GameGrooves Asks: Dealing with Emotional Trauma
We’ve all experienced emotional trauma at one point or another, and for some of us (myself included), video game music has been a healing salve for our emotional wounds. I reached out on Twitter to see how many people had used video game music to cope with their negative emotions, and the responses only solidified my initial hypothesis—video game music has deep ties to our personality, memories, and sometimes, loved ones. It has the power not only to move us, but to heal us. I wanted to celebrate the power of VGM by sharing these responses with you all.
“I was going through a tough breakup period in 2018. It was one of the toughest emotional experiences I’ve ever had in my life. This was a few weeks after one of my covers came out, and I was working on another cover. I decided to add a sung vocal bit to the cover, since the two songs have the same melody more or less. The lyrics were actually super helpful and comforting to me to think about. I definitely felt like I was in the dark emotionally, and this video game song was something I could throw myself at completely, and have it comfort me. I still get chills when I go back and listen to that song.”
“When I was a teenager and young adult, I had to deal with a lot of different issues (depression, anxiety, physical health problems, domestic violence, etc.). A bunch of games and their music really helped me to relax and gave me motivations wake up on the day after, such as the FF games from VI to IX, Jade Cocoon, Guild Wars, and also funny platforms like Crash or Spyro.
But to this day, it's clearly the good old FF and JC that had the most impact. Listening to the OST really helped me to relax and find motivations, like some good old faithful friends.”
“I sunk into Persona 5 after so much work overload and life changes, including moving out on my own. Dedicating an hour or so each night helped me get back on track with sleep, stress management, and having time for just my relaxation.”
“When I was in the deepest recesses of depersonalization/derealization, the Kingdom Hearts series, Crisis Core, and EarthBound/MOTHER series soundtracks were a sort of auditory comfort blanket.
With EarthBound, it was a mix of positive, mood-lifting tracks (like “Pollyanna”, “Twoson”, “Snowman”, etc.) and spooky, intense tracks that reflected my actual emotional state (deeply confused, scared) for catharsis' sake. (i.e.: "The Cave of the Past/The Place," "Otherworldly Foe").
With Crisis Core, it was sad emotional music ("The Price of Freedom"[!], "The Burdened," "Why") that let me sit (or pace in circles, rather) and work through the confounded emotions I had from watching my mom deal with terminal cancer.”
“VGM's been my life raft these past years.
I'm diagnosed with severe depression, and I can't count the number of times just listening to soundtrack has helped calm down and ground myself. If it counts, the community has also been nothing short of supportive as well. Most of what grounds me is from games I've played before and have come to love (Final Fantasy, Professor Layton, Ace Attorney, etc), so I probably associate them with the happiness I felt playing those games.”
“Our little side VGM community lost one of our own members suddenly earlier this year that shook us all pretty badly. What helped us cope was putting together a massive cover of the level music from The Goonies 2 (NES) as a memorial.”
Thank you to everyone who responded, and if you want to share a personal story, feel free to respond to my initial tweet or send me a message privately at gamegrooves87@gmail.com. While video games and their music can help us cope with our emotional trauma, there is no substitute for professional care. If you or a loved one is struggling, be sure to seek out the appropriate help.