Musical improvisation is an increasingly recognised rehabilitative therapy for people who have experienced traumatic brain injury initially thought to be 'unreachable' or 'non-responsive'. Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury demonstrates how music therapy can be used to attend to the holistic, rather than purely functional, needs of people affected by severe head trauma. Divided into three parts, the first section provides an introduction to the effects brain injury has on a person's livelihood. The second is a comprehensive review of available literature on the use of music therapy in the neurorehabilitative setting. The final section examines three case studies designed according to 'therapeutic narrative analysis', an adaptive research method that uses interviewing and video, which focuses on the unique relationship between the professional and the patient.This book will give clinicians key notes for practice and a vision of the integral role music therapy can have in the successful rehabilitation from brain injury.
1. Traumatic Brain Injury and Rehabilitation. 2. Music Therapy with People who Have Experienced Traumatic Brain Injury: What the Literature Says. 3. Therapeutic Narrative Analysis: How We Look at Cases. 4. Bert's Story - Changing perspectives: Identifying and realizing communicative potential in early isolated states . 5. Neil's Story - From distress and agitation to humour and joy: the creation of a dialogue. 6. Mark's Story - A fusion of two worlds: physical dependency and creative partnership. 7. The Narrative Explicated. Bibliography.
Simon Gilbertson's and David Aldridge's book, Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury: A Light on a Dark Night speaks to me both as a music therapy clinician who has worked with ""unreachable"" clients in many settings and as a family member of one who has suffered a traumatic brain injury. The book investigates how music therapy can meet the needs of people who have experienced TBI. Ultimately, the authors find the language to help music therapists working with traumatic brain injuries explain the question ""why music?"" to health care professionals, to family and friends of the victum, and to the community as a whole. The authors encourage the integrative, holistic aspects of music therapy, emphasizing that music interventions in music therapy can meet not only the functional cognitive and physical needs of a patient but also the psychosocial and emotional needs that no doubt arise in a hospital setting... Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury: A Light on a Dark Night is a valuable contribution to the music therapy literature for several reasons. First and foremost, the findings of the research presented provide music therapists important insights that will help to communicate music's role in therapy for patients with TBI to all persons who work and care for these individuals. Second, this book introduces a practical research design for clinical music therapists to use in their work. Lastly, as a family member of one who has suffered a traumatic brain injury, Gilbertson and Aldridge have written a book that has assured me that a normal life may exist for a person who has suffered a TBI with the help of integrative rehabilitation.
