How can Music and Imagery (MI) help?

What is Music and Imagery (MI)?

Music and Imagery (MI) combines traditional talking therapy with listening to music and other forms of creative expression. It can help people of all ages ranging from adolescents to those in their later years who are struggling with their mental health.

MI can be effective as short-term therapy in as little as 6 sessions, though for deep rooted, complex difficulties, longer term work may be needed. Therapists often recommend arranging a short series of sessions initially which can be extended if necessary. MI works well on a fortnightly basis, or weekly if you prefer. It can work well online or in-person depending on what best suits you or is most practical.

The benefits of MI result from its combining of the verbal and creative exploration of what you may be struggling with. Through this, MI may be able to help you develop the inner resources, strengths and resilience needed to cope with life's ups and downs and the issues affecting you. When it comes to working with these issues, it may be the associated feelings that are especially difficult to manage. MI has the potential to really help with this. As feelings become easier to manage, you may well find that with the therapist's support you develop new perspectives and ways to understand the issues affecting you. This may in turn help you make changes in your life that enhance your wellbeing.

What can MI help with?

MI can potentially help with a wide range of mental health issues. It may be able to help if you:

suffer from anxiety or depression
have low self-esteem
have been physically, emotionally, or sexually abused
have experienced other forms of trauma
suffer from PTSD
are experiencing work or school related stress
have social anxiety
struggle with anger management
are bereaved
are experiencing relationship difficulties or family issues
struggle with food and eating
want to work on issues relating to gender identify, cultural identity, or neurodiversity
are working and studying in the performing arts, and have work and practice-related mental health problems
are training as a music therapist or other creative arts therapist and are looking for therapy to meet your course requirement for personal therapy.

MI can potential help with many other issues in addition. It's best to ask individual registered therapists about what they may be able to offer.

Why music and the arts?

Being able to talk through issues with a trained therapist or counsellor can be very helpful in itself. Including music and other creative arts in the process adds another dimension. This can be especial useful when it comes to working on the feelings underlying difficulties. It is often this that is most needed if therapy is to make a difference.

A great many people use music in everyday life as a resource to support their wellbeing, and do this in many different ways. Music can be very powerful in the way if affects our feelings, and can embrace the full range of human experience in a remarkable way.

In MI, the therapist will help you select music to match with your feelings, whether to help develop your inner resources and strengths or work on issues. This may well be music you already know suggested by yourself, though the therapist may suggest other music to consider in addition. MI is a collaborative approach where there will be an emphasis on empowering you including in your music choices. Music of diverse genres, traditions and cultures can potentially be used with which you identity emotionally and in other ways. This can range from popular music of all different types, to film, jazz, game and classical music.

Once you've chosen the music to use in a session, you will be supported to process your feelings creatively whilst listening to your chosen music. This usually involves creating an image using art materials for which you don't need special artistic skills. Rather the process accesses the creative mind in a way that can not only make feelings easier to manage and understand but in combination with verbal reflection afterwards can bring new perspectives that might not be realizable through talking therapy alone.