Music therapy in psychotrauma has been scantily explored in Sweden. The few results available suggest that music therapy in psychotrauma can be an effective treatment. The question of resilience and its importance in treating psychotrauma with music therapy has also been sparsely explored. The purpose of the present thesis is, therefore, to explore how three music therapists with experience in psychotrauma treatment look at resilient approaches in patient's treatments. The research questions are: How do music therapists understand the concept of resilience? In what ways do music therapists think they can contribute to resilient approaches? Which music therapeutic methods can contribute to the development of resilience? The study is based on three semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The result is presented in the form of an overall theme: Resource-oriented music therapy contributes to resilience in the treatment of psychotrauma. The theme consists of three main categories, which in turn comprise a number of subcategories. Finally, the results are discussed with theoretical points of departure on resilience and music therapy in treatment in psychotrauma. An insight into the importance of the work to music therapy is provided, and ideas on future research work that can be further developed are presented. 

AbstractTransition to sustainability is a process that requires change on all levels of society from the physical to the psychological. This review takes an interdisciplinary view of the landscapes of research that contribute to the development of pro-social behaviors that align with sustainability goals, or what we call ‘inner sustainability’. Engaging in musical and dance activities can make people feel trust and connectedness, promote prosocial behavior within a group, and also reduce prejudices between groups. Sustained engagement in these art forms brings change in a matter of seconds (such as hormonal changes and associated stress relief), months (such as improved emotional wellbeing and learning outcomes), and decades (such as structural changes to the brains of musicians and dancers and superior skills in expressing and understanding emotion). In this review, we bridge the often-separate domains of the arts and sciences by presenting evidence that suggests music and dance promote self-awareness, learning, care for others and wellbeing at individual and group levels. In doing so, we argue that artistic practices have a key role to play in leading the transformations necessary for a sustainable society. We require a movement of action that provides dance and music within a constructive framework for stimulating social sustainability.

Listening to music – various audiences in our future societies

Eva Bojner Horwitz and David Thyrén, Royal College of Music in Stockholm

That music listening can have strong emotional effects is widely accepted, and it is also known that the effects depend on several individual and environmental factors. There are different elements of the musical experience that influence the emotional response of the listener, of which we will try to focus on four that have been explored in the literature and which relate to a newly published study. The social changes in our societies will affect our audiences and education. Therefore new musical arenas need to be developed  and more included through the whole lifespan.

Inspired by the research work with the "Culture Palette" and the implementation of it in health care centres, schools and social centers, we developed the cultural health box - a popular scientifically tool box, to help people use cultural activities (such as music, dance, stillness, drama, film and pictures) for health preventation. It is written by well-known resarchers in the field of cultural health and is a rich material that is useful in self-care work for musicians. The box will be presented together with historical perspectives and other research work targeting music as prevention in health care.  

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur körsångare upplever sitt sjungande och varför de vill sjunga i kör. Syftet är även att undersöka om körsångarna medvetet sjunger i kör för de positiva effekterna som kunnats visas i tidigare forskning. Metod för denna undersökning har varit semistrukturerade och ostrukturerade intervjuer med sex informanter samt observation av en kör på 30 personer.Resultaten visade att det inte går att säga att man som amatörsångare alltid sjunger i kör för den sociala gemenskapen, och de positiva effekter som kan uppstå i samband med körsång. Genom undersökningen har jag heller inte kunnat se att körsångare alltid upplever dessa positiva effekter av att sjunga i kör. Slutsatsen är att alla människor, oavsett om de sjunger i amatörkör eller avancerad kör kan få ut olika hälsoeffekter av att delta i körsång Det går inte att säga att alla amatörsångare får ut en likartad hälsoeffekt och professionella sångare en annan hälsoeffekt, utan deras upplevelser av hälsoeffekt skiljer sig från person till person.

