Narrative archetypes in the imagery of clients in Guided Imagery and music therapy sessions

4Citations
Citations of this article
26Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

This study explores imagery evoked by Guided Imagery and Music’s (GIM) ‘Nurturing’ programme (seven classical orchestral compositions) and relates it to Jung’s Eros principle (passive and nurturing). Participants’ statements during 23 GIM sessions were recorded, transcribed and categorised by five coders into seven sub-categories, three of which belonged to Jung’s Eros (Flora, Fauna, Feelings), three to his Logos (Events, Structures, Actions), and one (Characters) that mixed Eros and Logos. The same categorisation was applied to 23 randomly selected fairy-tales from different cultures as a comparison. We predicted that participants’ imagery would be mainly Eros, corresponding to the choice of music. In fact, categories Structures(Logos), Flora(Eros), Fauna(Eros) and Feelings(Eros) occurred significantly more often in participants’ imagery than in the fairy-tale comparisons. These categories are plot-static: they do not generate active relationships between characters. Events(Logos), Actions(Logos) and Characters(Eros/Logos) occurred significantly less often. We conclude that music of the ‘Nurturing’ programme elicits mostly the Eros type imagery. It has the psychological function of creating an emotional-scenic background, but does not drive the narrative plot. In this sense, it may be misleading to describe the music of ‘Nurturing’ as a kind of virtual narrative or as having narrative structure or function.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Dukic, H., Parncutt, R., & Bunt, L. (2021). Narrative archetypes in the imagery of clients in Guided Imagery and music therapy sessions. Psychology of Music, 49(2), 287–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735619854122

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free