Publication
Songs Created by Military Service Members in Music Therapy
View Abstract
A successful transition to civilian life is challenging for many service members returning from deployment. Psychological and physical injuries may hamper successful reintegration into home life and communities and, as a result, many service members report feeling lonely, isolated and misunderstood. This study analyzed 14 songs written by 11 active-duty service members with post-traumatic stress disorder, mild traumatic brain injury, and psychological health conditions, who received music therapy services at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a Directorate of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the United States of America. Service members wrote songs over the course of two or more individual music therapy sessions. Latent thematic analysis of the song lyrics yielded four main themes: (a) personal struggles and barriers to recovery, (b) moving forward, (c)relational challenges, and (d) positive relationships and support. The songs offer a window into service members' lived experiences of military service, injury, recovery, homecoming, and transition from active-duty. Songwriting enabled service members to share their thoughts, emotions, fears, and hopes with family, friends, and other providers, often for the first time, and as such played an important role in their personal growth and recovery process. This is the first study to examine the therapeutic benefits of songwriting in a military population.
A successful transition to civilian life is challenging for many service members returning from deployment. Psychological and physical injuries may hamper successful reintegration into home life and communities and, as a result, many service members report feeling lonely, isolated and misunderstood. This study analyzed 14 songs written by 11 active-duty service members with post-traumatic stress disorder, mild traumatic brain injury, and psychological health conditions, who received music therapy services at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a Directorate of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the United States of America. Service members wrote songs over the course of two or more individual music therapy sessions. Latent thematic analysis of the song lyrics yielded four main themes: (a) personal struggles and barriers to recovery, (b) moving forward, (c)relational challenges, and (d) positive relationships and support. The songs offer a window into service members' lived experiences of military service, injury, recovery, homecoming, and transition from active-duty. Songwriting enabled service members to share their thoughts, emotions, fears, and hopes with family, friends, and other providers, often for the first time, and as such played an important role in their personal growth and recovery process. This is the first study to examine the therapeutic benefits of songwriting in a military population.
Bradt, J., Biondo, J., & Vaudreuil, R.
2019
The Arts in Psychotherapy (Impact factor = 1.404)
62, 19-27
Active-duty service members in music therapy treatment at NICoE; N=11
Music therapy during a 4-week intensive outpatient program.
Observational study
Inductive thematic analysis of song lyrics written by service members; memos on initial impressions of lyrics