The Music Psychotherapist

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What is Music-Informed Psychotherapy?

Music-informed psychotherapy is a way to connect beyond words. To begin to make sense of yourself and the world you're living in, without the need to describe what you're experiencing.

Music-Informed Psychotherapy vs Music Therapy

Before we jump into defining music-informed psychotherapy, let me clarify a few things:
  1. There is a difference between what I am calling ‘Music-Informed Psychotherapy’ and Music Therapy.
  2. This page talks about the use of music in Psychotherapy, not Music Therapy. 
  3. I am a psychotherapist, not a music therapist.

Let me explain what I mean… 

Psychotherapy is a form of talking therapy, this might be what you typically imagine when you hear the words ‘counsellor’ or ‘therapist’, my work usually involves sitting with someone and talking about problems or struggles (for a more professional explanation, see UKCP, 2023). Whereas a Music Therapist is a protected title that describes someone who offers a special type of therapy, with music being at the heart of what they offer (see BAMT, 2020). 
 
Okay, so they are different titles, one involves more talking, why is this important? Well there is a lot of information available on music therapy, there’s not so much on music in psychotherapy. However talking therapy is a lot more common than music therapy, with the BACP (2025) reporting that more than a third (35%) of UK adults have sought help from a counsellor or psychotherapist at some point in their lives. As well as this, more people are engaging with music than ever before and we only have to look at Music Psychology research to understand how influential and therapeutic music can be for us. 
 

So what happens when we want to talk about and bring music to traditional therapy?

What is Music-Informed Psychotherapy?

Music-Informed Psychotherapy might include talking about the music you listen to every day, or the songs that bring up a big reaction in you. Or it might look like exploring how you use music in your daily life (e.g. to help you relax or listening when you feel socially anxious). It may also look like bringing a significant song into the therapy room where we listen and explore it together. This is a therapeutic technique called ‘song discussion’ (Gardstrom & Hiller, 2010).
 
Music can appear organically in psychotherapy a lot more than you might expect, for example it’s rare that I’ve worked with someone who is grieving and they haven’t mentioned the choice or significance of the funeral music, or having to turn the radio off because a song reminded them of their loved one. Music can be incredibly powerful in so many ways.
 
So although it’s not all I do, as a psychotherapist I spend most of my time talking to people. Music can be a great tool to use in psychotherapy to explore, understand and process our experiences (Butterton, 2016; Rogers, 1998).

AI-generated image of a painting of mountains with a soundwave in the foreground, creating an abstract representation of music-informed psychotherapy

Why use music in psychotherapy?

Music can be helpful for a number of reasons, some examples include:
  • It might help you to share a feeling that’s difficult to verbalise.
  • It might offer a starting point to explore something you’re struggling with.
  • It may help you reconnect with a past experience. 
  • It could be a way to connect with yourself and regulate emotional wellbeing.
  • It could be a new route into something that is at the edge of our awareness. 
  • For those of us that spend a lot of time thinking, it can be a way to connect with our feelings. 
  • It is a technique that can successfully be used after therapy finishes. 

There are many other impacts of bringing music into the therapy room but one thing that’s important for me is that you get to decide how (and if!) you want to use music in your sessions. This is because music can be deeply personal and connects with us in a variety of complex ways. So my therapeutic work isn’t about the music itself, it’s about exploring how music connects with you.

What it might be

  • Gaining a deeper understanding of yourself
  • Expressing and processing feelings
  • Listening to music you bring to the session
  • Talking about music listening in your daily life
  • Exploring how music affects you
  • Healing and processing trauma
  • Understanding why music is important to you
  • Finding new ways to explore and regulate emotion

What it won't be

  • Music therapy
  • Playing a musical instrument in session
  • Learning to read or play music
  • Me listening to all your music
  • A quick-fix solution to all your problems
  • A tool that works for all aspects of your life
  • The only way to explore therapeutic content
  • Diagnosing a mental health condition from your music habits

Summary

Using music in psychotherapy allows my clients a unique way to engage with the therapeutic process. There are many ways music may enter the therapy room, but my work focuses primarily on exploring how and why listening to music impacts us.

As technology continues to advance, making music consumption more accessible, music is becoming an ever increasing part of all of our lives, with many of us unaware how much music is showing up in our lives or the impact it is having on us. Although music is a specialism of mine, it only features in a small proportion of my therapeutic work. So whether music is important to you or not, whether you listen to music every day or not much at all, you may be surprised at what music has to offer. 

References

BACP (2025). UK counselling and therapy trends and attitudes revealed. https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/about-bacp/bacp-public-perceptions-survey/

BAMT (2020). What is Music Therapy? https://www.bamt.org/music-therapy/what-is-music-therapy

Butterton, M. (2016). Listening to music in psychotherapy. CRC Press.

Gardstrom, S. C., & Hiller, J. (2010). Song discussion as music psychotherapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, 28(2), 147-156.

Rogers, N. (1998). The Creative Connection. Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy: Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives, 113.

UKCP (2023). What is psychotherapy? https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/seeking-therapy/what-is-psychotherapy/

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