Date of Award

Spring 5-16-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Expressive Therapies

Advisor

Meg Chang

Abstract

The voice of the Inner Critic has shown to have harmful effects on the mental health of young adults, while self-compassion has shown to have the potential to mitigate these effects. This thesis reviews the literature on the theories of Mindful Self-Compassion and Community Music Therapy singing and songwriting. The knowledge acquired was the basis of the method, Conducting Our Inner Critic Chorus, that was developed. In the method, participants conduct the movement from their Inner Critic to their Inner Compassionate. The method was applied to young adults in a psychiatric partial hospitalization program group context five times. Afterwards, the method was applied to the author, a music therapy and mental health counseling intern and also a young adult, in an individual context once. The methods were analyzed for their ability to implement the Mindful Self Compassion components of mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity as well as the Community Music Therapy components of mutuality, participation, and empowerment. Through the lens of arts-based research, results from the group and individual method yielded the following two conclusions. First, music therapy provides a holistic experience of the Inner Critic by connecting the thoughts of the Inner Critic with the associated physical and emotional feelings. Additionally, applying a music therapy self-compassion method to patients and therapy interns is beneficial because a reciprocal relationship exists between the person helping and the person being helped.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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