NCJ Number
168184
Date Published
1997
Length
9 pages
Annotation
After discussing the basic concepts of music therapy, this paper describes such therapeutic work with a man who was psychotic and violent.
Abstract
The premise of the author is that music therapy can be used as a form of psychotherapy, whereby the relationship between client and therapist is developed through active music-making. Music therapists believe that sound can be used to help people without verbal skills to express themselves, and it can also help people who can speak to experience or express emotions for which they have not yet found words. The therapist needs to be a highly trained musician in order to facilitate this and to provide musical support on his/her own instrument, but no prior musical training or skill is needed in the patient. Music therapy can assist in the assessment of a patient, as it helps show aspects of the patient's state and patterns of communicating; it might also reveal the patient's inner world. The treatment effects of music therapy are illustrated in this paper through a case study of a man who killed his girlfriend while he was in an acutely psychotic state. The paper describes his assessment and the progress of therapy. The one-to-one relationship in the music therapy has been sustained for over a year, and the patient has expressed difficult thoughts to the therapist. The therapist considers that the patient's developing ability to discuss what is going on in the musical interactions indicates that he can sometimes use the medium as a way of experiencing and thinking about a relationship. The music has apparently assisted the patient in experiencing a sense of self and of self-in- relationship to another. At the same time, the musical medium is useful in helping the patient to maintain defenses and keep the therapist at a safe distance.