From evidence-based practices to community integration.
You know that song, the one whose lyrics touched your soul at such a divinely timed moment in your life that the track felt destined just for you.
How about the beat that hypnotizes you to relaxation, pumps you up to work out from a state of exhaustion, or hypes you up while you’re in the mirror, finishing that perfect look for a night out?
Lastly, let’s not forget those instrumentals that come together for such a beautiful build-up that it somehow sounds like the cathartic arrival of angels in your eardrums.
Nearly everyone…if not everyone, has at some point in life experienced the therapeutic qualities of music.
Unsurprisingly, music has been successfully merged into evidence-based therapeutic practices by mental and behavioral health professionals.
…But what does it look like & where has music therapy been successful?
Nostalgia
I still remember the first time I realized not just hearing music, but creating music could soothe the spirit. I was a teenager listening to Tupac Shakur’s “Dear Mama” for the very first time.
For those who may not know, 2Pac is/was a legendary American rapper known for the talent and depths of his lyricism. An unfortunate side-effect of my young age is that by the time I heard “Dear Mama,” Tupac Shakur had already passed away in 1996.
Luckily, a beautiful thing about music is how clearly an artist’s soul & message can live on through their creation.
“Dear Mama” immediately draws you into Shakur’s nostalgia, forgiveness, and appreciation towards his mother. His lyrics reflect on the poverty he experienced in childhood and his mother’s substance abuse, while also expressing gratitude for her strength and affections.
Despite her struggles throughout single motherhood, Afeni Shakur was an influential political activist and Black Panther. Traits such as these were clearly not lost on her son, as Tupac grew to hold similar power in his own voice.
Because Shakur wrote “Dear Mama” in his adulthood, he expressed his newfound perspective and understandings of what and why things transpired as they did in his youth. As 2Pac takes us through the emotion of his childhood experiences, he also portrays an overwhelming sense of love and respect for his mother that supersedes the negativity they endured.
“Dear Mama” remains one of the most popular musical testaments to the impact of a mother’s love and strength today, as it finds its way to the surface every Mother’s Day or maternal commemoration.
“I finally understand
For a woman it ain’t easy trying to raise a man
You always was committed
A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how you did it
There’s no way I can pay you back, but the plan
Is to show you that I understand; you are appreciated”
2Pac’s “Dear Mama” is a great example of music with therapeutic qualities from both the writer’s & listeners’ end.
Suicide Prevention by Logic
In fact, raps such as this and songs like Logic’s “1–800–273–8255,” addressing the connections between sexuality acceptance and suicidality in adolescents, are being coupled with the art of therapeutic beat-making to reach urban youth.
“… I’ve been on the low
I been taking my time
I feel like I’m out of my mind
It feel like my life ain’t mine
Who can relate?”
Appletree by Erykah
In my youth, Erykah Badu’s “Appletree” seemed to divinely make its impression on my consciousness in my teen years as I was coming into my own. As a biracial girl of color in a predominantly white small country town in Texas, her lyrics about thriving in your own uniqueness and wisdom, not changing for others, and focusing on blessings were just the medicine the doctor ordered in my adolescence.
“See I picks my friends like I pick my fruit
And Granny told me that when I was only a youth
I don’t go ‘round trying to be what I’m not
I don’t waste my time trying ta get what you got
I work at pleasin’ me cause I can’t please you
And that’s why I do what I do
My soul flies free like a willow tree”
The Underserved
Each of these songs has served therapeutic purposes to our youth by them just listening. Specifically, urban youth has long identified with the work of these artists. As new artists and forms of musical expression emerge and trend, music therapy has evolved to target youth and/or marginalized populations specifically.
The implications of lacking mental health resources have become as apparent as the rigid negative stigma toward mental health within these underserved communities.
The mental health field has long desired to appeal to the masses. Yet, it has finally recognized the need to alter interventions to benefit & appeal to the marginalized.
Imagine, “Dear Mama” playing during the grief counseling group of a juvenile detention center for young boys, “Appletree” playing for teenage girls attending a self-esteem support group, “1–800–273–8255” supporting a LGBTQ+ youth group for depression, or beat-making with children who have special needs.
Finally, comes music therapy for urban communities.
What Is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is an expressive art that relies on and emboldens the power of music in the therapeutic relationship. Music therapists can uniquely tailor sessions and treatment to specific client needs and preferences.
