Resources & references

This reference book examines how music therapy complements traditional treatments for active military service members, veterans, and their families affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), highlighting its benefits in individual and group sessions, and the potential of virtual settings.

This literature review examines music therapy treatment with active military service members and veterans. Common session formats and music experiences, the development of music therapy as a a profession, and gaps within the current body of research are discussed.

This fact sheet, developed by the American Music Therapy Association, describes how music therapy is effective in supporting military service members and veterans. It describes how active and receptive music experiences can address physical, cognitive, communication, social, and emotional goals.

This chapter of the book Music and War in the United States offers a definition of music therapy and a brief history of the music therapy profession. It incudes a detailed review of the long history of using music therapy within the American military.

Click here to view the full book.

Music therapy can uniquely help severely injured children and their families deal with the events surrounding an accident and its aftermath. The use of music therapy in treating these families on a pediatric service is described and illustrated with a fracture patient and a burn patient

Read an article exploring the effectiveness of a music therapy intervention on resilience in undergraduate university students. Results demonstrated a positive impact on resilience and affect, regardless of what year of study a student is in. Limitations and implications for future research are also discussed. 

Research article about how neurologic music therapy can enhance neurorehabilitation among stroke patients, traumatic brain injury, autistic individuals, and those with learning disabilities.

Read a scoping review on music-based interventions for individuals with eating disorders. Results found that music therapy was the most frequently used music-based intervention, and studies reported improvements in anxiety, mood, eating disorder symptoms, and an increase in food eaten and weight gained when music based interventions were used. 

This thesis details a qualitative study on music therapy process resulting in the new concept of musico-relational competence. The project began with an exploration of music processes in the context of outpatient adult psychiatry. An ethnographic and ethnomusicological approach to the analysis of the video data (including music analysis) is used, focusing on the meaning making process of participants in the study.

Music therapist and researcher Mark Ettenberger explains what music therapy is, who it can benefit, how it can be applied, and what are its therapeutic benefits.

This research article investigates a music therapy program that uses music improvisation to enhance emotional wellbeing and social skills among elementary school students displaying behaviour challenges.

Read about a group music therapy program for Ukrainian children seeking refuge in Spain. This article explores the use of music therapy experiences to enhance social integration, process trauma, and improve quality of life among participants.