
Truth is a beautiful thing by London Grammar