While participating in music therapy, you may find yourself listening to and dissecting songs relevant to your emotional needs, singing or songwriting, playing instruments, or possibly making and dancing to beats.
As a therapist, music therapy has often effectively allowed me behind the curtain of clients’ surface pain into the recesses of their minds, so that we can address true underlying concerns together.
Benefits of Music Therapy
According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy involves the evidence-based use of musical interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship. Music therapy supports the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of clients, as it is often incorporated as an accompaniment to a thoroughly developed treatment plan.
Music therapy benefits have been found to include the following:
- Enhanced cognitive functioning
- Cortisol level reduction; relevant to human stress levels
- Physical health benefits; lowered heart rate & blood pressure
- Improved communication/emotional expression
Interventions of music therapy are used to address developmental delays, and conditions such as Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, behavioral challenges, and more.
Where Is Music Therapy Used?
Various settings have implemented and found success through the addition of music therapy interventions. Such settings have often included:
- Psychiatric Hospitals
- Correctional Facilities
- Educational Settings
- Addiction Rehabilitation Programs
- Eating Disorder Recovery Centers
- Nursing Homes
- Senior Centers
- Youth After-School Programs
- Medical Hospital Children’s Units
- Group Therapy Meetings
Additional settings have also introduced music therapy to reach the mental health needs of individuals across the lifespan.
What Is Hip-Hop Therapy?
The birth of hip-hop therapy traces back to the origination of the genre itself. As systemic barriers to receiving mental healthcare presented in the forms of racial discrimination, funding shortages, and lacking resources, the underrepresented communities of urban America coped in their own way. Such a creation reflects the ingenuity and resilience of these communities.
It only makes sense that progressive mental health professionals are now implementing this intervention in the very streets where hip-hop was born. Mental health experts acknowledging the therapeutic power of hip-hop is overdue.
After all, battle rap began as a method of fostering non-violent communication and competition between disputers of urban communities.
In addition to rap battling, Hip-hop therapy has evolved to include the following:
- Lyric Writing
- Beat-making
- Drumming
- Dancing
- Dissecting Hip-hop Music
Hip-hop culture as a therapeutic medium has produced a contemporary approach to mental healthcare.
A Study on Rap Therapy
The Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) conducted a study of three adolescent groups comprised of high school students with no criminal record, violent offenders, and status offenders who participated in Rap Therapy to foster social skill development. The participants’ perceptions of the usefulness of Rap Therapy, as compared to their typical group therapy non-inclusive of music therapy components, were assessed.
Results of the study highlight the undeniable benefits of using Rap Therapy to enhance prosocial behaviors, as evidenced by the improved prosocial behavior scores reflected within the data below.
Therapeutic Beat-Making
Therapeutic beat-making (TBM) is understood as centering on the intersections of therapeutic potential, culture, and community. The integration and applications of hip-hop therapy and TBM have been recently explored by authors of the Journal of Social Work.
Through the analysis and creation of rhythmic beats, insightful and artistic therapeutic practices are bridged to benefit clients in need of emotional release.
Dr. Elliott Gann is acclaimed for his work in the mental health field of fostering the healing of clients’ trauma through therapeutic beat-making (TBM). The neuroscience and success behind this music therapy intervention are discussed on his podcast, “Hip-Hop Can Save America.”
Conclusion
When utilized in conjunction with cognitive-behavioral therapy (talk therapy), hip-hop therapy produces an avenue for urban youth and adults alike to reframe and address negative thought patterns, while cultivating the value of creative expression.
Hip-hop therapy is more than just music, and even far more than a mental health intervention.
It actively challenges the mental health stigma in communities that have long suffered the psychological impacts of inequality and systemic racism.
To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Today, Call 1–800–273-TALK (8255)
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only & should not replace the personalized professional medical advice of your healthcare provider.
*This article was originally published in Health & Science
References
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/8e5011b8-2d92-4328-b975-5301ded31359
Music is the breath of life. It fills our lungs with the freshest air. The beat plays in unison within our hearts. It is a direct connection to the Supreme Being.
Great article!!!
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Agreed, I can’t wait to see more incorporations of the arts into therapeutic interventions! I’m glad you found this piece inspiring, it was a fun write. Thank you for reading!