Music therapy interaction patterns in relation to borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients

Bibliographic Data

ID4718375
AuthorsGitta Strehlow, Reinhard Lindner (0000-0002-7766-5110)
Year2016
Volume25
Issue2
Pages134-158
Publication date2016-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNordisk Tidsskrift for Musikkterapi (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0803-9828 • E-ISSN: 1944-8260
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08098131.2015.1011207
OpenAlexW2018316952
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

Music therapy for patients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been a standard treatment option for many years in in-patient psychiatric work. The BPD symptoms, such as identity disturbance, emotional regulation and unstable relationships, lead to challenging and stormy therapy sessions for all therapists of all disciplines. In music therapy, difficulties in treatment include, for example, the patient's refusal to play, extreme loud music or withdrawal from the process. This article presents the method and results of a systematic qualitative research of 20 BPD female patients undergoing individual psychoanalytical music therapy in an acute psychiatric context. The aim of the research was to identify typical interaction patterns, arising from the relationship between patient and therapist and also from the significance of music. The method "forming types by understanding" is based on the well-known sociological research method of "ideal types". Abstracted results are generated by contrasting cases, and the research process is validated through communicative validation. In total, it was possible to identify 10 typical interaction patterns within music therapy, reflecting typical BPD themes such as regulation of proximity and distance, splitting phenomena, trauma genesis, aggression and mentalization. The 10 typical interaction patterns of BPD patients have provided a way of accessing individual music therapy cases and making them much easier to understand. The interaction patterns help to maintain and reconstruct the therapist's capacity to play, improvise and to mentalize

Aggression · Borderline personality disorder · Context (archaeology · Developmental psychology · Mentalization · Music therapy · Personality · Psychotherapist · Single-subject design · Therapeutic relationship · Clinical Psychology · Music Therapy and Health · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

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