21 Songs About Anxiety That Will Make You Feel Understood

Music, Such as Songs About Anxiety, Can Help Reduce Stress

During the pandemic or due to work pressures and social anxieties, stress might have been a common experience for many. Pew Research Center data from 2021 indicates that a significant portion of Americans faced psychological distress due to the pandemic’s impact on their physical, mental, and financial well-being.

At its core, stress triggers the production of hormones like cortisol in response to various events. In situations like being chased by a bear, cortisol serves a protective purpose, activating the fight-or-flight response for survival. However, sustained release of stress hormones during ongoing socio-emotional challenges, such as work strain or a breakup, can lead to excessive cortisol production.

Excessive cortisol levels can lead to health issues like heightened inflammation and a weakened immune system, alongside impacting mental well-being by inducing feelings of anxiety.

Remarkably, music has shown promise in counteracting these effects by reducing stress and anxiety. Research suggests that listening to music can lower cortisol levels and calm the nervous system, relieving stress. Engaging in music composition has similar benefits, aiding in emotional release, anxiety reduction, and overall mental wellness.

Music’s Pleasure Response

Amidst high cortisol levels, music is a helpful tool in stress management. Research suggests that music can reduce cortisol levels, potentially calming the body’s fight-or-flight reaction, as observed in studies.

Moreover, music triggers the release of feel-good hormones in the brain. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation, gets activated in the brain’s reward region when we engage with music. This activation is akin to the brain signaling an urge to experience that pleasure again.

Beyond its impact on hormones, music influences biological functions to alleviate stress. According to research, the tempo of music can regulate your heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing. Slower music, particularly in the range of 60 to 80 beats per minute (BPM), can effectively slow down the body’s activity, providing a calming effect during moments of worry or agitation. This relaxed pace aids in decompressing an overly active nervous system, prompting the body to release pleasure-inducing chemicals, effectively offering a dual benefit.

Songs About Depression And Anxiety

If you struggle with anxiety, you may already be aware of how much your worried thoughts can be calmed by listening to music. Your favorite songs or a calming playlist may help you feel calm when physical or mental problems become too much to handle.

Realizing you aren’t alone may also make you feel more at ease. It might be comforting to know that others have experienced similar worried feelings, and it can also help you cope.

The songs mentioned below are examples of music about anxiety that you can listen to to help normalize your experience and replace feelings of loneliness with ones of connection and solidarity.

Of course, there are many possible meanings for lyrics. These songs, which span various genres, were chosen because the lyrics, in some way, capture the experience of having anxiety.

Skip To:

Learn More:

• Anxiety Disorder Treatment
• Anxiety and High Blood Pressure
• Tea for Anxiety
• Is Anxiety a Disability? Can You Get Disability for Anxiety?
• Rehab for Depression & Anxiety Treatment
• What is the Best SSRI for Anxiety?
• Social Anxiety Disorder Test
• Grounding Techniques for Anxiety Attacks
• Mental Health Poems That Are Powerful and Healing
• Short-Term Disability Mental Health

22 Songs For Depression And Anxiety: Songs About Anxiety And Depression

1. “Crawling” – Linkin Park

Many lyrics by Linkin Park discuss despair and anxiety, but few of them are as graphic as crawling. It captures many people’s uneasy feelings in their flesh with its descriptive lyrics. Anxiety and agony leave a persistent wound that never seems to heal.

It’s a driven and indignant song about worry that rages more against the feelings themselves than it is about lamenting a loss of regular functionality.

2. Willow, The Anxiety, Tyler Cole – Meet Me At Our Spot

The vocalists’ actual uneasiness in their daily lives, it seems, served as inspiration for the band’s moniker, “The Anxiety.” Similarly, “Meet Me At Our Spot” is built around a mental health topic, with the first verse focused on the vocalist(s) experiencing insomnia and the second stanza highlighting oversleeping.

Both Willow and Tyler express the hope that as they get older, these illnesses may become less severe. Or, as they put it, when they’re “older,” they’ll “be so much stronger.”

