‘Navigating the black hole’ A case study exploring the contribution of music therapy to the multidisciplinary rehabilitation of an adult with acquired brain injury and complex needs.

Abstract

Set in the context of a national neurorehabilitation unit, this single case study aims to research how music therapy might contribute to the multi-disciplinary care of an individual with acquired brain injury and complex needs, displaying symptoms of trauma and depression whilst adapting to sensory impairment and memory loss. Over the past two decades, there has been increasing research interest in the contribution of music therapy to neurorehabilitation. There are many studies focused on physical and cognitive functional gains, showing significant outcomes; however, a literature search including attention to aspects of psychosocial and emotional functioning shows far fewer results. Qualitative research into how music therapy might support mental health and emotional needs sits within this literature gap. Underpinned by an interpretivist methodology, this research takes a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Data from process notes, supervision, and a reflective journal were thematically analysed to produce two main themes concerning the client’s use of music to express her inner self, regulate emotions and expand compensatory sensory abilities, and a third theme regarding the ecology surrounding the client and casework. This study also includes discussion of the significance of the therapeutic space within which a therapeutic process can be co-created, and client agency supported. In so doing, it adds to the literature on music therapy’s contribution to the rehabilitation of acquired brain injury from a person-centred and psychodynamic perspective. Further application on how this relates specifically to the behavioural model employed by the unit in which the case study took place is also integrated into the discussion.