Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

Smeijsters has coined the double conceptualization of “pathological-musical
processes” and “therapeutic-musical processes”. They refer to the two core analogies
in clinical music therapy. He underlines that comprehensive experience with and
knowledge of these analogies makes it possible to decide whether music therapy is an
indicated treatment or not, and in Grundlagen der Musiktherapie (Smeijsters 1999) he
unfolds the theory within two clinical core areas of music therapy, namely psychiatry
(schizophrenia, depression) and special education (autism, developmental disability).
The very close affinity of analogy, diagnosis, indication and goals, procedures and
techniques of the treatment is carefully worked out.
Coming from a different position and epistemology Thaut (2000) also presents a
fundamental analogy or isomorphy between non-musical and musical therapeutic
exercises, e.g. between social interaction and group improvisation structures. “The
crucial clinical process for music therapists occurs [in] translating functional and
therapeutic exercises and stimuli into functional therapeutic music exercises and
stimuli…” (p. 36).
The analogy between the elements of music and the existential themes and qualities of
human existence is also a core construction in the Improvisational Assessment
Profiles (IAP) of Ken Bruscia (1987, 1994). When developing this method for
description and interpretation of clinical improvisations Bruscia looked for concepts
that would give the six "profiles" – each a specific listening perspective – also
psychological relevance. What he came up with was:
• Salience (with five scales forming a spectrum: compliant, conforming, attending,
controlling, dominating)
• Integration (with the spectrum: undifferentiated, synchronized, integrated,
differentiated, overdifferentiated)
• Variability (rigid, stable, variable, contrasting, random)
• Tension (hypo-tense, calm, cyclic, tense, hyper-tense)
• Congruence (unengaged, congruent, centered, incongruent, polarized)
• Autonomy (dependent, follower, partner, leader, resistor)
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