Fans of These Musical Genres Are More Likely to Have Borderline Personality Disorder

They say that someone's taste in music can say a lot about them. Now, a new study is out that links certain individuals with different degrees of borderline personality disorder to specific preferences in music. The new study comes from the Psychology of Music, so while it's just one study, it's certainly interesting to see this possible relationship between musical tastes and borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is "a mental health condition. People with BPD have extreme mood swings, unstable relationships and trouble controlling their emotions. They have a higher risk of suicide and self-destructive behavior."

The study's author, Rafał Lawendowski of the Department of Family Studies and Quality of Life at the University of Gdansk, says his interests are on the psychological functions of music. "We know quite a lot about this subject considering the standard population. However, we were interested in the problem of the function of music among people with personality disorders, specifically people with severe symptoms of borderline personality disorder," he told Psypost.org.

The study had 549 participants and divided them up based on their scores on an abbreviated version of the Borderline Personality Inventory. The sample was 75.6% female, lining up with the demographics of people with the disorder. The researchers concluded that those in the study with higher borderline personality symptom severity had "distinct preferences" for certain genres of music, according to Psypost.org. They state, "Notably, individuals exhibiting higher symptom severity showed a preference for reflective and complex music genres, such as classical or jazz, while showing less interest in intense and rebellious genres like heavy metal or punk." So, it appears my love for heavy metal means that I'm less likely to have this disorder. I say, though, it's just one study. So, don't go thinking you have borderline personality disorder just because of your awesome jazz music collection.