What is Music Therapy?

Music Therapy uses music to engage people in therapy. This approach can include creating or writing music, singing, playing an instrument, or listening to music.

Music Therapy can help people creatively express themselves, identify and process emotions, develop social relationships, improve communication, or manage stress.

Clinical Music Therapy is a more specialized intervention used to treat people with memory problems, pain, speech issues, brain injuries, and motor function. But some counselors without these credentials use music to help their clients.

If Music Therapy would help you, you and your counselor might make a plan that integrates music into counseling sessions. You might make a playlist of specific songs that make you feel happy and listen to those at the beginning or end of each counseling session. Your counselor might provide musical instruments or ask you to bring your own so you can create a song in therapy that expresses your feelings.

There are endless ways music can be therapeutic, making it a great intervention for people dealing with all kinds of mental health concerns.