Eating disorders are serious psychosomatic disorders and constitute the most common chronic disorder of female adolescence. Men experience a later onset but appear to constitute around 25% of adult cases. Due to their comorbidities and high mortality rate, these conditions pose a significant health risk. Although systemic and family therapy are considered among the most successful treatment modalities in adolescence, there is a need for expanded treatment options. With this background, the question arises as to what extent music therapy is already integrated into treatments. This review aims to include studies on music, music therapy, and eating disorders in general and covering all age groups. In all, 26 studies met the criteria for review, with a total of 1026 participants. None of the studies used music therapy combined with systemic or family-based therapy. However, despite differences between study designs, the individual studies show commonalities in their interventions and a relationship to the systemic and family-based approach. This review suggests that music therapy may be a valuable complement to the treatment modalities of systemic and family-based therapies as well as to constellations and sculpture approaches in eating disorders treatment. Further research is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of such combined approaches.

Therapeutic encounters are swathed in writing from referral and consent forms, clinical and process notes, evaluations and assessments to reports. However, there has been very little research into the broader meaning, function and context of writing in music therapy. In this article, I hope to encourage music therapists to think critically about the writing they produce and use in clinical practice. I draw on guidance from professional bodies, theories of memory, phenomenology, existentialism, the psychoanalytic perspectives on language of Lacan and Kristeva and post-modern ideas around the meaning and contextual understanding of a text through the writings of Foucault, Barthes and McLuhan. I encourage more reflexivity regarding the role of the music therapist’s self and intersubjective elements within the writing. I ask what influence the act of writing itself exerts on clinical practice and reflect on the role of language and its adequacy for describing the music therapy encounter. I further explore how music therapists contextualise the writing they produce, speculating on some of its functions in relation to the therapist, client and institution. In conclusion, I argue that clinical writing in all its forms potentially has a powerful impact on the therapy process as a whole.

Individual music listening in intensive care units (ICU) has more frequently reported benefits for reducing anxiety and pain. There may be benefits in reducing heart rate and respiratory rate. There is a lack of research in the ICU setting that examines the effects of active music-based interventions, for example, where patients play instruments as part of structured exercises for cognitive or physical rehabilitation or improvise music with a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Music Therapist in ways that may benefit emotional well-being in addition to physical and cognitive function, including management of deconditioning. The search string of the present scoping review was used on 25 January 2022 and then again for PubMed on 24 June 2023 and brought up any research using music or music therapy in the intensive care setting. Out of 139 titles, 45 full texts were included, with a total of 3,441 participants. Forty-three studies meeting the inclusion criteria used pre-recorded music, ranging from cassette to CDs, audio files, and MP3, most often delivered using headphones, some with audio pillows. All interventions were passive (listening) except for one, which delivered music played live. More research is needed into the workings of active and receptive music therapy in the adult ICU.

Flexible Assertive Community Treatment provides integrated and community-based support to clients with mental illness and challenges in social functioning. Music therapy has been incorporated into several Norwegian Flexible Assertive Community Treatment teams, but there is limited published research on its outcomes. The Flexible Assertive Community Treatment model is recovery oriented, and the significance of robust relationships with staff members is emphasised. To understand the processes and critical factors in the relationships between service users and their Music Therapist in Flexible Assertive Community Treatment, we addressed the following research question: What characterises the relationship and interaction between the Music Therapist and the service user in the context of Flexible Assertive Community Treatment? Six joint interviews with service users and their Music Therapist were conducted using a dyadic approach. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the characteristics of the music therapy relationship were categorised in three themes; (1) the humanistic, therapeutic relationship, (2) the friendship-like relationship and (3) the musical relationship. The relationship between the service user and the Music Therapist is essential to therapeutic outcome, and links to common factors in therapy. Building relationships with the Music Therapist and the Flexible Assertive Community Treatment team may be a vital step towards social participation for the service user and may be understood as a critical factor towards recovery.

This article considers the experiences and learning of the author during a year-long music therapy trainee placement at a drop-in centre for adults with disabilities. The context and setup of the placement are outlined and the author discusses how his approach was influenced by ideas taken from community music therapy literature. The article then focuses on how music therapy supported Shona, a woman with cerebral palsy, to access her community. The journey of Shona and the trainee Music Therapist is depicted as a joint pathway encompassing individual sessions, group work and performance; insights and reflections from the trainee’s tutors are discussed and the work is conceptualised in three stages. The affordances and limitations of iPad technology (with ‘Thumbjam’ software) are also discussed. The author reflects on the frustration he felt at different stages of this journey, where the advice of his tutors seemed to contradict each other. He concludes that there is no ‘right’ answer, only additional perspectives in a continual process of finding new ways to take the work forward. Shona’s story and her real name are used with her informed consent.

Songwriting is widely used in individual music therapy but less often in groups. This article draws on the authors’ experience of facilitating music therapy groups for adults with severe depression using songwriting. This work was part of the SYNCHRONY study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, to assess the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial of group music therapy with a songwriting component for patients with long-term depression (1 year or longer) within the community. The authors (all music therapists in the study) describe their experiences and reflections on the group processes and use of songwriting, drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the study. Themes of the work included pre-composed songs as a more accessible way to talk about difficult experiences, musical improvisation enabling an environment for songwriting, the impact of difficulties in attendance on group cohesion and the songwriting process, building confidence through song development and recording, and considerations around the end process and creating the song album. These are illustrated with clinical vignettes. Some recommendations for practice are also offered. The authors hope to identify the potentials and challenges of a songwriting approach in a community mental health context.