Relational needs in music therapy with trauma victims: The perspective of music therapists

Bensimon, Moshe

doi:10.1080/08098131.2019.1703209

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Third, the group music activities promoted acceptance and emotional validation. This is in line with findings pointing to music as a means for addressing the need for acceptance by accepting the individual’s needs and by musically validating the individual’s presence as ‘is’ (Bensimon, 2020). Fourth, taking part in SOP’s rehearsals and performances enhanced the aspiration of the participants to fulfil their purpose in life and fostered hope.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The relational need of acceptance is the need to be accepted by someone stable and dependable, someone who can provide protection, encouragement and information (Erskine, 1998). Accordingly, in this study, the participants' experience of a non-judgemental approach is in line with this relational need and with studies in music therapy showing that music, as a nonverbal and thus less judgemental means of expression, may easily address the need for acceptance via voice mirroring (Austin, 2001), music improvisation (Bright, 1999) or recognizing the individual's need to test boundaries, for example, by allowing clients to play music as loudly as they wish (Bensimon, 2020). Another relational need that is connected to this study is emotional validation, which is achieved by conveying to others that their presence, words and responses make sense and are understandable in their current situation (Linehan, 1997).…”

Section: Excellence In Agencysupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Another relational need that is connected to this study is emotional validation, which is achieved by conveying to others that their presence, words and responses make sense and are understandable in their current situation (Linehan, 1997). In this study, the participants' experience of emotional validation is compatible with the need for emotional validation through music, which was termed 'musical validation' by Bensimon (2020). Musical validation was found to be achieved through rhythm.…”

Section: Excellence In Agencymentioning

confidence: 59%

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Explaining post-prison rehabilitation through music from the Good Lives Model perspective

Bensimon

2021

European Journal of Criminology

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Whereas many research studies have discussed the impact of music programmes in a prison setting, few studies have investigated the impact of music programmes that take place outside the prison and are intended for formerly incarcerated individuals. The current study aims to fill this void by examining the experience of formerly incarcerated individuals who participated in a group music programme intended to assist them on their journey towards rehabilitation. Five formerly incarcerated individuals who participated in the Sounding Out Programme (SOP), a group music programme funded by the Irene Taylor Trust in London, were interviewed for this research. In addition, three programme staff members were interviewed in order to gain further perspective on the process. Content analysis of the interviews indicated the emergence of four central themes: improved social bonding, a sense of hope and life purpose, a sense of achievement, and transformation. These findings are discussed in light of the Good Lives Model (GLM). Accordingly, the SOP assisted both formerly incarcerated individuals and programme staff members in attaining the following GLM primary goods in life: community, relatedness, knowledge, spirituality, excellence in work and play, excellence in agency, and creativity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Excellence In Agencysupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Excellence In Agencymentioning

confidence: 59%

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Explaining post-prison rehabilitation through music from the Good Lives Model perspective

Bensimon

2021

European Journal of Criminology

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“…This article bases its analysis on findings of a comprehensive research project that was conducted to examine principles and techniques that guide music therapists when working with trauma survivors. This article focuses on the theme of integration, which was one of several major themes that emerged from the data analysis (for more major themes that emerged from the data, see Bensimon, 2020aBensimon, , 2020b.…”

Section: The Aim Of the Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of trauma in music therapy: A qualitative study.

Bensimon¹

2022

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

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Objective: The importance of integration in psychotherapy is a growing area of research, theory, and practice, especially regarding traumatic events. Although research relates to integration in the context of music therapy with trauma survivors, it has rarely been the main focus of research. The current study investigates which principles and techniques guide music therapists to facilitate integration of trauma survivors. Method: Using the phenomenological approach, analysis of semistructured interviews with 41 experienced music therapists working with traumatized populations was conducted to identify themes regarding their perception on integration. Results: The findings yielded three different ways of integration. Body integration entails the ability of active music playing to serve as a sensorial stimulus that bypasses linguistic and logical mediation and enables clients to live in peace with their body and feel whole. Event integration relates to a process by which a repressed traumatic event reemerges into consciousness through music and leads to emotional and cognitive integration of that event. Lastly, life story integration relates to the ability to perceive a life story as a whole. The process includes embedding a trauma into the natural flow of a life story through music and achieving emotional and cognitive integration. Conclusions: These three ways of integration are conceptualized as a progression of three consecutive levels of integration which may assist music therapists in their work with trauma survivors. Clinical Impact StatementThe findings indicate three consecutive levels of integration which may be achieved in music therapy with trauma clients. Body integration entails the ability of music to be a sensorial stimulus that bypasses linguistic and logical mediation and enables clients to live in peace with their body and feel whole. Event integration is the process by which repressed traumatic events reemerge into consciousness through music and lead to emotional and cognitive integration of the event. Lastly, life story integration is the process of embedding traumas into the natural flow of a life story through music and achieving emotional and cognitive integration.

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“…Broadly, music therapy practice with people who have experienced trauma can be understood across several therapeutic orientations, including psychotherapeutic, cognitive and neurobiological, and resource-oriented approaches. In a recent study that explored the practices of 41 senior music therapists who work in trauma contexts, Bensimon (2020) proposed that music therapy offers a significant opportunity to attend to trauma survivors’ relational needs. The study outlined four important processes that can occur in music therapy trauma work: “musical validation,” “emotional witnessing through music,” “musical witnessing as a self-object,” and “attuned music involvement.” Bensimon’s research joins a body of scholarship that locates the benefits of music therapy as a psychotherapeutic medium for healing from trauma, cultivating the client’s sense of self, creating opportunities for externalization and internalization, and re-establishing a capacity for relatedness ( Austin, 2008 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Limits of Resilience and the Need for Resistance: Articulating the Role of Music Therapy With Young People Within a Shifting Trauma Paradigm

Scrine

2021

Front. Psychol.

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A broad sociocultural perspective defines trauma as the result of an event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening, with lasting impacts on an individual’s physical, social, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing. Contexts and practices that aim to be “trauma-informed” strive to attend to the complex impacts of trauma, integrating knowledge into policies and practices, and providing a sanctuary from harm. However, there is a body of critical and decolonial scholarship that challenges the ways in which “trauma-informed” practice prioritizes individualized interventions, reinscribes colonial power relations through its conceptualizations of safety, and obscures the role of systemic injustices. Within music therapy trauma scholarship, research has thus far pointed to the affordances of music in ameliorating symptoms of trauma, bypassing unavailable cognitive processes, and working from a strengths-based orientation. In critiquing the tendency of the dominant trauma paradigm to assign vulnerability and reinforce the individual’s responsibility to develop resilience through adversity, this conceptual analysis outlines potential alternatives within music therapy. Drawing on a case example from a research project with young people in school, I elucidate the ways in which music therapy can respond to power relations as they occur within and beyond “trauma-informed” spaces. I highlight two overarching potentials for music therapy within a shifting trauma paradigm: (1) as a site in which to reframe perceived risk by fostering young people’s resistance and building their political agency and (2) in challenging the assumption of “safe spaces” and instead moving toward practices of “structuring safety.”

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Relational needs in music therapy with trauma victims: The perspective of music therapists

Cited by 14 publications

References 38 publications

Explaining post-prison rehabilitation through music from the Good Lives Model perspective

Explaining post-prison rehabilitation through music from the Good Lives Model perspective

Integration of trauma in music therapy: A qualitative study.

The Limits of Resilience and the Need for Resistance: Articulating the Role of Music Therapy With Young People Within a Shifting Trauma Paradigm

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