mind balance
 therapy, support & personal development
 

Therapy case studies

The following examples give a brief picture as to how Guided Imagery and Music therapy has helped different people in different situations. The first three cases with an asterisk * next to them, indicate people that have come through Mind Balance and have given their permission for the case details to be published here.

Click on the links below to read about:

Case One:*

Jane is a 30 year old single parent from South Wales who lives alone with her disabled teenage son. At the time of starting therapy she was not working and had very limited support networks. Her father had died several years ago and Jane had suffered most of her life with high levels of anxiety and severe panic attacks. She was taking a prescription of Prozac from her GP.

Jane had a total of nine GIM sessions over a period of 6 months. Through the therapy process, Jane was able to look at some of her past experiences that she had not had the opportunity or support network to process at the time: she explored the ending of a frightening work relationship where she feared that she may be raped; she remembered the chaos and confusion of moving home and schools when she was a teenager;

Jane grieved the sadness of an old love relationship and realised that she must move on, holding onto the hope that this relationship was going to work was actually holding her back from making the most of her life now; and finally, Jane also grieved the loss of her father and reaffirmed a spiritual connection with him as a part of her final session.

After the nine GIM sessions Jane was completely off all medication. She was asked her to rate the average level of anxiety in her life on a scale of 0-10 (10=extremely high anxiety) before and after the course of therapy. Jane assessed herself as 9/10 before the therapy, and an average level of 1/10 after the nine sessions.

Through GIM therapy, Jane had been able to have a supported look at the causes of her anxiety and as these emotions were explored and acknowledged, she gained a sense of release from her past experiences. She had found a new enthusiasm to move on with her life and get back to work.

Jane's comments about GIM therapy:

Case Two:*

Lisa is an Assistant Psychologist who chose GIM as her personal therapy during her psychology training. Lisa was not living near her family and did not feel very close to either of her parents having experienced quite a emotionally-deprived childhood with a mother who had regular bouts of depression. As a child, Lisa also discovered that her father was unfaithful and had numerous extra-marital affairs. This experience had left Lisa feeling quite insecure about long-term relationships and with a recurrent fear of abandonment.

Lisa says about GIM:

“GIM sessions have really benefited me a lot. It has helped me process painful childhood experiences, which I was only partly aware of - but which undoubtedly had an impact on my current life.

I have found GIM to be a very efficient way of dealing with past experiences so that it has less of an influence on how I view myself and relate to others. My relationship with my partner has become more emotionally connected and stable. I feel better in myself, as I have become more self-directing - having gained more of a sense of ‘me’ and am less reliant on other people’s thoughts and opinions. Depending on the circumstances, I can feel very insecure and dependent on others, - so this means a lot to me. All in all I am calmer and more positive and my self-esteem is much more solid.”

Case Three:*

Frances is a 50+ grandmother who works as a therapist with trauma victims.  She started GIM sessions when her own traumatic memory started to affect her work and needed to be released and explored.

When she was four years old, Frances witnessed the death of her 18 month old brother in a drowning accident with all the drama and turmoil that goes with such tragedies.  She then grew up with grieving parents who were unable to help her to clear her muddled thinking about what had happened.  She felt responsible for their pain.

Frances comments about GIM therapy:

“GIM has enabled me to separate my traumatic memory and feelings from those of my parents.   I could then process how the threads of the trauma are woven into who I am and the work I do.  But I was also able to let go of what did not belong to me and ‘not get caught in other people’s brambles’ (a quote from one of the sessions).   

Case Four:*

Michael Baker runs The Training and Business Consultancy Ltd based in Cardiff, UK. He has been trading for 4 years, has a good reputation and his company is highly successful. Michael wanted a GIM therapy session to clarify the next phase of his business development plans. In particular he wanted to focus on leasing new premises and employing other staff. After the therapy session and subsequent reflection time, Michael was clear about the direction in which he wanted his business to go. He comments about the GIM experience:

“I found the whole experience very useful, and enjoyable…..it helped get my thoughts clear about what I want to do. The actual session was great, very relaxing, helped greatly by Anthony’s very relaxing and reassuring style….he helped me to expand on the experience and draw clear links to my particular situation.

