Video Transcription

Music Feedback – The Disappointed

Hey, I’m Dave, and today I’m talking to Michael and Mark from Disappointed about mental health. It’s in their fingers, in your inherent stride. So, can you start by telling me a bit about your own experiences with mental health issues?

Sure. Well, I’ve suffered from anxiety and depression since adolescence, really. Anxiety is the bad one for me, kind of a constant drone of anxiety in my life, and I find that just kind of leads on to depression. You get depressed about being so anxious.

How about you, Mark?

I guess, similar to Michael. I started suffering from anxiety and depression when I was younger. I don’t know when I realized that it was severe or when I realized I actually had it. I think it just became something that I’ve had for a long time, and it’s strange. I guess I never thought mine was very serious, so I didn’t really tell anyone about it. It’s not easy to talk to anyone about it. I still don’t really know how to do it properly, but having a band around that have gone through similar things helps.

Do you find it helps having a creative outlet?

I always loved music, so for me, listening to music was something that was a bit of an outlet. As I got older, I started listening to lyrics more and watching documentaries. I saw there were bands that were going through similar sorts of things, and I think that helped me. It made me realize that I’m not the only one that feels like this. So I think more than anything, it’s something to do to keep me busy. The creative outlet certainly helps, but just having lots of projects on the go and hanging out with friends and keeping busy is really important for me.

Well then, what really helps with your mental health issues?

I think the best thing you can do is try as hard as you can to stay healthy. I think diet and exercise—it’s quite a boring answer, but it’s really, really important and central. Then that can be quite difficult because once you get into these anxiety and depression cycles, your first instinct is to fall upon old habits, and the motivation to do these things is very hard to come by once you’re in there. But I found nothing has helped me more than that—diet, exercise.

Do you guys find that talking to people or just simply being around people helps with your issues?

I definitely find it does, but it’s the last thing on your list of instincts to do when you’re feeling these things. It’s far more natural to isolate yourself completely and just disappear from everything, because the thought of being around people is just another source of anxiety. But as soon as you find that you follow through with a commitment or something—like being around your friends or having a rehearsal or something like that—it does make things a lot better straightaway. So, it seems, the funny thing is, you’ve got to work against your instincts in situations, I found.

How about you, Mark?

Yeah, I agree as well. I think when I was at my worst, it was when I was more isolated and being alone for long periods of time, or not really interacting with anyone. Definitely makes it worse. I think when I was at my worst as well, I was really good at faking it and keeping it to myself, not showing anyone that I had issues, and that was almost just as bad. I think you really need to interact properly and connect as much as you can when you’re having bad times.