Deconstructing trauma narratives: A critical interpretive synthesis of research into music therapy and psychological trauma in adults

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to critically examine assumptions underpinning research into music therapy and psychological trauma with adult populations. A critical interpretive synthesis was conducted, iteratively and inductively analysing a recently published body of research literature. The results of this process indicate that clinical discourse and psychiatric constructions of trauma recovery are privileged in this body of literature and a lack of participant voice has been identified. Additionally, the researchers extended the analysis of trauma discourses, through constructing two music-based constructs based on themes emerging in the included literature, as well as broader literature review, to understand how these discourses have been assumed within contemporary music therapy research. We called these constructs ‘Time’ and ‘Silence’, and through a process of deductive and interpretive analysis, uncovered a range of sub-themes. These related to assumptions around containing and structuring functions of rhythm, the use of music as an anchor in the present moment, the ubiquity of linear trauma origin stories, silence as meaningful communication, and systems which compound trauma.