Music therapy and its relationship to psychoanalysis

This chapter focuses on the relationship between music therapy and psychoanalysis, from a historical, theoretical, and clinical point of view. It explores a brief introduction to music therapy and addresses two major areas where the disciplines meet. The first is found in the actual structure of the two disciplines, in that free improvisation in music therapy can be seen as similar to the aspect of free association and free-floating attention in psychoanalytic work. The second area is concerned with aspects of psychoanalytic theory and practice which have informed music therapists. Music therapists are now registered and established in the United Kingdom under the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM) and have their own advisor to the Department of Health. Music therapy for long-term residential groups of people is particularly important because verbal elements common to ordinary fluent speech and language are often missing.