Music, Rhythm and Trauma: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Research Literature

McFerran, Katrina Skewes; Lai, Hsin I. Cindy; Chang, Wei-Han; Acquaro, Daniela; Chin, Tan Chyuan; Stokes, Helen; Crooke, Alexander Hew Dale

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00324

Cited by 22 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Formal evaluation of the impact of the HiH program on reducing stigma and increasing social inclusion at the community level is needed. Creation of lyrical music helps women verbalize internalized pain but also diffuses through song a message with the potential to change women's self-image and community perceptions (McFerran et al ., 2020). Further studies are needed to assess the effects of participants' lyrical expressions and community engagements at the societal level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the photographic nature of traumatic memories can be difficult to express in linguistic forms (Johnson, 1987;Bensimon et al, 2012), symbols and metaphors, such as those present in music and lyric writing, can help in verbalization and processing of trauma. In their critical synthesis, McFerran et al organize musical therapy approaches into four categories of stabilizing, entrainment, expressive, and performative purposes (McFerran et al, 2020). The performative category includes recognition of the tolerant societal context in which traumas such as war and abuse occur, aiming to enable identities to be reconstructed and 'brought to life' through songs and public musical performances which also support advocacy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In their critical synthesis, McFerran et al . organize musical therapy approaches into four categories of stabilizing, entrainment, expressive, and performative purposes (McFerran et al ., 2020). The performative category includes recognition of the tolerant societal context in which traumas such as war and abuse occur, aiming to enable identities to be reconstructed and ‘brought to life’ through songs and public musical performances which also support advocacy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of the Healing in Harmony program on women's mental health in a rural area in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cikuru¹,

Bitenga²,

Balegamire

et al. 2021

Glob. Ment. Health

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Background To assess whether Healing in Harmony (HiH), a form of music therapy, improved women's mental health following conflict-related trauma and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Methods This study used a step-wedged design and included 167 women, who completed up to two pre-tests, a post-test, and up to two follow-up interviews at 3 and 6 months after completing the program. The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist was used to measure anxiety and depression. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to measure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Generalized estimating equations with unstructured covariance were used to estimate mean change in mental health scores and relative risks (RRs) for screening positive. Results Prior to starting the HiH program, 73.9, 84.2, and 68.5% screened positive with median scores being 2.20, 2.70, and 2.06 for depression, anxiety, and PTSD, respectively. The RR for screening positive declined significantly (RR = 0.49 for depression, 0.61 for anxiety, and 0.54 for PTSD) and mean scores declined significantly by −0.54, −0.67, and −0.53 points, respectively, from the pre- to the post-test, declines that were sustained at the 3-month and 6-month follow-up interviews. Conclusion The HiH program was associated with significant improvement in women's mental health that was sustained up to 6 months post completion of the program despite instability in the region and evidence of continued experience of conflict-related trauma during the study. These data support the value of providing psychological care in the context of ongoing humanitarian crises.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of the Healing in Harmony program on women's mental health in a rural area in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cikuru¹,

Bitenga²,

Balegamire

et al. 2021

Glob. Ment. Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Aligned with much of the music therapy trauma literature, the focus centers on repairing the problems that exist in the individual's functioning, rather than examining the systems that enable a chronic lack of access to power. McFerran et al (2020) conducted a critical interpretive synthesis to examine the ways in which music and trauma have been connected in the research. Specifically, the authors sought to dissect the evidence for the function of music to bypass cognitive activity and stimulate more primitive neural regions.…”

Section: Current Approaches To Trauma In Music Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The review categorizes the use of music-based methods into four different purposes: stabilizing, entrainment, expressive, and performative. Calling for greater attention to reflexivity in trauma research, McFerran et al (2020) emphasize the value in approaches that do not treat music as an objective variable, but rather a context-bound resource that affords possibilities and can enact social critique. In summarizing potential future directions, the authors point to the resources that lie in critical theory and scholarship outside of the trauma field which emphasize the social conditions that enable trauma, rather than focusing only on the individual's adverse life experiences.…”

Section: Current Approaches To Trauma In Music Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Limits of Resilience and the Need for Resistance: Articulating the Role of Music Therapy With Young People Within a Shifting Trauma Paradigm

Scrine

2021

Front. Psychol.

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A broad sociocultural perspective defines trauma as the result of an event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening, with lasting impacts on an individual’s physical, social, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing. Contexts and practices that aim to be “trauma-informed” strive to attend to the complex impacts of trauma, integrating knowledge into policies and practices, and providing a sanctuary from harm. However, there is a body of critical and decolonial scholarship that challenges the ways in which “trauma-informed” practice prioritizes individualized interventions, reinscribes colonial power relations through its conceptualizations of safety, and obscures the role of systemic injustices. Within music therapy trauma scholarship, research has thus far pointed to the affordances of music in ameliorating symptoms of trauma, bypassing unavailable cognitive processes, and working from a strengths-based orientation. In critiquing the tendency of the dominant trauma paradigm to assign vulnerability and reinforce the individual’s responsibility to develop resilience through adversity, this conceptual analysis outlines potential alternatives within music therapy. Drawing on a case example from a research project with young people in school, I elucidate the ways in which music therapy can respond to power relations as they occur within and beyond “trauma-informed” spaces. I highlight two overarching potentials for music therapy within a shifting trauma paradigm: (1) as a site in which to reframe perceived risk by fostering young people’s resistance and building their political agency and (2) in challenging the assumption of “safe spaces” and instead moving toward practices of “structuring safety.”

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A Narrative of Disability and Inclusion in Germany: Implications for Trauma-Informed Inclusive Classroom Education in Music

Henning

2023

Landscapes: The Arts, Aesthetics, and Education

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Music, Rhythm and Trauma: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Research Literature

Cited by 22 publications

References 44 publications

Impact of the Healing in Harmony program on women's mental health in a rural area in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Impact of the Healing in Harmony program on women's mental health in a rural area in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo

The Limits of Resilience and the Need for Resistance: Articulating the Role of Music Therapy With Young People Within a Shifting Trauma Paradigm

A Narrative of Disability and Inclusion in Germany: Implications for Trauma-Informed Inclusive Classroom Education in Music

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