Using Music in Counseling by Gregory Hasek MA/MFT LPC, LMHC
Oliver Sacks was the author of the book Awakenings, which later became a movie in which Robin Williams starred in. He is also a neurologist and has studied extensively on the topic of how music affects the brain. Sacks (2007) wrote a book called Musicophilia. In it he says, “Music can be deeply therapeutic. It can be invaluable in providing one with a sense of self. It can help some people express themselves and connect with the world when little else can.”
About ten years ago I began to use music in counseling. At that time I began to wonder that maybe talk in counseling was overrated in it’s effectiveness. Talking with client’s about the traumas they had faced in their lives, only seemed to go so far. The reason is talking with clients often only engages the left brain vs the right brain, where many of the memories of their past traumas were stored. I started by using songs and then developed powerpoints that would go along with those songs. I would then show them to clients when appropriate as part of their treatment. Since I work with many men, I found this to be very effective in working with men who for various reasons had walled off their emotions. By having them listen to music and watch a powerpoint, their right brain seemed to engage. Often these men would express emotions during and afterwards, that I never had previous seen in talk therapy alone. What I also found was that they would make much quicker progress in their treatment goals than if we had just stuck with talking.
I began to wonder why they did not teach me these things in graduate school. Why was talk the primary mode of counseling that was taught? Why did they not teach ways to access the right brain where most trauma memories were stored? Perhaps the educational system relied too much on something that often times client’s would not remember anyways. As an intern I remember a client told me they had gone to counseling throughout much of their childhood. They told me that the only thing they remember was that they played games with the therapist. They did not remember what they spoke about. I think he was telling me back then that talk was overrated in counseling. My client had remembered not what they talked about but what they experienced. Ironically this was also true of graduate school. Most of what I learned from books or what professors taught would be later lost in my memory for good. What I did remember was some of the experiences we had such as roles plays we had to do in class. Those were the things that would be etched in my memory for ever and would also have the greatest impact in my abilities as a counselor.
If you are a therapist who works with clients who present with abortion related trauma, I wonder how different treatment might look if you began to integrate music into the counseling process with your clients. Perhaps the first step might be to identify the types of music that might be effective you’re your clients. What I like to do is to create a library of songs that I can pull from at the “right” time with the “right” client. Just like any tool in counseling, one needs to use wisdom as to when to use or not to use a tool with a client. We can’t make the intervention about ourselves. You might also consider what videos might be effective since video also has the power to impact the right brain. I like to use both song and video. I also like to suggest to my clients to listen or watch something as part of their homework and then to journal the thoughts and feelings that might have come up. We are then able to process more in the next counseling session.
In summary, I believe Oliver Sacks has a lot to teach us about how music affects the brain and helps provide healing at a neurological and emotional level. I challenge you as a therapist to think outside the box when working with clients who present with trauma of any kind. Try not to rely on talk in counseling too much. Consider integrating music into your work with clients as part of a well thought out plan of treatment. I believe that not only will you be surprised at the results but also the speed of progress some clients might make, compared to relying primarily on talk only to process past trauma.
References
Sacks, O. (2007). Musicophilia. Tower, NY: Random House.
Oliver Sacks was the author of the book Awakenings, which later became a movie in which Robin Williams starred in. He is also a neurologist and has studied extensively on the topic of how music affects the brain. Sacks (2007) wrote a book called Musicophilia. In it he says, “Music can be deeply therapeutic. It can be invaluable in providing one with a sense of self. It can help some people express themselves and connect with the world when little else can.”
About ten years ago I began to use music in counseling. At that time I began to wonder that maybe talk in counseling was overrated in it’s effectiveness. Talking with client’s about the traumas they had faced in their lives, only seemed to go so far. The reason is talking with clients often only engages the left brain vs the right brain, where many of the memories of their past traumas were stored. I started by using songs and then developed powerpoints that would go along with those songs. I would then show them to clients when appropriate as part of their treatment. Since I work with many men, I found this to be very effective in working with men who for various reasons had walled off their emotions. By having them listen to music and watch a powerpoint, their right brain seemed to engage. Often these men would express emotions during and afterwards, that I never had previous seen in talk therapy alone. What I also found was that they would make much quicker progress in their treatment goals than if we had just stuck with talking.
I began to wonder why they did not teach me these things in graduate school. Why was talk the primary mode of counseling that was taught? Why did they not teach ways to access the right brain where most trauma memories were stored? Perhaps the educational system relied too much on something that often times client’s would not remember anyways. As an intern I remember a client told me they had gone to counseling throughout much of their childhood. They told me that the only thing they remember was that they played games with the therapist. They did not remember what they spoke about. I think he was telling me back then that talk was overrated in counseling. My client had remembered not what they talked about but what they experienced. Ironically this was also true of graduate school. Most of what I learned from books or what professors taught would be later lost in my memory for good. What I did remember was some of the experiences we had such as roles plays we had to do in class. Those were the things that would be etched in my memory for ever and would also have the greatest impact in my abilities as a counselor.
If you are a therapist who works with clients who present with abortion related trauma, I wonder how different treatment might look if you began to integrate music into the counseling process with your clients. Perhaps the first step might be to identify the types of music that might be effective you’re your clients. What I like to do is to create a library of songs that I can pull from at the “right” time with the “right” client. Just like any tool in counseling, one needs to use wisdom as to when to use or not to use a tool with a client. We can’t make the intervention about ourselves. You might also consider what videos might be effective since video also has the power to impact the right brain. I like to use both song and video. I also like to suggest to my clients to listen or watch something as part of their homework and then to journal the thoughts and feelings that might have come up. We are then able to process more in the next counseling session.
In summary, I believe Oliver Sacks has a lot to teach us about how music affects the brain and helps provide healing at a neurological and emotional level. I challenge you as a therapist to think outside the box when working with clients who present with trauma of any kind. Try not to rely on talk in counseling too much. Consider integrating music into your work with clients as part of a well thought out plan of treatment. I believe that not only will you be surprised at the results but also the speed of progress some clients might make, compared to relying primarily on talk only to process past trauma.
References
Sacks, O. (2007). Musicophilia. Tower, NY: Random House.