Songs of Silver Speech: “CareMusLy”: Song Writing in the Treatment of Psychosis

Andrea Volpini

Songwriting is commonly utilized in the clinical treatment of psychiatric patients suffering from a wide variety of psychoses. CareMusLy (CML) is a psychodynamic, systematically applied intervention combining music and lyrics to counteract and redefine the problems created by the psychotic dimension. The process starts from a free collective vocal improvisation, during which the music therapist transcribes scattered notes and from which he subsequently composes a piece of music. This composition, when played back to the participants, stimulates a slow, meditative search for words using Heidegger’s concept of the poetic thinking (see Heidegger, M. (1988). La poesia di Hölderlin. Milano, Italy: Adelphi). Engaged in a kind of slow-moving game played out over a long timeframe, patients experience a sense of belonging to the song but do not perceive the strain of the psyche’s work. The songwriting process leads to the use of renewed linguistic, reflexive, and interpretative resources. In switching their attention from themselves to creating a representation of self in song, participants come into contact with internal aspects of themselves that can be expressed and transformed. CML allows participants to achieve a gradual redefinition of themselves and provides the basis for a renewed outlook on life.

psychosis, songwriting, free vocal improvisation, original composition, poetic thinking