Opening Channels of Communication

Abstract

Psychosis, as described through a psychodynamic perspective, is conceptualized as an attempt to deny the enveloping reality to avoid contact with the other. Music therapy is a way to break this barrier of non-communication raised by the patients. The music therapy process is configured as a trinomial – action (making music)/ relationship (action with the other)/communication (musical or verbal voluntary expression of feelings and conflicts), which, although intrinsically connected, is perceived in a sequential process. Aulagnier asserts that psychic activity represents the conjunction of three modes of functioning: the original process, the primary process and the secondary process. The perception of sound passes through three phases, corresponding to each manner of functioning of the psychic system – the pleasure of hearing, the desire to listen (to the other) and the imperative of meaning. The music therapy process offers a significant similarity with the theory proposed by Aulagnier. We propose the hypothesis that in music therapy, there is an opportunity to (re)experience very archaic phases in the constitution of the ego, but in a new manner, so helping to open communication channels. This theoretical hypothesis is illustrated by real examples of patients.