Music Therapy with Bereaved Youth: Expressing Grief and Feeling Better

Music therapy is a promising intervention with bereaved youth. In comparison to other programs, it appears particularly effective for promoting the resolution of grief-related feelings; providing opportunities to express and release feelings through musical participation.

Descriptions from music therapy participants are supported by research evidence about the effectiveness of professionally-provided music therapy in reducing grief-related behaviors. The act of participating in music with others can involve listening, singing, playing, composing, and improvising together. By combining pleasurable, creative experiences with emotionally and personally expressive actions, music therapy allows for the processing of grief simultaneously with opportunities for identity formation. Personal growth is the result of such encounters, either through the removal of obstacles or the unexpected discovery of creative abilities and capacities experienced in shared musical participation.

This article outlines investigations of music therapy with bereaved young people and highlights relevant outcomes to the prevention of health problems in response to bereavement.