A somatic approach to vocal psychotherapy for bereaved adults with attachment trauma

Abstract

Bereaved adults often seek para-verbal expression for deeply felt experience, thus benefiting from creative arts and somatic therapeutic approaches. Such approaches can also effectively address attachment trauma, a result of unmet needs in early primary relationships. Music therapists’ work with bereaved and traumatized clients can draw upon therapeutic voicework as one musical process to promote interpersonal connection and symbolic meaning-making in bereavement. Vocal Psychotherapy is a depth-oriented, improvisation-based approach to voicework that elicits somatic engagement through breath, natural sounds, and singing. Using clinical vignettes, this paper illustrates the application and adaptation of Vocal Psychotherapy in working somatically with three bereaved adults with attachment trauma histories. Client somatic experiences are framed as primary to the therapeutic process, and potential impacts of clients’ psychological resources and contextual factors are discussed.