Why Music Therapy?
Music Therapy is the goal-directed and defined use of music characteristics by a board-certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) to support people with improving or maintaining coping skills, capacity to manage in the world around them, and develop an overall sense of well-being through a client-centered, culturally sensitive music intervention.
Dr. Deanna Hanson-Abromeit & Rachel Cooper-Stadler, © 2020
An experience-based approach.
Music Therapy is unique because it engages people in a felt experience.
Most clients who seek therapeutic services have experienced/are experiencing an event or life circumstance that can be described as more than "just thoughts." When a difficult thing happens, it is the experience as well as our thought process that impacts us moving forward. Our brain and body form a connection during any kind of experience: part of us feels what's happening and part of us thinks about what is happening. Sometimes, the formed connection leaves us with things we need to work through.
The human experience is a complex one, and that's why music supported interventions are so effective in addressing lived experiences. Music is complex, too. Because hard events trigger a series of actions that are often tied to reflexive parts of the brain (think fight or flight) it can be challenging to engage in therapy services that are only talk-based. In Music Therapy, we work through hard events and circumstances by speaking - but we also have the opportunity to combine movement, action, and body based interventions to build new skills. We can process (or reprocess) an event in a way similar to how our bodies originally processed it - through combined thought and felt experience. In therapy terms, Music Therapy is referred to as a "bottom-up approach" instead of a "top-down approach." This method of treatment works to quickly address the reflexive parts of the brain (where our survival instincts and fight or flight responses live). This type of intervention can be especially effective if someone is struggling with verbal expression, doesn't prefer to talk about an event or circumstance, or struggles to identify an incident with words. In client-centered Music Therapy the therapist is there to provide support, expertise, and guidance as needed. The client guides the interaction.
If your curiosity has been piqued, feel free to contact Interluding Opus, LLC, with any additional questions you may have.
You can also check out the FAQ section here.