Trauma
Music Therapy for trauma
Trauma comes in all forms, it can be singular traumatic events, repeated negative experiences, chronic health problems or grief. They are all things that can leave us feeling changed, questioning things, and unsure as to how to carry on.
Music therapy offers a non-confrontational way for clients to process events in their own time and way. This could include using the music symbolically, as a way to release unspoken or overwhelming emotions or as a way to connect with others.
The music therapist can explore a variety of activities such as lyric writing, composition, recording, and music listening, to help process/ integrate events so that you feel able to continue through life feeling more like yourself.
Practical Examples
Client experiencing grief
An adult has experienced the death of a close relative in unexpected circumstances. Despite a significant period of time passing, the client feels their grief is still overwhelming them and having a negative impact on their work and home life.
In the face of someone close to us dying, it can feel like we will never again return to the person we were before, the grief can be all consuming and unpredictable in nature and presentation making us feel on edge and anxious. Through communicating musically, it can offer the client a renewed sense of connection, reducing feelings of anxiety and isolation. The music can act as an emotional release without the need to get caught up in word choices or clear articulation. The music can be an outpouring, a way to communicate overwhelm while being contained and surpported musically by the therapist.
Adult with chronic health condition
The client is in their thirties and has been living with a chronic health condition for their whole life. Hospital appointments have left the client feeling demoralised, isolated, and with a lack of hope for the future. They have no peers who can relate to their situation, and this leaves them feeling rejected by their friends.
By connecting with someone through a creative and spontaneous medium, the client can begin to both connect with another and also connect to themselves outside their illness. Being a creative act, playing music can help support identity formation and self-esteem, allowing the client to connect with their creative self. Playing music is also a physical act, whether strumming, hitting, or playing a wind instrument, musical play enables us to feel connected to our physicality and integrate our bodies and minds together in a stronger sense of self with increased understanding and awareness of our physical and mental being.