Queer as a Bell: Music and the Psychotherapeutic Relationship

Abstract

Musical co-creation between the client and the therapist can be used as a means of skewing the dominant paradigms of the historically hierarchal psychotherapeutic relationship.  This process, known as queering, opens the possibility for new ways of being in therapy space that may support empowerment of both the client and the therapist. Music engagement contributes to an intersubjective dynamic where the therapist's material may enter the session space more vulnerably and authentically than through a purely verbal process.  When viewed critically through a queered perspective,  this intersubjectivity may allow for a decrease in the power differential traditionally associated with the client–therapist dyad. In this article, a queer theoretical perspective is used to examine the unique role music and creativity play in this therapeutic relationship. Current queer, linguistic, and creative arts therapy theory are examined to support the hypothesis.