Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

this study (the only exception being Grocke’s category 7). The main difference
between these categorizations and the categories presented in tables 6.5-6.8 as results
of the grounded theory analysis is that Goldberg’s and Grocke’s descriptive
categorizations deal with image modalities and content, while the categories
suggested in this study deal also (and primarily, due to the hypothesis tested) with
imagery processes, also called configuration. The systems are not conflicting, they
have different focus, and the categorization suggested in this study is not merely
descriptive; it is based on hermeneutic analysis. The BMGIM literature also includes
some applications of narrative structures on clinical material. Thus, in section 6.3 it
was possible to relate PIJØs BMGIM process to some of the narrative structures
identified in the literature: Clark (1995) examined Campbell’s Jungian account of the
Hero’s Journey as a powerful mythological pattern often found as unconscious
patterns in BMGIM clients’ travels and therapeutic processes. The complete stages of
a hero’s journey according to Campbell were found in PIJØs music-assisted imagery,
both in the complete narrative of one session and in the therapeutic process as a
whole. Wesley (1998-99) also relies on Campbell’s description of the Hero’s Journey
in a BMGIM case study, however she makes a concentration of the seven stages to
three ‘major components’: departure, initiation, and return. These components,
understood as a ‘process matrix’, are present in many of the sessions analysed in this
study. Short (1996-97) describes how the fairy tale may be one narrative form of the
developmental process Jung called Individuation. In a case study she identifies how
the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” served as a (partial) matrix for her
client’s process. In a similar way, many fairy tale elements were present in PIJØs 10
sessions, and especially sessions #4-5, #6 and #9 unfolded as narrative patterns close
to fairy tales, the most prominent of which was “Thumbelina” in session #4. A basic
narrative structure found in fairy tales and other tales is represented in Propp’s
‘Actant model’ (Larsen 2003, see section 3.3). The protagonist is the subject who has
a problem and a project, namely the solution of the problem. The object is what the
protagonist is aiming at. The helper is a person or creature that supports the subject,
while the opponent or antagonist tries to prevent the subject from reaching her goal.
The identification of helper and opponent is a core issue in the explorative BMGIM
experience. Good examples are “the dragon fly” and “the grey mist” in PIJØs session
#4. From a different perspective Bunt (2000) describes how the pattern of dying and
being reborn can be identified in stages of loss and dissolution, through fragmentation
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