An investigation of pivotal moments in music therapy in adult mental health

Abstract

This article describes a study that investigated pivotal moments in music therapy in adult mental health settings. A phenomenological qualitative method was used in order to search for answers to the questions for investigation. It included an extensive literature review, regarding pivotal moments from different fields, including music therapy. Three semi-structured interviews with music therapists investigated their experience of pivotal moments, the role function and importance of pivotal moments in music therapy. Detailed information was analysed using Phenomenological Interpretative Analysis (IPA). A case study supports the evidence gathered in the interviews and literature review, and describes the emergence of a pivotal moment and its contribution within a short-term individual music therapy treatment with a man with schizophrenia. Gathered information and results from the interview analysis highlight distinctive characteristics of pivotal moments and their contribution to the patients' lives and therapists' work. Pivotal moments are found to change the music therapy process and lead to a better understanding of the patient. The role of the therapist, the therapist's qualities and basic features or techniques that support the emergence of pivotal moments, are also discussed.

Microskills Training: A Model for Teaching Verbal Processing Skills in Music Therapy

“…Paulander's study (as cited in Lindblad, 2016) showed that verbal processing in music therapy enables clients to process, understand, and give meaning to their musical experiences. Gavriedlidou and Odell-Miller (2017) concluded that verbal expression is a comment component in pivotal moments (i.e., turning points) in music therapy. Finally, Goldberg, McNeil, and Binder (1988) found that clients viewed music therapy to be helpful in much the same way that verbal group therapy is helpful.…”

Significant Moments in Improvisational Music Therapy

“…These moments were often reported to develop from structured musical interactions that created familiar connection points between the therapist and client. Gavrielidou and Odell-Miller (2017) found that structured music and interventions were more likely to evoke pivotal and significant moments within sessions. These moments could happen while engaging with both pre-composed and improvised music.…”

“…Therapeutic progress can often be characterized by periods of growth, and plateau as the client moves through stages of their therapeutic process. Pivotal and meaningful moments are sometimes used to characterize phases of therapy and can represent aspects of the therapeutic relationship (Gavrielidou & Odell-Miller, 2017). Significant moments in therapy occur when something new, different, pivotal, or especially meaningful happens and can be instrumental in client and therapist perspectives on the therapeutic process and relationship.…”

“…The therapist then becomes attuned to many possible methods a client uses to engage in the therapeutic space by entering an expressive relationship through improvisation (Cameron, 2017;Swaney, 2020). For some individuals, verbal processing leads to inauthentic experiences or resistance even when verbal language is their primary form of communicating with others (Gavrielidou & Odell-Miller, 2017;Polen, 2013). Improvisation can allow the therapist and client to engage in exploration and communication in a contained environment without the barriers that may come with verbal processing.…”

Musical recovery: the role of group singing in regaining healthy relationships with music to promote mental health recovery

“…Psychoanalytic theory and practice are used in the understanding of the music therapy process, along with a focus on the exploration of past experiences in the person's development of new relationships. In their article describing music therapists' perspectives of pivotal moments of music therapy, Gavrielidou and Odell-Miller (2016) provide an example of psychodynamic work within a mental health setting that illustrates the way it is used to explore consumers' past experiences. They describe 'pivotal moments' as powerful and meaningful experiences for the consumer which provoke change in their understanding about their current situation.…”