This book is devoted to psychodynamic music therapy with people who have experienced psychosis, and thus focuses on the specific possibilities for building therapeutic relationships against the backdrop of a psychodynamic understanding of the condition and a deeply accepting therapeutic approach that strives for understanding and connection.
The recurring uncertainties and specific problems encountered by practising music therapists during supervision prompted the editor to to bring together a study conducted as part of her doctoral thesis, along with selected, updated chapters from that work, in dialogue with contributions from colleagues and researchers active in both clinical and academic fields, in order to make the practical work of music therapy with people who have experienced psychosis as comprehensible as the methods, underlying concepts and theories. The book brings together moving, complex and multi-layered contributions which, alongside well-founded specialist information, provide deep insights into the experiences and suffering of those affected, as well as into the experiences and shared experiences of the practitioners. The shared struggle to establish contact and build relationships - which can be possible, bearable and, in a profound sense, healing for those affected - is made just as comprehensible as the various possibilities that the medium of music offers in this process.