Trauma-informed music therapy with adult survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault: A scoping review

Trauma is a phenomenon that shapes our lives and can manifest in symptoms both overt and hidden. There are myriad causes and activators of trauma: it is pervasive, and therapists can presume that the people we see in sessions have experienced one or more traumas. Across cultures, neurobiological responses to trauma are shared: dysregulation of affect, changes in neurological functioning and processing, and prolonged stress reactions are common outcomes experienced by people from around the world. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) create traumatic symptoms and responses in survivors; these can be debilitating and life-altering events. Music as a therapeutic modality offers survivors a way to process the effects of past and present traumatic events in a way that does not rely solely on cognitive processing or for survivors to relive memories that activate more stress or cause retraumatization. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify salient and current trends in music therapy that integrate a trauma-informed approach to working with women-identifying survivors of IPV and SA. Findings indicate a lack of continuity in theoretical and practical approaches. A theme of resiliency arose, and therapeutic experiences of songwriting, clinical improvisation, and active music making emerged as primary foci for clinical work.