Making the unconscious audible-Psychodynamic music therapy in a clinical context

The targeted use of music within the framework of a therapeutic relationship has become an established part of a multimodal treatment concept in most clinics. The article presents the psychodynamic music therapy from a clinical perspective. The theoretical principles, current research data and selected case examples are described. It illustrates how music therapy uses musical parameters to identify conflicts, structural level and relational patterns and to confront maladaptive relationship patterns with interventions. By using various music-specific techniques and other techniques based on psychotherapeutically oriented procedures, patients can make new experiences of object relations. Increased research on the effectiveness of music therapy led to its confirmation as an evidence-based treatment, which is reflected in the recommendations in the S3 guidelines for various disorders.