Art therapy with bereaved youth

Journal/Book: Journal of Palliative Care. 1989; 6: 16-25.

Abstract: In music therapy, joint musical improvisation of the therapist and the patient can provide a framework for spontaneous and intimate nonverbal interaction. This musical interaction was examined in 1st music therapy sessions using a model of analysis that included a specially developed Index of Musical Experience and a Music Improvisation Rating scale. A comparison of 15 schizophrenics, 15 depressives, and 15 clinically normal controls (aged 17-55 yrs) revealed significant differences in the Ss' capacity for musical contact with another person, the nature of this contact and how well it is sustained, and the ability to take musical initiatives. The findings, which take into account Ss' musical background and perceptual functioning, have diagnostic implications for the use of music therapy in adult psychiatry. ABSTRACT 2: Reviews research on art therapy and child bereavement and presents case reports of 2 children (aged 9 and 11 yrs) referred to an art therapy group following the deaths of their fathers. Focus is on the relationship between self-expression through art and the mourning process. Data were derived from participant observation of the Ss' art therapy group sessions that included music therapy, the expression of feelings through body movement and imagery, visual art and drama, and group sharing of art. Child bereavement was an experience of uniqueness and sameness, experienced differently due to varying coping skills that depended on past experience and the nature of the parental relationship and the death.

Note: nonverbal interaction in music therapy; schizophrenic vs depressed 17 55 yr olds

Keyword(s): Music therapy; nonverbal communication; psychotherapeutic processes; schizophrenia ; major depression; adolescence ; adulthood

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