3. “Help” – The Beatles

This one’s a classic: Help is a well-known song by a well-known band, and it’s also a song that’s extremely simple to interpret as being about anxiety. This song portrays the sense of powerlessness and the subsequent appreciation many feel when someone notices, with the catchy words concealing a great deal of anguish.

The lyrics provide listeners a glimpse into the feelings behind the song, and even Paul McCartney has gone so far as to affirm that they are based on actual events.

4.“Trouble” – Hamish Anderson

Ever feel like anxiety and fear are closing in on you, but nobody seems to notice or care? This feeling, which many individuals who suffer from anxiety experience, inspired Hamish Anderson to write the song Trouble.

5. The Song Anxiety: “Overkill” – Colin Hay

Overkill will tell you if you’ve ever had a night where you couldn’t sleep because your mind wouldn’t shut off. This song by Colin Hay is probably best remembered for appearing in a Scrubs episode. Still, it’s a very relatable tune for anyone who has ever pondered something for an extended time that perhaps didn’t require as much thought.

6. “Waving Through a Window” – Dear Evan Hansen

One of those musicals, Dear Evan Hansen, captures a specific kind of high school angst that, for those who have experienced it, is almost unbearably difficult to see. One of the most authentic songs about social anxiety is Waving Through a Window, which includes the stress of feeling invisible and the longing that comes with being out of the spotlight. Although it won’t be played on the radio, this song will undoubtedly resonate with individuals who experience social anxiety.

7. “Breathin’” – Ariana Grande

If you’ve ever experienced an anxiety attack in front of others, they’ve probably advised you to breathe. This song by Ariana Grande is a tribute to that sense of being overburdened and overloaded, which leaves you only able to pay attention to your breathing.

The complexity of life and feelings of being overwhelmed are also topics covered in the song, particularly the notion that having just one thing go well can, at the very least, temporarily alleviate all of your concerns.

8. “BasketCase” – Green Day

In their discography, Green Day has written several songs about feeling down or poorly, with Basketcase being one of the greatest. The song uses a straightforward musical framework to take listeners on a rollercoaster ride through the singer’s worry, from questioning if he’s sharing too much to listing all his futile attempts to control it. You’ll probably recognize anything here if you’ve attempted to overcome your nervous sensations using self-help techniques.

End the Emotional Pain. Get Your Life Back.

Feeling Depressed, Anxious or Struggling with Mental Health Illness? Get Safe Comfortable Mental Health Dual Diagnosis High-Quality Therapy From Counselors That Care. Begin Your Recovery Now.

Hotline (855) 940-6125

9. “Unwell” – Matchbox 20

Unwell by Matchbox 20 is a rare exception that discusses feeling a little bit unwell and is an uncommon song concerning mental health in the band’s discography. The song effectively captures the feelings of being unable to sleep and being on the verge of a breakdown, both of which are prevalent among those who battle with anxiety.

With lyrics about folks on the training understanding that you’re not at your best, the song even briefly touches on the paranoia that comes with feeling off.

10. “The World at Large” – Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse’s song on anxiety is all about the issues that arise from becoming stuck in a loop, with thoughts so loud that they overpower speech. Plagued by obsessive ideas and an incapacity to break free, the singer is locked in a loop of starting over rather than making positive changes.

The lyrics of this song should resonate with everyone who has ever felt too anxious to move forward with their lives, even though this may also be applied to depression.

11. “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath

While the song “Paranoid” undoubtedly concentrates on paranoia, it also captures the essence of worry. Thinking about things all day that don’t improve life?

If you are unable to put an end to that pesky notion, do you feel insane? Put the driving background guitar that genuinely gives the listener the impression that they are skidding out of control; those are essential components of the anxiety experience. This timeless song covers many topics, but anxiety is loud and clear.

12. “Help I’m Alive” – Metric

The core themes of Metric’s song revolve around the typical signs of anxiety, such as a racing heart and a protagonist who feels that each mistake will result in an enraged horde descending. Help I’m Alive is all about a person’s racing heart as they battle a form of anxiety that has gotten out of hand, allowing the listener to relate to the physical sensations that are so typical among those who experience severe anxiety.

