The musical experience as Psychotherapy:

Journal/Book: Musiktherapeutische Umschau. 1984; 5: STUTTGART. G. Fischer Verlag. 189-195.

Abstract: This article examines the question of which psychological factors are involved in the effective influencing of conditions of mental illness by means of an inner encounter with music. The example given indicates that music as a means of psychotherapy cannot be described in terms of the laws of natural science alone, not in terms of the theories and mechanisms of conventional psychologies. A musical experience is, above all, an event which can unconsciously enable a person to say that he or she has had an encounter with him or herself. As an elemental phenomenon originating in the biological system with its rhythmic processes of breathing and pulse-beat, musical tones appeal particularly to the primeval layers of the psyche. The experience is one of resonance in the mind, finding expression in the form of spontaneous psychovegetative reactions. These can encompass all degrees of physical involvement, from "being bodily moved" to an experience of enraptured calm. One patient expressed it in these words: "I came to life again in this music as the person I had been seeking for many years".

Keyword(s): Psychological-factors, elemental-phenomenon, physical-involvement, spontaneous, psychovegetative-reactions.

Zurück | Weiter