Music Therapy: A Beginners Guide to Mastering Your Mental Health Through Music

“Where words fail, music speaks.”

– Hans Christian Andersen

Do you ever feel nervous for a presentation, test, or big game? Your heart is racing, blood pumping, sweaty palms and leg shaking. Your mind is racing with thoughts like “what if I embarrass myself,” “what if my team loses,” or “what if I fail?” 

What can help calm you down? 

If you know us, then you know big breaths is for sure a go-to, but also- MUSIC! I’m talking about that playlist that pumps you up and throws your confidence into overdrive and the second the beat drops, your racing mind halts to a complete stop, and you feel your body shift from nervousness to complete relaxation. 

The music of your high energy playlist is providing you with a natural rush, an adrenaline, or hype feeling.

You feel this too when you reach for certain music genres when you are sad or grieving. 

Think about music at a funeral and how it brings forth the memories you and that person shared. Maybe that music is accompanied by a reel of photographs of your loved one and all at once it brings all the tears. 

Music can match your mood when you are feeling sad and need that validation. Or rather, if you’re closed off from your feelings, it can help you realize and grow a deeper understanding of what you’re feeling in the moment. 

Music can truly help us open up when words are hard, and often can express what we are deeply feeling when it’s too complex for us to even begin to explain.

This deep rooted connection is exactly why using music as a therapy modality complements talk therapy, because it gives a voice and words to clients who are sorting through complicated feelings and situations. 

Music therapy uses music as a therapeutic means to help clients reach their goals; however,  these goals are usually not music related. For example, music can decrease symptoms of anxiety or decrease behavioral outbursts for a child. 

Music is used as a resource tool, to help meet you exactly where you are because it is a universal language.

What is Music Therapy Good For?

The short answer? Basically anyone that enjoys music and finds music to be motivational can benefit from this modality. 

Music therapy is used on a broad spectrum, from new birth in NICU settings  to point of death in hospice settings. 

Music therapy can help you with communication and expression, help you explore your thoughts and feelings, improve your mood, concentration, and develop coping skills.

Specifically, music therapy can help with a variety of mental health issues including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Grief and Loss
• ADHD/ADD/OCD
• Developmental Disabilities
• Eating Disorders
• Identity Exploration
• Bipolar Disorder, and more

Music interventions are catered to help clients with their specific goals, needs, and preferences, just how talk-therapy does. 

Who Leads a Music Therapy Session?

Every band needs a band manager just like music therapy needs a board-certified music therapist. 

This therapy is very intentional, which requires a specific skill set that must be learned through extensive training. Music therapists must also be able to assess when music intervention may NOT be an appropriate modality. 

Clients who often dissociate (or those with Dissociative Identity Disorder) may find this modality difficult to connect with, and maybe even a little confusing. This doesn’t necessarily eliminate music therapy as a tool for these clients, but it does require the therapist to be cautious with the music they are integrating into the session. 

For example, a guided relaxation where the client closes their eyes and listens to music may be very difficult if they often dissociate. 

Music therapists also have to be aware of sensory output and those who may be more sensory sensitive. Music does trigger a release of endorphins (cue the happy hormones), but this may be overstimulating for some people. In these cases, less stimulating instruments are used (like acoustic guitars, small maraca, body percussion, or light singing). 

It’s like way too much excitement all at once which is another reason it’s important that a music therapist assesses the client/clients for music therapy and what would be beneficial to them. When released, endorphins can relieve pain, decrease stress, and create a happy feeling. That is why music can truly put us in the mood.

What is a Music Therapy Session Like?

This may surprise you, but we aren’t making beautiful music in these sessions. You don’t have to be musically talented or have even touched an instrument to benefit from music therapy (no Mozart skills required). 

To state the obvious, a music therapy session looks a lot like a therapy session but with music! 

It can be done with an individual, or in a group and in some mental health settings, it can even be done with families or couples. 

A usual session looks like this:

• Each session begins with a check in with the client/s,
• The check-in guides us to the music interventions & therapeutic interventions for that session
• Then we close the proverbial curtain! 

The flow mimics regular talk-therapy in that it is driven by the specific mental health goals you are wanting to reach. That means there is a purpose for each intervention (not just a 1-hour jam session). 

Let’s say you are having a hard time managing your anxiety. Our sessions could consist of playing relaxation music to decrease that anxiety. We could also create a coping playlist for someone with severe depression. 

The Interventions reach far and wide and can include any combination of:

• Songwriting 
• Drum circle
• Singing to songs
• Lyric analysis
• Music for relaxation 
• Creating a playlist 
• Playing Instruments (guitars, percussion instruments, singing bowls, piano…anything!)
• Movement to music

And maybe we will go halfsies by integrating music therapy interventions and talk therapy sessions together (although we can keep them separate too). Just as counselors have a therapeutic approach, music therapists do too and these approaches work congruently together!

Want to Learn More?

A great article source and website that discusses the combination of music therapy and mental health is from NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness). This is a great resource for both clinicians and clients looking to get psychoeducation and learn about mental illness.

Check it out here: The Impact of Music Therapy on Mental Health | NAMI

You can also learn more about music therapy from the American Music Therapy Association.

New Service to CWCS

We are so excited to announce that music therapy is now a service that is available to new and returning clients. Our board-certified music therapist has a true passion for this modality and has seen so much growth in clients when this approach is used with talk therapy. 

Maybe you’ve been on the fence about starting therapy because it’s hard for you to open up and get comfortable. This service may be an excellent supplement for you, to help you feel more at ease through your mental health journey. 

Be sure to check out the bio for our music therapist here and please contact us if you have any questions about availability or coverage.