Self-Love Songs: Music Therapy for Trauma Survivors
Photo by Jean-Karim Dangou on Unsplash
A part of the human experience is trauma – some have a little, some have a lot. I won’t break down how people are broken down by the world; music often provides such answers, in raw, multi-dimensional, and engaging ways. Therein highlights the invaluable multi-tool which is the object of our discussion: music, or more specifically, music therapy for trauma survivors. Unfortunately, the stigmas associated with mental illness ensure many who suffer don’t get the help they need. This is, ironically, even true for musicians themselves, though mental health in the music industry is a beast of a different nature.
Music therapy is introducing many non-musicians to an outlet of self-love through the joys of music. There is empirical, theoretical, and experiential evidence to support music therapy. Sites of music therapy can be found in homes, prisons, schools, youth centers and hospitals around the world. Whereas it can be difficult to overcome or articulate our traumas in everyday settings, music therapy offers opportunities for release, self-discovery, reward, the facilitation of grieving and pleasure, and community building. Music therapy takes three forms: playing or listening to music alone, in a one-on-one setting with a licensed music therapist, and in a group setting.
All music can be therapeutic, whether you’re making the music yourself or listening to recordings. Although a licensed music therapist can help guide you through a process and provide more support, listening to music at home or playing on your own can also be healing. With the availability of recordings today, from YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or home CDs, you can choose from a wide range of genres. Whatever your mood and needs, there is likely a piece of music out there that can help. If you feel inspired to create music, you can hum or sing a familiar folk song for free. Using music as a way to improve your mood, work through complicated feelings, or calm down after a stressful day are all a type of music therapy. However, if you find that listening to your favorite song isn’t enough, you can contact a music therapist who can help you explore your feelings and trauma using music.
Where solitary action is simply not enough, music therapists are there to provide a service which could greatly benefit the trauma survivor in need. Guided exercises with music therapists, appointed by a mental health physician, combine the benefits of professional psychology with a ground-breaking methodology which aims to personalize and musicize the therapy process. Talking to – or better yet, singing to or with – another human being who knows what they are talking about when it comes to trauma can guide the individual through the difficult healing process in a way that better engages and empowers the individual.
Additionally, music therapy in a coordinated group setting has unique benefits which may not be achieved by an individual practicing alone. Group or communal music therapy aims to help people with working together and to instill a healthy mixture of individuality and unity. Group discussions and group-music-making can encourage individuals to feel as if they belong to a larger whole which can be extremely important. Serving as a basis for the case for group-oriented music therapy is the way in which music has cemented the bonds between a group of oppressed people, who share a connection to each other precisely because of their suffering. American Blacks, for example, subjugated to slavery in the United States, used such mediums as songs and hymns for unification and motivation as a cohesive unit of oppressed and estranged people. The same principle can be more broadly applied to disabled veterans who share with each other a similar trunk of struggles in the wake of their often-damaging services to the military, or a group of children devastated by a local tornado.
Music is more than just another coping mechanism for some, but rather a way of surviving, and there is strength in numbers. It is for many reasons including this that music therapy is a valid and expansive resource for those struggling with trauma, and it is emerging in many personal and institutional settings. If you are someone struggling with trauma and cannot find effective short-term or long-lasting coping mechanisms, music therapy may be the change you never knew you were searching for, the self-love song you’ve been longing to sing.
Exclusively written for mewsicmoves.com
Mewsic Moves is also offering telemusictherapy sessions during this time for those that need additional mental health support in dealing with anxiety and depression or also those that want to continue individual music therapy sessions but are practicing social distancing.
For more information please reach out to us:
email: john@mewsicmoves.com
phone: (818) 877-6797