Despite the fact that autistic people make up a significant portion of music therapy clients, we know about their subjective experience of music. Studies assessing the effectiveness of music interventions for autistic people mostly measure behavioural changes in social communication and interactions while disregarding well-being or quality of life. This raises important ethical questions. To gain a better understanding of how autistic adults view the relationship between music and well-being, we conducted interviews with 13 autistic participants (seven women and six men) who shared their experiences and understanding of music. The findings reveal the extensive and profound significance of music, encompassing everything from seemingly minor aspects, such as finding motivation to perform household chores, to existential questions like the choice to stay alive. The purpose of this presentation is to connect these findings with the fundamental psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and to demonstrate how music can play a role in the well-being and empowerment of autistic adults. This knowledge can help in setting new goals and methods for measuring the effects of musical activities in future studies

Subjective experiences of autistic adults remain under-researched, especially in the field of art. To learn more about their uses and functions of music, we interviewed 13 autistic adults and, through a hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis, found four overarching themes: Well-being, Identity and self-development, Connectedness, and Negative experiences. Findings show a broad and deep meaning of music in their lives, spanning from seemingly trivial functions such as making chores more enjoyable to existential questions such as choosing to stay alive. We discuss the often-overlooked negative effects or experiences of music, noting that positive and negative effects must always be addressed together if we are to use music to lower stress and support well-being.

Functions connected to mood and emotion regulation are often reported as the most frequent and important functions of music, particularly during adolescence. However, less is known on how adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) use music for emotion regulation. The aim of this study was therefore to explore how adolescents with intellectual disabilities (n = 30) use music for mood regulation in comparison to adolescents without ID (n = 34). We assessed the seven mood-regulation strategies of the Music in Mood Regulation questionnaire, personality traits, mood, and a number of variables regarding music listening. The result showed that personality and mood were associated with the use of music for mood regulation and that adolescents with ID were less specific in their use of mood regulation strategies than adolescents without intellectual disabilities, even when adjusting for gender differences. In conclusion, the present study shows that personality traits in addition to mood is related to differences in usage of music for mood regulation among adolescents with and without intellectual disability. The study provides initial insights into the use of music and the relationships between personality, mood, and music in mood regulation in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Aims Earlier studies show that participation in mind and body exercises (MBE) is cross-sectionally associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and antidepressants. This study investigates the longitudinal interrelationship between depressive symptoms, MBE and antidepressants. Methods 3269 men and 4318 women aged 24–74 years participated in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). Measures of MBE practice and depressive symptoms were drawn from the SLOSH questionnaire, data on prescription drugs were obtained from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze temporal relationships. Results Both MBE practice and antidepressants in 2012 was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms two years later. Depressive symptoms in turn were associated with higher levels of later MBE practice and antidepressants. These relationships seemed to be explained by confounding by indication and were of higher magnitude for antidepressants than for MBE. Conclusion Overall, SEM analysis shows that MBE and antidepressant treatment were both bi-directionally associated with depressive symptoms over time. Part of the explanation is likely to be confounding by indication: those with symptoms of depression more likely to undertake treatment, and MBE alone may be more common among those with less severe depression. The results clarify some of our findings from earlier studies and give some important, new information on what people are doing to manage depressive symptoms on a societal level, regarding self-care, medication, and the combination of both.

Various audiences and listening situations – emotional effects 

Music listening can have a strong emotional effect on an audience, and this is depending on several individual and environmental factors. The type of music, if the music is live or recorded and the listeners’ familiarity with the music are factors of importance for these results. In the Swedish project “Performace Evaluations” we have gathered data from different kinds of audiences: school children, adult and elderly listeners. In the findings we see that the emotional response to classical music varies by type of audience and if the music is live or recorded. Those findings together with a historical exposé on how audiences have changes for 2500 years will be the focus on this presentation.

In this study we examined a case where twelve participants conducted farewell ceremonies for their deceased relatives. Taking a qualitative approach, we used interviews and questionnaires to focus on life stories that involve grieving. Specifically, we asked about experiences of the grief process as related to choice of music. Our results indicate that the role of music in farewell rituals is important for the grieving process in several ways. Firstly, music was associated with positive memories of the loved one and gave rise to experiences of recognition. Secondly, music facilitated active participation in the grieving process through choosing farewell music together with a relative. Thirdly, selecting music for the funeral in advance, together with their loved ones, was also experienced as hopeful, comforting and consoling before, during and after the bereavement.