This essay is about providing a clear unified methods to examine the music psychotherapy and came up with a written rules for it that can make it easier to practice it, but the “Kenneth E. Bruscia” says that in term to reach that we should ask the following questions: What is psychotherapy? How is music used for psychotherapeutic purposes? What characterizes a psychodynamic orientation to music therapy? But these questions are difficult to be answer, since the answers comes from the understanding and defining both terms music and psychotherapy that have verity of definitions. So, instead of the answers he looked for the issues that are listed under these questions.
First, he begins by defining the term Psychotherapy. By breaking it down and looking for its aim, what means that psychotherapy is a since that attamed to enhance the psychological conditions for a person and by his help to change. So, by the helping each other the therapy and the client will setup a list of goals that the client wants to reach such as: self-expression, resolution of interpersonal problems and behavior change. But these goals are not the only focus in the psychotherapy, since it’s impossible to reach any kind of goals without having a special and strong therapist-patient relationship, that bound them and make the patient trust his therapist and feel comfortable to express be themselves. Sometimes, it hard to get people that are suffering to create relationships or express themselves to communicate with their therapists. And here it comes the importance of the music therapy, where playing or listening to the music can create unconscious relationship between the patient and the therapist.
In music therapy, there are four levels as explained to be used, which are:
1. Music as psychotherapy
The therapeutic issue is accessed, worked through, and resolved through creating or listening to music, with no need for or use of verbal discourse.
2. Music-centered psychotherapy
The therapeutic issue is accessed, worked through, and resolved through creating or listening to music; verbal discourse is used to guide, interpret, or enhance the music experience and its relevance to the client and therapeutic process.
3. Music in psychotherapy
The therapeutic issue is accessed, worked through, and resolved through both musical and verbal experiences, occurring either alternately or simultaneously. Music is used for its specific and unique qualities and is germane to the therapeutic issue and its treatment; words are used to identify and consolidate insights gained during the process.
4. Verbal psychotherapy with music
The therapeutic issue is accessed, worked through, and resolved primarily through verbal discourse. Music experiences may be used in tandem, to facilitate or enrich the discussion, but are not considered germane to the therapeutic issue or treatment of it.
Then he explained how to distinguish between the transformative music psychotherapy and the other types. Then, it has been explained that there are different methodologies to take under the third question. The author chooses specified three approaches that which are: improvisation, songs, and music imaging. And he explained each of them separately.
In the end, he sums up by listing the characteristics of the psychodynamic orientation to music therapy.