Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

of the specific subcategory. If the session number is in brackets it indicates that the
researcher’s interpretation is a proposal that can be discussed.
A closer look at the distribution of the subcategories show that all participants
experience metaphorical fantasies (A1-2) of shorter or longer duration (the only
reason why INLA is not listed in A2 is that her fantasies are always quite long, also
when they do not form a complete narrative). The table also shows that core
metaphors (G) can be found with all participants, and that five of them seem to have
had experiences of a transpersonal nature (F). The research questions concerning
narrative configuration cannot be answered through this analysis, but the presence of
so many examples of category A1 indicates that image episodes are connected (see
chapter 8.2.)
The other subcategories (A3-7, B1-3, C1-3, D1-2) are more unevenly distributed,
documenting a) the highly personal nature of the metaphorical fantasies, b) the
personal ‘travel style’ of the participants, e.g. the highly embodied experiences of
WIFU and SAAA, the many reflections of ESMA and INLA, while PIJØs imagery is
almost free of reflections.
It is notable that even if specific cancer-related imagery (subcategory E) can be found
with five of the six participants, the major part of the material is of a more general
existential or psychodynamic nature.
A closer look at the core categories show that a little less than half of the music-
listening periods are composed of narrative sequences, which is fine from a clinical
point of view, since it is the purpose of individual BMGIM sessions is to evoke and
explore coherent imagery. Half of the music-listening periods are of ”mixed”
character. This is not surprising, as any GIM therapist would confirm. More important
is the identification of the components of the mix, and this seems to be highly
individual: WIFUs strong metaphorical imagery is very often mixed with bodywork
and deep emotions; ANHOs rather sparse imagery is mixed with bodily tensions and
problems with the format; INLAs rich imagery is often mixed with reflections;
ESMAs imagery is closely related to her life story and physical environment and
often mixed with reflections; while SAAA rather sparse imagery often leads into deep
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