Coping with mental health struggles through music

SALT LAKE CITY — Music is one of the ways that people cope with their mental health struggles, whether it’s by listening to music or writing their own.

On the latest Let’s Get Moving podcast episode, Host Maria Shilaos spoke with Ryan Meeks, singer-songwriter and KSL Podcast host and producer, to learn how writing music helped him navigate his mental health journey.

Below is a partial transcript of this interview.

HOST MARIA SHILAOS: Talk about how you first decided that you wanted to integrate music into your mental health.

MEEKS: It’s actually always been part of it. I started writing music at about 14 years old… I wasn’t like a popular kid in high school. Looking back—like what I know about my mental health now—I definitely had depression and anxiety back then. And [music] became my outlet… I would listen to these songs that I was learning, and a lot of them connected with me on certain levels. Then I started to try to express my pain and anguish or my feelings through writing music.

SHILAOS: As an adult now, how do you use music to cope with whatever it is that you were challenged with?

MEEKS: Music has kind of been that thing that’s always been there for me… People and things tend to let me down a lot, but I always have that time with my guitar and writing something and putting my feelings out in sound.

SHILAOS: What would you tell folks about music and how it can help them cope?

MEEKS: I think music is very cathartic, in general. I think we all usually connect with some kind of music… I feel that with my music, I’m just kind of saying, you’re not alone. There’s someone else out there that feels this way, too.

Listen to the podcast on KSL NewsRadio.com for the entire interview.

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