Inside Music Therapy Client Perspectives

thirty three fascinating narratives told from inside the music therapy roomsome written by clients some by parents and some by therapists and researchersall aimed at giving the client s personal perspective on what transpired there in contrast to professional case studies which describe what therapists did and what they were thinking these narratives reveal how music therapy is perceived and evaluated by clients basic but long overdue questions are posed how do they feel about working in music what meaning do they give to their experiences how does music therapy affect their lives intended for a general audience every reader regardless of background will learn much about how various approaches to music therapy actually work and how clients respond to them 1999 300 pages table of contents music therapist contributors xvii preface xix introduction xxv part i clients write about their experiences 1 when words are not enough helen bowe mary brown mudge and andrea frisch helen and mary write about using music improvisation in their individual sessions and andrea helens sessions in a psychiatric institution began when she was a teenager struggling with depression and continued when she was discharged she describes using her flute mary tells about making sounds and music that helped her to open to her feelings 3 2 out of the ashes transforming despair into hope with music and imagery cecilia herzfeld schulberg cecilia a music therapist writes of her experience as a client in which she as a child of holocaust survivors encounters and integrates her holocaust shadow she describes powerful images that emerged as she listened to music in a deep state of consciousness aided by the therapists who worked with her over several years 7 3 dealing with physical illness guided imagery and music and the search for self ann newel ann a mother of young children and a music therapist writes of six sessions of in dept therapy she began when she was being treated for cancer in her sessions