Sound Effects

Earlier this month, I posed some questions to students in a masters level social work course regarding the role music has played in their lives, both in terms of raising political awareness and, on a more fundamental level, shaping who they are as individuals. I was particularly taken by this response, as it truly gets to the heart of the matter:

I wouldn't say that I have any songs that have influenced me politically. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but that is not to say that music has not affected me politically. Music for me, has mostly influenced me in other ways. I listen to a lot of punk rock music... ok some people say I listen to emo... either way I think a lot of those songs raise the awareness of mental health, like depression, suicide, coping, etc. I began listening to this music myself when I was depressed in high school and it actually helped me want to STAY alive. A lot of people think it's bad music and makes people want to kill themselves, I realize that may be true in some cases, but for me it gave me hope for a future...I'm not sure if I can talk about it from a social work perspective or not, but personally music is very influential. I really do think music reflects who you are, or what you feel, as a person. Sadness, anger, love, all these emotions I believe direct us towards the music we prefer. Not to say that all people who listen to a certain genre are angry or depressed... it could be the music behind the words that move a person...

And that got me thinking...

At my internship at a community mental health center, I've been co-facilitating a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills group for adults. In short - and without boring my "audience" - DBT is a therapeutic modality, first developed by Marsha Linehan, that combines traditional cognitive behavioral techniques with Eastern philosophies, particularly the meditative practices of Buddhism. One focus of DBT, the core skills of emotion regulation, emphasizes the value of identifying and labeling emotions--in other words, being aware of the emotion (or emotions) that one is experiencing at a given time. This sounds easy enough, but it can be tough, especially for individuals who grow up (and remain) in emotionally invalidating environments.

Inspired, in part, by what my fellow social worker wrote, I created an emotion regulation exercise that involves identifying and labeling emotional responses to music. The goal of the exercise is to help clients expand the range of their "emotional vocabulary," extending past labels of "sad" or "good" to a deeper and experientially accurate level. Another goal, in terms of DBT, is developing core mindfulness skills, namely the "what skills" (observe, participate, and describe) and "how skills" (non-judgmentally, effectively, and one-mindfully). Translated...that means experiencing something "in the moment"--fully and without judgement.

The exercise, "Sound Effects" (snappy title, eh?) is easy. It goes like this:

1) Make a playlist or cd of 5 to 10 songs. Choose songs that vary in tone, from sad to angry to pensive to scary to surreal to--well...you get the idea. I would also advise picking songs that might not be too familiar to your audience. Pick something they probably haven't heard before. For example, when I tried the exercise, I included some classical and electronic music that didn't have any lyrics (no words means you have less of a guide to dictate how to feel the song), and I also put in some music from less familiar genres (marching band) and other cultures (African tribal music). I tried to make the exercise more challenging with each song. The first few were fairly easy (i.e. a sad country song, etc.)...it got progressively more "obtuse" with each track.

2) Play about a minute of a song. Instruct the audience to focus on the music (i.e. get into it). They should listen intently...just feeling the music.

3) Pause it. Then give your audience (a group...an individual client) about a minute to write down as many feeling and/or emotion words that describe their reaction to the song. Repeat until they've written their response to each song.

4) After all the songs play, have the client(s) share their responses. It's especially interesting in a group context, because everyone's listening experience is unique.

That's it...that's the exercise. It's simple, but it really does open up clients to become more attentive to and expressive of their emotions. Try it out! Oh...and special thanks to the MSW student who responded to my earlier post. Their honest, thoughtful words really motivated me to put this exercise together.