Models of response to client anger in music therapy

Anger is an emotion that is commonly addressed in therapy situations, and particularly in music therapy since music, by its nature, is evocative of emotion. This qualitative study examines music therapists’ experience of and response to client anger utilizing a multiple instrumental case study design. Descriptive narratives of clients’ expressions of anger during sessions were collected from 29 board-certified music therapists working with a variety of populations in a number of different settings. The narratives were analyzed through a process of hermeneutic phenomenological reflection, then compared and grouped according to similar aspects and reanalyzed. The results of these analyses revealed four groupings of therapists’ responses, the division of which is primarily based on the therapists’ intent, and which are described as models of response. They include the Redirection Model, the Validation Model, the Containing Model, and the Working-through Model. The models are compared by similarities and differences, and their usefulness in relation to clinical application is discussed.