Therapy + Music as Catalysts for Healing
Great Romances of the 20th Century
Against my better judgement, my ADHD impulsivity won another battle of “do I send this song that could EITHER oversimplify everything my client is sharing right now, OR afford them a musical catharsis and spiritual connection with the very human experience of unrequited love?”
I’m not a music therapist, but you can’t deny the power of music in assisting with mental health conditions such as: dementia, depression, trauma, schizophrenia and anxiety disorder. As a former recreation specialist in a nursing home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in NYC, I had the honor of co-hosting live music performances or Oldies Hour with music from back in their day. Seeing the emotional transformation of hearing THEIR SONG 😍 Memories flooding back from good times growing up, driving their first car, recalling first love, wedding songs, popular dances of the time and songs that helped us through the hard moments.
The most common styles of Music Therapy include:
Lyric Analysis - studying the lyrics of a song to dig into its meaning, tone, purpose, emotion and artistic expression.
Improvisational Music Playing - done either in a group setting or individually, this non-verbal expression based on emotional experience, communication, storytelling and team dynamics is a wonderful outlet for stress and tool for voicing complex sometimes contradictory concepts.
Active Music Listening - This is similar to the exercise described above in which a group listens to, experiences and discusses music. Because of its rhythmic and repetitive aspects, music engages the neocortex of our brain, which calms us and reduces impulsivity.
Songwriting - Simply writing your own music and/or lyrics to convey a story, feeling or moment in time not to be forgotten.
Therapy for Emo Kids (...presently experiencing adulthood)
My 30-something year old brain is having a wild time processing shit from 20 years ago. Around this time 20 years ago I was falling in love for the first time, in hindsight, preparing to self-sabotage multiple times — as if I just walked out of a damn 90s teen movie 🙄 A true anti-capitalist, bleeding heart, winner of 6th grade science fair for my “Y2K oil spill” project, hippie for 5 Halloweens in a row. I’ve also been a mean girl in the Tina Fey sense that we’re all mean girls to someone, even if we feel as though we’ve been the one mean-girl’ed. My bad guys…
Feeling overly seen?
I provide emotion focused, trauma-informed, person-centered holistic Therapy for Emo Kids in NY who find themselves suddenly in adulthood, mid-adulthood and/or parenthood.
Where did the time go? We were JUST 16 years old, rocking out, flat ironing our hair, wearing too much eyeliner regardless of gender, singing our lungs out at a TBS, Fall Out Boy or NFG concert.
Whether you’re living your best life like Jack + Sally, or chasing ghosts who thought you were the last good thing about this part of town, chances are kid, you could use some therapy.
Emo Kids, in my experience, were the weird artsy kids that hung out in studios, played in bands or hid in some other expressive community cuz:
Also, because like the poetry of Shonda Rimes:
The 00’s pop-punk emo scene was full of emotionally aware, highly sensitive people who communicated via livejournal or tumblr much like this blog today. Less informative about small business and emotional health, more about the life of a teenage dirtbag, baby!
Healing can happen at any age
Thirty and 40-somethings reading this, ask yourself, is your inner emo kid satisfied with the life you and all of your other parts are living?
Are you finding yourself in drastically different circumstances than you imagined, for better or for worse?
Are there elements of yourself that got lost in the process of adulting, partnership, branding yourself, becoming a parent, climbing the corporate ladder, etc?
Let’s work together
I’d love to hear your take on this era of time, music therapy, and anything else related to where you are today and what you’d like to see your life grow into. 1:1 online therapy and coaching sessions are available via phone or video session. NYC Licensed Mental Health Provider Desiree W. B., LCSW provides remote mental health care for adults 18+ experiencing anxiety, complex trauma, depression, scarcity mindset, self-doubt, low self-esteem, overwhelm, family conflict, life transitions, relationship difficulties, parenting stress, artist-realted stress, creative blocks, lonliness, bereavement, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and more.
You will be in an affirming, non-judgemental space regardless of where you’re at or what you’re hoping to work on together. Whether you prefer individual sessions or group therapy, we’ve got something for everyone!
