CIMTR Public Research Lecture: "The music gives calmness to the soul" - Music Therapy with Refugees with Bolette Daniels Beck, Ph.D.

Music therapy can bridge cultural and language barriers in the treatment of traumatized refugees. In a Danish pilot study carried out in a psychiatric clinic, Trauma-focused Music and Imagery (tr-MI) significantly decreased trauma symptoms and improved sleep quality in 16 adult refugees with PTSD (Beck et al., 2017). A larger study (n=74) demonstrated that 16-20 sessions of tr-MI was as effective as standard treatment (verbal psychotherapy) both post treatment and at six months follow-up, and that music therapy had a better retention rate (Beck et al., 2018). The presentation will include music and video examples from tr-MI treatment.