Group music therapy with post-traumatized soldiers

Abstract: M. Bensimon, D. Amir, Y. Wolf(2012). A pendulum between trauma and life: Group music therapy with post-traumatized soldiers. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39, 223– 233.

This study suggests a model for group music therapy with post-traumatized soldiers. Six soldiers who had been diagnosed as suffering from combat or terror-related posttraumatic stress disorder participated in a series of 90-min weekly sessions of music therapy. Data were gathered by filming the sessions with digital cameras and by means of open-ended in-depth interviews. A mixed method analysis of musical and verbal contents revealed two waves of group engagement in trauma and non-trauma matters.

As a whole, this process decreased reflections of traumatic emotions and increased expressions of nontraumatic feelings. The findings are discussed in light of Levine’s (1997) “pendulation” therapy model. Practical implications for music therapy are suggested.