13. “Anxiety” – Jason Isbell

Jason Isbell has got you covered if you’ve ever felt anxiousness prevents you from being in the present and relishing the moment. While the guitars conjure an uncomfortable tension, the lyrics detail his troubles with social engagements and even his marriage.

Isbell has claimed that he worked together with his wife to express the gravity of the occasions that caused panic attacks. He intended the song to have meaning for listeners dealing with worry in all of its manifestations.

14. “Flagpole Sitta” – Harvey Danger

“Flagpole Sitta” laments anything from losing faith in your fellow man to grief with a lighthearted attitude. The singer, Sean Nelson, feels the world’s weight crushes him. Who could ever forget how his eyes would flicker back and forth in the video as he sang, “Paranoia, paranoia/coming Everybody’s to get me”?

15.“Rose-Colored Boy” – Paramore

Regarding songs about anxiety, Paramore’s contribution stands out for its upbeat mood and catchy tempo. But behind it all, there are lyrics about being compelled to pretend to be happy when genuinely depressed.

Singer Hayley Williams portrays a struggling news anchor in the music video. She is surrounded by screens in one scenario that urges her to “smile more,” “be joyful,” and “drink more coffee.” She doesn’t take long to erupt in rage.

16. “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” – the Geto Boys

The bravado and fury demanded by gangsta rap in the early 1990s left little room for mental health considerations. With “Mind Playing Tricks On Me,” a song by The Geto Boys that addressed the stress and paranoia associated with the lifestyle, they changed that.

The lyrics, accompanied by pounding music, convey a fragility below all of that macho. The song refers to both vocalist Scarface’s stint in a mental hospital after making threats to hurt himself as well as the ongoing threat of violence resulting from gang life.

17. “The Message” – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

The song “The Message” was historic for a variety of reasons. Hip-message hop of inner-city poverty and social injustice was also thrust to the forefront, along with hip-hop. “Don’t push me because I’m near to the edge/I’m trying not to lose my mind,” it said, without minimizing the psychological impact that could result.

18. “In The Garage” – Weezer

While there were many songs about worry on Weezer’s seminal 1994 self-titled album (also known as “The Blue Album”), “In The Garage” may be the one that stands out the most.

Rivers Cuomo, a songwriter, has penned numerous songs about the struggle with feelings of social inadequacy. Here, he finds refuge from everything in his garage. They’re all there, whether it’s his collection of X-Men posters, his Dungeons & Dragons table, or his beloved electric guitar, ready to offer solace and comfort.

19. “Come As You Are” – Nirvana

Kurt Cobain spends “Come As You Are” outlining all the inconsistencies in how we are expected to act and behave, set to a sad and menacing guitar riff. The lyrics also explore how we choose to trust others and how they behave toward us.

A concoction of worry is created by the combination of all these uncertainties. All of this, of course, is unrelated to the song’s melancholy refrain. Despite the sardonic humor Cobain was known for, his pain is evident in this piece.

20. “Shake It Out” – Florence + the Machine

It’s hard to recollect any concern as vocalist Florence Welch moves through the upbeat chorus of “Shake It Out.” That’s exactly the reason; it’s her escape from the oppressive weight of worry.

The lines invoke the listener’s deepest emotions and the wretched feelings they feel they will never escape from conflict with the choruses. If this resonates with you, you might benefit from shaking it out for yourself.

21. “Disturbia” – Rihanna

Rihanna has previously been open about her struggles with anxiety. She even acknowledged leaving the Grammys early because she was experiencing anxiety. Although that was in 2016, she had previously discussed the illness in “Disturbia” from 2007.

The song’s menacing undertone and the equally menacing design of the accompanying music video allow Rihanna’s singing to cycle over anxious-inspiring scenes. The song’s message can be a little hazy, although it frequently references feelings of restlessness and being stuck.