How Trauma Affects the Singing Voice and the Path to Healing

Does trauma affect the singing voice, and the voice in general?

Yes, trauma of all kinds can affect the singing or speaking voice. Trauma can take away our natural voice and expression.

For those out there struggling with past trauma, their sense of identity, self-worth, with anxiety or depression, on top of dealing with the sensitivity that accompanies the artistic, creative path, I hope this brings some light to you.

Artist and creative individuals generally seem to have dealt with various kinds of emotional blocks, to psychological, emotional or physical trauma and anxieties like performance anxiety and such.

In addition, artists and creatives make a living from putting their emotions on display for everyone to see which can be challenging mental health-wise. They also have to invest in their projects upfront usually out of pocket with little real support and face the possibility of rejection. It takes a lot of courage and strength to actually succeed or to make a living at music.

It is required of artists to be sensitive, it’s in their nature if they’re good at it. They tend to view the world with greater sensitivity than other people. That sensitivity usually (but not always) comes about in their life from some difficulty or trauma which generally leads them to music as a path to express those feelings.

Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain development and trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry’s 2021 book “What Happened to You?” discusses the impact of trauma and how healing must begin with a shift to asking “What happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?”

This shift in perspective, an important distinction in the understanding of survivors of trauma, presents an opportunity for survivors of trauma of all kinds to see their situation in a new light with less guilt and shame.

To take that further: Dr. Gabor Mate says that “People think that trauma is what happens to you. Abandonment, your parent’s divorce, your mother’s depression, your father’s alcoholism, physical or sexual abuse. Those aren’t the traumas. Those events are traumatic. The trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you.”

Voice-specialized experimental psychologist, Elisa Monti says that “Trauma can be described as a particularly emotionally distressing event that happens to a person with potentially long-term effects on one’s wellbeing. Perhaps the most up-to-date conceptualization of trauma is that trauma is not necessarily the event itself, but trauma is how the nervous system responds to the event.”

Trauma lodges in the body, mind, spirit, and in our voices. The speaking and singing voice are affected in a myriad of ways. Our sense of ourselves, our self-confidence, mindset and self-regulating abilities are affected by the wounds and scars that follow the traumatic events in our lives. Survivors can’t “unsee” or “un-experience” these events and they continue to replay in one’s internal universe as these loops endlessly seek resolution.

Here are some of the ways that trauma affects the speaking and singing voice and approaches to healing. This is a deep subject with more to cover. For the purposes of a blog, I chose some of the more common issues. I will continue to cover this subject in additional blogs. I have added some of the prior blogs where I have discussed mental health and trauma at the bottom of this article. Feel free to write in to propose subjects you’d like to see covered or areas you need help with (write in to info@caricole.com).

1. Does PTSD affect speech and the singing voice?

Patients with PTSD tend to speak in flatter speech, with less articulation of the tongue and lips and a more monotonous tone, the researchers reported. We’ve known for a long time that you can tell how someone is doing from their voice. You don’t have to be a doctor to know when someone is feeling down.

Singers with PTSD could experience less breath support due to muscle tension and stiffness. When the body experiences trauma, muscles tend to contract and tighten causing tense necks and voices. In addition, psychological issues stemming from PTSD can cause emotional blockages in expressing oneself affecting the singing voice. These areas can be affected: self-confidence in performance, pitch, phrasing, breath control, volume, power, stamina among others.

2. How does anxiety affect your voice?

Anxiety in the singer often causes muscle tension around the larynx, in a group of muscles called extrinsic laryngeal muscles. These muscles are not the ones that move the vocal folds, but they are connected to laryngeal cartilages and can therefore affect the voice.

Recent research has shown that under periods of stress, the muscles that control the voice box become tense. Periods of prolonged muscle tension in the voice box can lead to an incoordination of the vocal control system.

Anxiety can make it difficult to speak up for yourself. Performance anxiety grips many singers making it hard to perform under pressure, or perform at all. Countless artists keep themselves out of the spotlight for that very reason.

3. Can grief affect your voice?

Previous studies have identified that depression can change the way we talk: our speech becomes flatter and more monotone, and we start leaving longer pauses. Speech patterns change when people are depressed: their speech becomes lower, more monotone, more labored, and has more stops, starts and pauses. And as depression worsens, the individual’s speaking becomes more gravelly, hoarse, and less fluent.

Voice loss associated with emotional distress is usually termed a ‘psychogenic’ voice disorder.

4. Does childhood trauma affect your voice?

Research shows that negative experiences in childhood have a long-lasting impact on one’s psychological outcomes and one’s physiology. Parenting practices (particularly those contributing to insecure attachment) and traumatic experiences in childhood may thus also influence vocal characteristics. Doctors specializing in trauma say a person’s vocal qualities can, indeed, change after they experience an abusive incident or series of abuses in childhood (Monti, et al., 2016. “What’s in a singer’s voice: The effect of attachment, emotions and trauma”).

As a survivor of early childhood trauma myself, my issues were more with disassociation. With traumatic events, a child can disassociate themselves from the circumstance in an effort to protect themselves from the overwhelming situation. This can become a trait (unbeknownst to the victim) that continues into adulthood. This can cause a lack of connection to one’s intuition or authentic self making it hard to connect with one’s emotions and instincts during singing.

5. Can emotional trauma cause speech problems?

Yes, emotional trauma affects speech as well. Speech difficulties that appear after an emotional trauma (psychogenic stuttering) are uncommon and not the same as developmental stuttering. Many famous musicians and politicians have had issues with stuttering. Singer-songwriter Bill Withers said it pushed him to write his own music to express himself. He and Ed Sheeran both stutter, but not when they sing. It’s as if the singing becomes a form of stability for their voices. They know exactly what they are going to say.

I take a holistic approach to help singers find their authentic voices and recover from trauma. It’s important to know that people that have experienced traumatic events are trapped inside their memories and emotions. They are not weak. They are hurt. Love and self-expression are some of the greatest healers.

Here are some of the approaches and methodologies that have helped me and many of the singers I have worked with:

Breathwork and diaphragmatic breathing exercises, Pranayama, Massage: Deep Tissue, Rolfing, Structural Alignment; Acupuncture, Cranial-sacral massage, Thai massage, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, vocal therapy, speech therapy, IFS Therapy, EMDR. Tapping, Transcendental Meditation (in particular), Psychotherapy, meditation, philanthropy, helping others, prayer, love from animals or humans :).

No matter what traumas or emotional issues you have been through in life, recovery is possible. Even more so it is highly probable when you have the courage to work on your issues. I have come a long way myself and helped many artists recover pieces of themselves and stand stronger in their own light. While the memories will never be erased, the emotions and triggers can become less toxic and lighten up as you move through exploring them. All you need is a willing mind and heart.

If you are having vocal problems or are recovering from vocal issues, we recommend you check out our Vocal Rescue Kit which comes with vocal therapy, speaking exercises and cool down exercises to reduce fatigue and inflammation that comes from overusing your voice.