The interesting thing about the whole session is how it keeps coming back! On a number of occasions since the session, I find myself recreating the images in my head and thinking about what they mean. For me this is the really powerful bit: it means that the experience has stayed with me.

And of course I believe I have made the right decision about the future of my business. I had spent weeks playing over in my head what the options were and how I felt about them. One short session with Anthony and I feel a whole lot clearer.“

Sam is a 32-yr-old woman who has been physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. The 2 year Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) process assisted her in healing the wounds of abuse and in building love, acceptance, and trust in herself. Sam's therapy sessions centred around 3 major areas: building strength and trust to restore a sense of power and control over her life, accessing and experiencing memories and feelings, and healing the wounds of trauma. The therapy enabled Sam to incorporate the trauma into her life, to live in the present less encumbered by the trauma, and to be able to look to the future.

The full reference for this case study is:

Ventre, M. E. (1994). "Healing the wounds of childhood abuse: A guided imagery and music case study. Special Issue: Psychiatric music therapy." Music Therapy Perspectives 12(2): 98-103.

Case Six:

Eugenia Pickett, a GIM therapist working in Baltimore, USA, wrote about her work with Penny, a divorced, middle-aged woman with both depression and addictions to food and alcohol in the book 'Case Studies in Music Therapy' (Ed. Bruscia, 1991). Eugenia comments that Penny did not start her recovery process until she began working creatively. This is not unusual, as often the creative therapies can work at a deeper level than traditional verbal psychotherapy. Penny's course of GIM therapy began by establishing trust, then focussed on parenting skills, and finally on grief work and her discovery that she used her addictive patterns to control the pain of losing her marriage. Penny states:

"Through my imagery work with music, I have been able to see how big and powerful my additions had become.... the work enabled me to separate the parts that make up my addictive nature. Once I could identify each part and its purpose or need, it became less powerful. Once the parts were revealed, not one of them alone was strong enough to activate my addictive process. Now, the parts are currently working together to help with my recovery... each part through GIM has been able to surface... and to be respected and loved."

About GIM therapy, Penny says:

"My problems were so deeply buried and well-protected, that I used to be unable to release control and allow them to surface. The music relaxes me into almost a dream state and feelings deep within me rise to the surface.... this therapy seems like it works from the inside out, talk therapy used to work from the outside in."

The full reference for this case study is:

Pickett, E. 1991 "Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) with a Dually Diagnosed Woman having Multiple Addictions." pp 497-511 In: Bruscia, K. E. (Ed) Case Studies in Music Therapy. Barcelona Publishers, USA.
 

Research in GIM therapy:

Much quantitative and qualitative research has been carried out into the effects of GIM psychotherapy, particularly in countries where the therapy is more established eg. Sweden, Denmark, and America.

For a complete and up-to-date listing of over 700 articles and research findings on GIM, follow the links section of this website to the GIM database at the University of Aalborg, Denmark. To view the database, you will need to download a free Endnote reader from www.endnote.com

To give just one example of the quantitative research carried out on the effects of GIM therapy, McKinney and Antoni, et al. (1997) conducted a randomised trial of GIM on twenty eight healthy adults and measured changes in mood and cortisol. Participants were divided into two groups, those in the first group would attend 13 weeks of GIM and those in the second control group would have no GIM therapy. Participants in both groups completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and donated 15cc of blood before and after the 13-week intervention period and again at a 6-week follow-up. Statistical analysis showed that GIM participants reported significant decreases in depression, fatigue, and total mood disturbance and had significant decreases in cortisol level by follow-up.

The study concluded that a short series of GIM sessions may positively affect mood and reduce cortisol levels in healthy adults. Such changes in hormonal regulation may have positive health implications for chronically stressed people.

You can read more about this specific piece of research by referring to:

McKinney, C., M. Antoni, et al. (1997). "Effects of guided imagery and music (GIM) therapy on mood and cortisol in healthy adults." Health Psychol 16(4): 390-400.