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  • Past Talking: Music Therapy

    Of all the creative arts therapies, music therapy may be most familiar to the public, having received the lion’s share of media attention. It’s been widely acknowledged as an especially useful therapeutic modality ever since it was used to help World War II veterans with brain injuries. More recently, a spotlight shone on the successful marriage of music and therapy in the months after the tragic shooting of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Because the injury damaged the left side of her brain—the part of the brain that controls speech—the shooting rendered the congresswoman aphasic. Thanks in large part to music therapy, which research has shown can help rewire the pathways in the brain, Giffords was able to progress gradually from singing to speaking once again. It’s a phenomenon highlighted as well in the Oscar-winning film “The King’s Speech,” in which music therapy helped King George VI of England, a lifetime stutterer, find his fluent voice.

    Oliver Sacks, perhaps the most well-known proponent of music therapy, observes that music, like scent, can not only tap long-buried memories but also help propel locomotion, thus making it an especially a valuable tool in the treatment of aphasia, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. In his 2007 book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Sacks points to the healing power of music in cases of Tourette’s and Williams syndromes, seizures, and more.

    Board certified music therapists are required to have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher in music therapy from a program approved by the American Music Therapy Association and 1,200 hours of clinical fieldwork.

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  • Watch “Poetry as Therapy: Rachel McKibbens at TEDxFlourCity”

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  • Past Talking: Poetry Therapy

    Poetry therapy is “the use of language, symbol, and story in therapeutic, educational, and community building capacities.” It’s effective, with a wide range of populations, from children to elders, and with a broad range of problem areas, including family violence, homelessness, death and loss, and suicide. For example, it’s used when therapists employ poetry and creative writing to work on positive youth development with middle school children or when working with veterans and their families. A collaborative poem may be a helpful tool in gerontological work, while a dyadic poem may help facilitate couples/marital therapy.

    Poetry therapy, which, according to the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT)—established in 1969 as the Association for Poetry Therapy and formally incorporated as NAPT in 1981—has been a recognized healing art in the United States for more than 200 years, is a means through which individuals—such as those navigating grief or living with depression or cancer—can find voice for their feelings and a medium through which to participate in the therapeutic process.

    The reasons poetry therapy may succeed where other traditional therapies may not—is that it is culturally sensitive and nonthreatening and thus able to “break through resistance, validate, and promote interaction.” Through practice and research, there are three major domains of poetry therapy—introducing a poem into the practice session (bibliotherapy tradition), promoting focused expressive writing (well documented health benefits), and utilizing symbolic or ceremonial activities to aid in life transitions. It’s consistent with the strengths perspective but easily adaptable to a wide range of theories, e.g., cognitive-behavioral, narrative, systems, and psychodynamic.

    The International Federation for Biblio-Poetry Therapy provides credentials for poetry therapists. Certified poetry therapists and registered poetry therapists are master’s-level credentials obtained after completion of an approved program of didactic training, experience, and supervision.

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  • Watch “How drama therapy can help express emotion | Anna Beck | TEDxStGeorgeSalon”

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  • Past Talking: Drama Therapy

    Drama therapy relies on a range of techniques to meet numerous therapeutic goals and outcomes, including, according to the Drama Therapy Association, the ability of clients to tell their stories, rehearse desired behaviors, practice relationship skills, set goals, improve interpersonal skills, achieve catharsis, appropriately express feelings, and perform the change they wish to be and see in the world.

    Among the drama techniques yoked to other methods of therapy to achieve these goals are storytelling, role-playing, improvisation, performance, and the use of puppetry and masks.
    Among its many uses, “Drama therapy is spot-on for working with recovering addicts,” Bailey says. “Addicts are afraid of feelings and have been numbing their feelings out for years with their substances of choice. Drama therapy is all about experiencing and expressing feelings, but it tends, especially in the beginning, to be fun, so addicts can work on slowly learning how to feel again, and feel with other people, without becoming stressed and feeling the urge to get high.”

    As with other creative arts therapies, an especially powerful aspect of drama therapy rests in its ability to promote relationship building, and its nonthreatening nature encourages participation. “Drama therapy, because it generates strong bonds of trust, helps addicts work on their fears of getting close to others, asking for help, and wanting to give and take in a relationship,” Bailey says.

    Another group of clients for whom drama therapy can be particularly helpful are those on the autism spectrum who have difficulty understanding and expressing emotion, Bailey says. “Drama therapy,” she adds, “provides lots of practice on these nonverbal as well as verbal communication skills. It creates trusting relationships and provides training in give and take as well as flexibility—very needed abilities for people on the spectrum.” What’s more, she says, it’s fun, so it’s easy to motivate people to participate.

    A registered drama therapist is a master’s-level credential administered by the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA) to individuals who have completed courses in psychology and drama therapy as well as two clinically supervised internships and 1,500 hours of work experience coupled with theater experience. Candidates have either attended an accredited drama therapy master’s program or completed the NADTA Alternative Training Program under the mentorship of a board certified trainer.

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