Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

Appendix 4.1 Data on six participants and their GIM
processes.
WIFU: 59 years old, married, with three adult children, recently retired from her job,
stable economy, untreatable breast cancer. During the project she attended medical
control.
WIFU underwent a remarkable BMGIM process and scored higher than any other
participant in the quantitative study. In the interview she made it clear that BMGIM
had been an extremely important factor in her rehabilitation process....however, after
termination of the project she ‘relapsed’, and underwent chemotherapy treatment – in
other words: even if she somehow met the criteria for inclusion, she is (and maybe
was) not a rehab patient. Her imagery was highly concentrated and often very
emotional, and she had the courage to confront difficult issues of death and dying.
WIFU also touched the transpersonal realm in her imagery.
ANHO: 52 years old, divorced, with three adult children, unemployed, unstable
economy, abdominal cancer with relapse. Enters the project five months after remissal
from hospital.
ANHO would probably not have continued in BMGIM therapy, if it wasn’t for the
project. It was difficult for her to imagine to the music (the session notes report many
disrupted and difficult sequences). ANHO much preferred the verbal parts of the
therapy to the music journeys, and the therapist chose to change format in some
sessions during the process – verbal sessions and ’body listening were used with good
results. In spite of the problems mentioned there is no doubt that ANHO benefited
from the – predominantly psychodynamic – process. The BMGIM process gave her a
lot of support and guidance, and she developed new insight and resources – however
the music played a minor role in that process.
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