Mentalizing in improvisational music therapy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The concept of mentalization has become increasingly widespread in the psychotherapy discourse. This article investigates three important questions in relation to music therapy and mentalization-based treatment: 1. How is mentalizing in a musical context (improvisation) different from mentalizing in a verbal context? 2. How do mentalization processes unfold in a musical context during improvisation? 3. Are there ways of responding in musical improvisation that can facilitate the ability to mentalize?

Methods: We employed reflexive investigation using clinical examples to illustrate our understanding of how mentalizing unfolds in the process of music therapy practice.

Results: We illustrate different ways that non-mentalizing can appear in musical improvisation and exemplify how musical improvisation can enhance the ability to mentalize.

Discussion: We argue that it is possible to distinguish between mentalizing in a verbal or musical context even though there are similarities. We argue that the mind-set of the therapist is the single most important factor in facilitating mentalizing in music therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Implicit mentalizing
• explicit mentalizing
• music therapy
• improvisation
• epistemic trust

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gitta Strehlow

Dr. sc. mus. Gitta Strehlow, Dipl. Music Therapist. Dissertation (2011) about Music Therapy for BPD patients. She has worked since 2000 with adults at Bethesda Hospital Hamburg-Bergedorf (Germany), Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and in parallel since 1998 with sexually abused children (Dunkelziffer e.V.) Gitta is also a part-time lecturer at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and the Swiss Forum for Further Education in Music Therapy. Training in Mentalization-based treatment.

Niels Hannibal

Niels Hannibal, Ph.D. Associate professor at the music therapy education at Aalborg University Denmark. Niels has practiced as a clinical music therapist in psychiatry since 1995 primarily with patients with personality disorder, depression or schizophrenia diagnosis. Theoretical orientation: Analytical music therapy and Mentalization-based treatment.