|
2/25/2003
Contact: K.E. Schwab --
724-738-2199; e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu
SRU PROFESSOR EDITS NEW BOOK DETAILING CASE
STUDIESOF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERGONE PSYCHODYNAMIC MUSIC
THERAPY
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The personal – and
moving – stories of 21 children, adolescents and adults from
around the world who have undergone psychodynamic music therapy
provide the basis of a new book edited by Dr Susan J. Hadley,
assistant professor of music at Slippery Rock
University.
Hadley
says her 448-page “Psychodynamic Music Therapy: Case
Studies” grew out of personal and teaching convictions. She
explains that by presenting real-life case studies, the work gives
undergraduate students insight to the human psyche while showing
them the relationship between music and human personality.
“It will also serve to encourage students to continue their
psychodynamic music therapy studies in graduate school,” she
adds.
The
book is published by Barcelona Publishers, Gilsum,
N.H.
SRU’s
music therapy program, accredited by the National Association of
Schools of Music, is currently marking its 25th
anniversary. The relatively new field trains therapists in using
music for rehabilitating, maintaining and improving the lives of
persons with physical, intellectual and emotional disabilities.
Hadley’s compilation allows experienced music therapists from
nine countries to describe specific cases, including their
findings. Diverse music therapy methods are featured, including
improvisation, songs, music imaging and music listening.
Among
the case studies is one detailing a five-year-old boy’s life
with an inoperable brain tumor. The study examines his disability
and his innate ability to understand his illness and explain it to
others through the use of music and musical instruments. Hadley
says the term “music” is used in its broadest terms,
noting that music therapy makes use of various musical sounds to
imply and infer inner feelings. “The therapist helps patients
use ‘music’ as a way of expression, and, in many cases,
to resolve past conflicts,” she says.
The
publisher notes the work “captures the depth and far-reaching
possibilities of music therapy while demonstrating the importance
of training in advanced music therapy
techniques.”
Hadley,
who earned her doctorate at Temple University, says her work has
primarily dealt with the psychodynamic aspects of music therapy,
and says her own experiences of music therapy “have given me
a profound sense of the potential – and potency – of
psychodynamic music therapy.” She says that working with
other practitioners “heightened my excitement about the
possibilities of the work we can do as music therapists and gave me
a real sense of the power that music has in terms of reaching and
expressing emotions.”
A
member of the SRU music faculty since 1997, Hadley teaches
“Fundamental Skills in Music Therapy,”
“Therapeutic Musical Strategies” and “Music
Therapy Practicum” among other related
classes.
Some
30 students currently major in the program, which can lead to
positions in hospitals, mental health clinics, day care centers,
nursing homes, psychiatric institutions, schools, hospices and
private practice.
PN, PgN, WPN, PR, S
|